Can Anglo American chief Mark Cutifani defuse explosive South African relations? Anglo is heavily exposed. At a function in Mr Cutifani's honour, South African minerals minister Susan Shabangu told the mining boss: "Mark, this Anglo American plc, it's ours. It's a South African company. Hired from Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third biggest gold producer - in no small part because of his experience in navigating South African labour relations - Mr Cutifani will find his stakeholder engagement skills quickly put to the test. Anglo's subsidiary Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) was supposed to finish its consultation process on a planned 14,000 job cuts in South Africa at the end of last month. Instead, on Thursday last week it said it was extending talks with the government by another 30 days. "We have made progress and have had constructive discussions with our stakeholders," Chris Griffith, the head of Amplats, said. However, the volume of information and data has necessitated the proposed extension. Certainly, the plans were never going to be an easy sell. January's announcement from Amplats, the world's largest platinum producer, that it was about to mothball two mines and cut its costs caused upset among politicians and workers in the country, even raising the spectre of a repeat of last year's violent strikes. Amplats has defended the plans as critical to its survival as the platinum industry struggles with weak metal prices and rising costs. The company has also promised a package of initiatives to help staff find new work, suggesting that one option is to support workers in becoming better farmers back in their home villages. They seem yet to be convinced to return to the land, however. Activists from the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), now the biggest union at Amplats, have warned they will shut down production again if the company cuts headcount as planned. It is a tense situation. Some changes to the original strategy are expected after the consultation concludes, but reductions to the headline job losses look less likely. The people problem is just one of the headaches facing Cutifani, an Australian father of seven, who replaces Cynthia Carroll after she announced her resignation under pressure from investors last year. Anglo is seen as the most diversified of the major mining groups listed in London, but it also has a diversified set of issues. Mr Cutifani must wrestle with Anglo's vast over-budget Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil, which has been saddled with rising costs amid legal problems and bureaucratic delays over permits. All this comes as mining investors, tired of cost over-runs and operational problems, demand that companies" management keep a tighter grip on the purse strings as a commodity price boom wanes. So far, the reaction has been positive to Mr Cutifani's appointment. But there are limits to what one man can do. As analysts at Macquarie put it, his imminent arrival "has brought a 'feel-good" factor to Anglo and a heightened sense of anticipation about the unlock of this latent value. We would caution, however, that there are no quick fixes and patience is required. Ms Carroll, exiting last week, delivered her own parting shot to shareholders, warning that "the [industry] context has changed, maybe the shareholder base must also change. It will need more time and patience. That is not a message Mr Cutifani is likely to be able to echo, however, even if he might want to.