Wandlad was born in Randfontein, Gauteng, in the late 1960s. Despite wanting to become a doctor, he followed his father into the mining industry.
He earned a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and a GDE in Industrial Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand.
He began his career in 1990 at Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company (JCI). The company would then be unbundled during the transition to democracy.
He then became a lifer at Anglo American, having held many roles at the company over the last three decades.
He would become the Executive Director for Projects and Engineering at Anglo Platinum in 2004.
He then became joint interim CEO of Anglo Platinum in 2007, and took over as the CEO of Copper Operations in 2008, moving from Johannesburg to London.
In this role, he led the development of the Quellaveco copper project in Peru.
In 2013, he took over as the CEO of Anglo American’s Base Metals Business, serving in the role for six years.
He was also appointed as the Group Director of Strategy & Business Development from 2016.
Moreover, he held non-executive roles at De Beers and Kumba Iron Ore, and was the chair of the Anglo American Foundation.
In 2022, he became the overall group CEO and now leads the company after nearly three decades of service.
Outside of his strong understanding of Anglo American’s business, Wanblad is a keen cyclist, a Watford season ticket holder and a classic car collector.
Major change
Wanblad is now leading the company through a major restructuring following attempts by its larger rival BHP to take over the company.
Despite question marks over his methodical, yet slow, approach to leadership, Wanblad has garnered a reputation for selling mines and became known as the ‘used mine salesman.’
During his time as the CEO of the Base Metals Business, Wanblad sold British building materials group, Tarmac, exited gold mining stakes and divested a steel business.
In response to BHP’s takeover attempt, Wanblad’s leadership team announced a restructuring, with the business focusing on copper and iron ore.
This would, however, result in the business cutting its non-core businesses, including Anglo American Platinum and De Beers, both of which Wanblad has experience with.
Anglo American Platinum has officially been rebranded to Valterra Platinum, with Anglo American selling its majority stake in stages.
Anglo American recently received a parting gift from Valterra Platinum, after the platinum miner declared a special dividend of R15.7 billion from its cash reserves.
Valterra Platinum is now listed on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges and is fully independent following Anglo American selling shares in May and September.
Although Anglo American saw little benefit from owning the platinum miner in the last couple of years amid question marks over the commodity’s future use, it looks set to miss out on the roughly 50% rise in PGM prices.
Anglo American is also in the process of selling diamond giant De Beers. The Botswana government, which owns a 15% stake in the company, has expressed interest in taking over the business.
Although Anglo American looks set to cut several South African businesses, it keeps its stake in South Africa-based Kumba Iron Ore.
The restructuring focused on saving capital and streamlining management time to focus on core issues.
The restructuring has come at a significant cost, with the company declaring a massive $1.88 billion (R33 billion) loss in the first half of 2025.
Nevertheless, it remains one of the world’s largest mining companies, and has a market cap of around R640 billion.
Issued on BusinessTech by Luke Fraser | https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/836871/the-south-african-used-mine-salesman-leading-a-r640-billion-international-giant/
