Implats was formed in 1966 as a subsidiary of Union Corporation, which established a platinum mine in Rustenburg with an initial capacity of 100,000 oz per year. It received technical advice from Canadian company Inco, while British bank Hambros provided financial advice. The two, along with South African state-owned Industrial Development Corporation, each took a 10% share in the company. In 1968, Implats entered into a prospecting accord with the Bafokeng tribe and obtained a lease for 12,000 ha of land, with production kicking off in July 1969. During the 1970s, legislation introducing new vehicle emission standards worldwide, including those introduced and pursued in the U.S. by the Environmental Protection Agency, increased global demand for platinum. In 1974, Implats began supplying major motor manufacturer General Motors with up to 300,000 t oz of platinum and 120,000 t oz of palladium a year for devices to reduce exhaust pollution. On 26 January 1973, Bishopsgate Platinum Limited, of which Implats was a wholly owned subsidiary, was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. On 19 October 1978, Bishopsgate changed its name to Impala Platinum Holdings Limited. In 1990, Implats acquired an effective interest in Western Platinum and Eastern Platinum. A full merger agreement with Lonplats was attained in 1995, but was subsequently blocked by the European Union in 1996. Between 2000 and 2004, Implats gained mineral rights to establish Marula Platinum and also acquired strategic stakes in Zimbabwean operations Zimbabwe Platinum and Mimosa Mining Company. It entered into a joint venture with Anglovaal Mining to develop the Two Rivers Platinum project, and sold its stakes in Barplats Mines and Lonplats. In 2003, Implats' parent companyGencor completed its "unbundling" after having amalgamated with Gold Fields in 1998. Shareholders were given 8.8 Implats shares for every 100 Gencor shares they held. In March 2011, the government of Zimbabwe implemented laws which required local ownership of mining companies. Following this news, there were falls in the share prices of companies with mines in Zimbabwe, including Implats. In late January 2014, thousands of employees belonging to Impala Platinum and other platinum mines in South Africa went on strike, demanding a basic salary of R 12,500. The strike, the longest in the history of South Africa, ended in late June 2014 when the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union signed a three-year settlement deal with Impala Platinum and other platinum mine owners, which saw workers earning less than R 12,500 get a wage increase of R 1,000 per month for two years and R 950 per month in the third year. In October 2019, Implats announced it would acquire the outstanding shares in Canadian-based North American Palladium Limited for $758 million. North American Palladium Ltd. was purchased by Johannesburg-based Impala Platinum Holdings Limited for CA$1 billion in 2019. Under the terms of the deal, Brookfield Business Partners was paid $570 million for its 81% stake in the company and minority shareholders were paid $19.74 per share. From that point on, the Lac des Iles mine would be operated by the new company called Impala Canada Limited.
Management
Since August 2018, Impala Platinum has been led by company directors Nico Muller and Meroonisha Kerber. Kerber joined the company in August 2018 after her predecessor Brenda Berlin, who had served as CFO since 2011, resigned in February.
