Impala Platinum (Implats) is pushing ahead with generative artificial intelligence (AI) as it works to resolve a cyber breach that was quietly disclosed in its environmental, social and governance (ESG) report last year.
The breach, which does not appear to be recorded on the Information Regulator’s website, is a focus area for the platinum miner’s audit and risk committee for the next financial year, says its audited annual financial statements for the year to June.
In its 2025 ESG report, Implats – one of the world’s major platinum group metals producers – says there was a “limited impact cyber security breach to a managed operation’s IT environment, which was quickly detected and resolved by the group’s IT service providers”. In 2024, Implats “did not have any material security/cyber security breaches”.
The miner, with a market capitalisation of R208.35 billion, did not identify the affected managed operation, give a precise date, explain the nature of the breach, say whether data was compromised, or quantify any financial or operational impact.
Implats has six mining operations across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Canada, plus refining and processing operations, employing more than 60 000 people across its operations.
South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum, supplying almost three-quarters of the metal – used in vehicle catalytic converters, jewellery, industrial applications and emerging hydrogen technologies.
Batten down
Dawn Earp, chairman of the audit and risk committee, says its priorities for the year ahead include cyber security, AI and digital risk, and that it will oversee the group’s cyber security and AI risk management and control environment, including “the remediation of actions arising from the recent cyber incident”.
“Learnings from this incident were incorporated into the group’s security posture to improve maturity,” it said in 2025. Implats adds that the outcome reflected the effectiveness of its layered security strategy and continued investment in digital resilience.
Implats describes cyber security as a material risk because of its potential to disrupt business continuity and compromise sensitive information and intellectual property.
Among its cyber security measures are ongoing cyber security awareness training, annual assessments of the potential impact of cyber breaches on data and operational technology systems, regular audits and penetration testing by independent external specialists, as well as escalation protocols for incident response and breach management.
Earp says key controls, including “vulnerability monitoring, ransomware recovery testing and backup management,” operated effectively during the year.
The committee will also monitor risks associated with the integration of IT and operational technology, and oversee AI governance, responsible adoption and compliance with evolving regulatory and ethical requirements.
Digging deeper
Implats also conducted a deep dive into AI-related risks, including cyber security, data privacy, regulatory compliance and responsible AI practices, Earp says. These measures are intended to support the responsible adoption of AI across the group.
This comes as the miner expects the economic, technological, regulatory and geopolitical environment to remain uncertain, specifically pointing to “the accelerating convergence of cyber threats, rapid advancements in AI, evolving regulatory requirements and ongoing economic volatility” as factors that continue to “shape boardroom priorities and challenge traditional risk management approaches”.
Implats has also identified investment in automation, digital systems and data analytics as a way of improving operational performance and decision-making. Along with the rest of the mining industry, it is using advanced technologies to improve mineral-resource modelling and metallurgical processes.
“The mining sector is increasingly adopting automation, AI, data analytics and remote operations to improve safety, productivity and cost-efficiency.”
Getting smarter
Priorities included using digital tools, automation and data analytics to improve mining efficiency and reduce waste, while exploring remote operations and smart-mining technologies to improve productivity and reduce labour intensity, it says.
Its IT strategy is focused on extracting value across support, compute, storage and security. The digital push includes cloud services, SAP S/4HANA and further ERP investment, near-real-time reporting, data analytics and data science, process digitisation and robotic process automation.
It is also investing in above- and below-ground connectivity, internet of things integration, IT, operational technology, convergence and cyber security, all of which are embedded in performance metrics.
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