Peet Nienaber, CEO of Xstrata plc unit Xstrata Alloys, is retiring for personal and family reasons, the firm said.
Nienaber will retire at the end of September 2012, with Loutjie Smit becoming acting CEO of Xstrata Alloys on an interim basis to ensure continuity and Integration planning for the proposed merger with Glencore International, the company said in a release on Friday
Smit is a non-executive director of Xstrata South Africa.
Nienaber has headed Xstrata Alloys, which handles ferrochrome, platinum and vanadium, since Xstrata plc was created in 2002. He took on Xstrata’s South African chrome business following the 1997 acquisition by Xstrata AG of ChromeCorp, a company he co-founded in 1988.
