Mr Baxter was appointed CEO of the Minerals Council in 2015. He has 29 years of high-level advocacy and strategy experience in the business and mining sectors. He was involved in the first mineral policy discussions with the ANC in 1992 and in most of the significant minerals policy discussions since then.  He has participated in, and often led, the business negotiation teams on a range of issues such as the 2002 Mining Charter, the 1998 Energy Policy White Paper, the 1997 Skills Development Act, the 2009 Royalty Act, the 2010 revised Mining Charter, etc. He has participated in all the Presidential Job Summit and Investment Conferences, and he has played a leadership role in encouraging government to focus on the issues that drive South Africa’s investment competitiveness. He previously chaired the Business Unity South Africa’s (BUSA) Economic Policy Committee and Economic Growth Task Team. He is the Founding Chairman of the World Platinum Investment Council. He recently participated in President Ramaphosa’s 7-a-side NEDLAC leadership team looking at how to revive the economy post COVID-19. He has played a key leadership role in rejuvenating the brand of the Minerals Council and brings material leadership, governance, strategy, investment, and transformation skills to the table.

He is a member of the Minerals Council Board, the BUSA Board, the TEBA Fund Trust Board of Trustees and he chairs the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC). He is Chairman of the Associations Coordination Group of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) and is the current Chairman of the Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa (MIASA). In 2020, Mr Baxter was the winner of the Mining Review Africa, 2020 Mining Thought Leader of the Year award. The article states “Fully committed to the mining industry and a person who pulls no punches when it comes to addressing pertinent matters. These words aptly describe Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter.” In 2018, Mr Baxter was awarded the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy’s (SAIMM) Brigadier Stokes Platinum medal for his contribution to the South African mining sector. Since the launch of the MiningMX “Rainmaker and Pot-stirrers” publication, Mr Baxter has been listed as one of Africa’s top 100 most influential people in the mining industry.

With over 25 years’ experience in mining, finance and management, George has led a number of mining and energy companies, including Shanta Gold Ltd (which he successfully listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2005), a seed funder and founder of OreCorp Ltd. (ASX). In 2006, George established MDM Engineering Ltd, which he successfully listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2008. MDM Engineering Ltd is a mining engineering company building mineral process plants and mining infrastructure throughout Africa. In 2014, George was instrumental in selling the business to AmecFosterWheeler Limited. In addition, George has been a partner and director with a number of leading financial, broking and advisory businesses including Fergusson Bros, Simpson Mckie and HSBC Securities Africa (Pty) Ltd.

Jason Brewer is a qualified mining engineer, with a master’s degree, with Honours, from the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College, London and has worked in both underground and open-cast mining operations in the UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa. He has had experience with a number of major global investment banks, including Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, NM Rothschild & Sons (Australia) Limited and Investec Bank (Australia) Limited in London, Sydney and Perth, where he was responsible for structuring and arranging corporate and project financing facilities for mining and exploration companies with a particular focus on projects in Africa. He is the founder and principle of Gathoni Muchai Investments (GMI), an active, private equity-style investment company, focused on the mining and metals sector opportunities in Africa. With headquarters in Nairobi; Kenya and with offices in London and Perth, GMI originates and structures transactions, provides early-stage capital and works closely with local partners and private publicly-listed companies to provide early-stage capital, structure, management and a clear path to international capital markets. Jason is the current CEO of Marula Mining Plc, a London-listed battery metals focused company that is producing lithium in South Africa and developing a high-grade copper project in Tanzania and advancing two graphite projects in Tanzania. He is also the Chairman of Neo Energy Metals, a uranium and energy metals exploration and development company focused on the Henkries uranium project in South Africa's Northern Cape province.

Musawenkosi Buthelezi is a member of Ntuthuko Resources, as COO and a Technical Manager for the exploration programmes.  He is also a Ph.D. candidate in Geochemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand and holds a Master’s degree in Geology and Applied Geochemistry. Musawenkosi is a geologist with over 6 years of experience in the consulting industry, registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions as a Professional Natural Scientist in Geological Science. His project experience has varied over this period (geology, hydrogeology and mineral exploration).  

James Campbell has spent over 30 years in the diamond industry in a variety of leadership roles both in major and junior companies.  He is currently MD of Botswana Diamonds and also a Non-Executive Director of Shefa Gems. Previously he held leadership roles at Rockwell Diamonds, Stellar Diamonds, Lucara Diamond, African Diamonds, West African Diamonds and De Beers where he spent over 20 years with notable appointments including GM Exploration and Nicky Oppenheimer's Personal Assistant. James is also Chairman of the leadership development NPO Common Purpose SA. James holds a degree in Mining & Exploration Geology from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College, London) and a MBA with distinction from Durham University. James is a Fellow of the IOM3, SAIMM and IODSA.  He is also a C.Eng (UK), C.Sci (UK) and Pr.Sci.Nat.  

Heye is a Namibian mining engineer with an impressive 25-year track record with top-tier companies across the mining value chain. After building and operating mines with Rio Tinto, AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields early in his career, he joined the finance sector working for Nedbank Capital and Old Mutual Investment Group. Heye is the co-founder of the former Auryx Gold Corp. which advanced the Otjikoto gold project in Namibia until selling to B2 Gold Corp for US$160m in 2011. As the former President & CEO of Ecuador Gold & Copper Corp. (“EGX”), Heye was instrumental in the formation of Lumina Gold Corp. through the C$200m merger of EGX with Odin Mining, before founding Osino Resources in 2015.

Will Dawes has 30 years’ experience in the resource sector, encompassing investment banking, equity research, mineral exploration, mining, metallurgy and recycling. He is the co-founder and Chief Executive of TSX-V and AIM-listed Mkango Resources, which has advanced a rare earths project in Malawi from an early exploration stage to a definitive feasibility study in July 2022 in parallel with a rare earth separation project in Poland, and a growing rare earth magnet recycling business in the UK, Germany and United States via its interests in Maginito and HyProMag. 

Chester Goodburn is a qualified Chartered Accountant with 16 years of tax, audit and advisory experience in the energy and natural resources sector. He worked as a senior manager at KPMG South Africa where he provided services to JSE, NYSE, AIM and TSX-listed entities. He joined Caledonia in September 2014 and previously represented the Group as Group Financial Manager and Chief Information Officer.

Robin joined Wood Mackenzie in 2003 and has spent considerable time in both coal consulting and research roles. Consulting assignments included project due diligence, market assessments, price forecasting and coal procurement. An integral part of the research team since 2007, Robin has undertaken global mine cost estimation and supply analysis for both coal and base metals. Robin joined the coal markets team in 2012 and until 2021 was responsible for metallurgical coal markets analysis. Robin has now broadened his role to act as SME for global mined commodity markets, and is responsible for cross-commodity markets analysis.

Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Robin spent 7 years in the power and coal industries in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Australia undertaking coal procurement, coal exploration, project development, geological and engineering roles.  Robin also worked as a coal marketer selling thermal coal in Asia. Robin holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology and an MSc in Mining Engineering, from Camborne School of Mines, UK.

Frank R. Hallam has over 27 years of experience in the mining, minerals and petroleum industry as an operator, principal and founder of several NYSE.American, TSX and TSXV corporations. His experience includes both equity and debt financing and the execution of exploration, discovery and development programmes in Canada, the USA, Mexico and in six different countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. Significant business partners have included Anglo American Platinum Limited, Barrick Gold Corporation, Newmont Mining Corporation, Industrias Penoles SAB de CV, Fresnillo Plc, JCI Limited and Impala Platinum Limited. He has been directly involved in friendly and hostile M&A transactions and has been involved in more than USD $2.0 billion in public offerings in the USA, Canada and Europe. In his role as CFO and Director with TSX-listed gold exploration company Tan Range Exploration Corp. (1995 to 2002), he set up and administered exploration offices in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Frank was the original founder of New Millennium Metals Corp., a predecessor company to Platinum Group Metals Ltd. In addition to co-founding Platinum Group Metals Ltd, he was a co-founder (2003) and former CFO and director until 2014 of MAG Silver Corp. Frank was a co-founder (2005) and director of West Timmins Mining Inc. that was purchased by producing company Lake Shore Gold Corp. in 2009 for over CAD $ 400 million after the discovery of the Thunder Creek gold deposit. He served as a director of Lake Shore until the billion-dollar take-over of Lake Shore by Tahoe Resources Inc. in April 2016. Frank currently serves as CFO & Corporate Secretary of West Vault Mining Inc. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant (1993), was formerly an auditor in the public mining practice of Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) and holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University (1990).

Alistair Hodgkinson is the Chief Operating Officer for DRA Global. Alistair joined DRA in 2007 and built up his 25 years of industry experience through his involvement in large scale mining and minerals processing projects across EMEA and implementing various greenfields and brownfields resources projects.  In his current role, Alistair is responsible for managing the operations and delivery of DRA’s diverse projects portfolio. Alistair completed his B.Sc. Eng (Mechanical) at the University of the Witwatersrand, holds an MBA from the University of Cape Town and is a registered professional engineer.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done” – Nelson Mandela’s quote is an axiom that defines Boris’ career. That latest achievement has been the successful birth of Alphamin’s Bisie tin project. Boris is an accomplished senior business and investment executive. He has a passion for Africa and the varied opportunities it holds. His ability to identify potential, unlock opportunity and celebrate talent diversity adds significant value in the growing and competitive African business and mining environment. Boris graduated with an MBA from WITS Business School, University of the Witwatersrand and a BSc (Civil Engineering) (cum laude) from the University of Cape Town - both times named on the Dean’s merit list. Boris is a member of the SA Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Patrycja, has been with the JSE for 15 years, of which most of this time has been spent focusing on local and offshore equity origination. Patrycja works in the Primary Market Division which is responsible for origination of new listings across the three asset classes, Equity, Debt and Structured Products, as well as co-creation and development of new products with the broader eco system. In her current role as Business Development Manager, she is responsible for originating new equity listings for Main Board and Altx both local and international issuers, across the various sectors with a focus on resources. Prior to the JSE, Patrycja worked for FNB, Liberty Life and learned some entrepreneurial lessons by starting a business focusing on international VAT recovery.

Philip has 30 years’ experience in exploration, mining and economic geology, with extensive exposure in different geological terrains worldwide. He commenced his career as a Mine Geologist for Gencor Limited, then became a Mining Analyst for the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and operated as an independent consultant to several junior and mid-tier mining companies. Philip has progressed numerous projects from greenfields to feasibility and into production. Philip was responsible for progressing the projects that are the subject of the acquisitions by Arcadia from a technical point of view. Philip is member of the Geological Society of South Africa and holds an Honours degree in Geology from the University of Stellenbosch.

Mosa Mabuza qualified as geologist with a BSc (Hons) and with a PDA in Business. He has extensive exploration experience in multiple regional jurisdictions that span SADC, West Africa and Canada, amongst others. He assumed his official duties in 2006 as Director of Mineral Economics in the erstwhile Department of Minerals and Energy and later became Deputy Director-General of the Mineral Policy (and Investment Promotion) in 2012. During his tenure as an official, he was assigned with the duties of leading the preliminary strategy for sustainable development and meaningful transformation of South Africa’s mining industry with emphasis on competitive growth and transformation as symbolistic reinforcing concepts, the development of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill and the assessment of the progress impact on the implementation of the Mining Charter in 2009 and 2015, which respectively based the evidence value proposition for the amendments of the 2010 and 2017 Mining Charter. Mr Mabuza represented the Department of Mineral Resources on the boards of number of science councils and State-Owned Entities, including, albeit not limited to, the Council for Geoscience, Mintek and the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator. In November 2016, Mr Mabuza was deployed to the Council for Geoscience and now serves as CEO (since July 2017). He is currently working with his colleagues to champion the refocused geo-scientific programme that seeks to optimise the development impact, aligned with the national developmental priorities.

Peter Major was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on 16 May 1955. His family moved to Kellogg, Idaho, the 'silver mining capital of the world' in 1961, where Peter grew up and worked through 1981. Peter graduated from Montana School of Mines in 1981 and came to South Africa in Jan 1982 to work for Harmony Gold Mine. He completed his South African Mine Manager's Certificate, an MBA from UCT and thereafter worked as a consultant and as Marketing & Training Manager for Eimco Mining Machinery SA. Peter began his investment career with Allan Gray in 1989 as a gold mine analyst. He then spent 10 years as mining analyst & fund manager at Nedcor Investment Bank where he won 2 Raging Bull Awards, 1 ‘runner up, and was South Africa’s Top Fund Manager 2 other years. In 2001 as CIO he set up HBD Asset Management with Mark Shuttleworth, with assets of $530m growing to $1.5bn by 2005. In 2006 Peter joined Cadiz (later bought by Mergence and now Modern) Corporate Solutions where he is Director: Mining, focusing on Private Equity, Capital Raising and M & A activity in the Mining & Resources sector.

Mandy Malebe is a 35-year-old young black woman entrepreneur with an educational background in law and short-term insurance. Professionally, since 2011, Mandy has acquired a variety of business experience and has over the years held various leadership roles in the imports and exports of valuable cargo. 2020 saw Mandy become the CEO of Lethabo Exploration Propriety Limited (“Lethabo”), which is South Africa’s first 100% black-owned exploration and mining company to hold a mining right, and which includes the majority of Limpopo’s strategic minerals, such as platinum group metals, chrome, vanadium and iron ore amongst others.  In November 2022, Mandy was nominated and elected to serve as one of the Deputy Chairpersons of the Exploration and Junior Miners Leadership Forum at the Minerals Council South Africa.  Mandy continues to be an indispensable pillar as one of South Africa’s youngest women CEOs in the mining sector.

Jacob Mbele is the Director General of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, South Africa. Prior to this appointment, he was the Deputy Director for Energy Programmes and Projects. He was appointed to this position in July 2022. He has 20 years’ experience in the energy sector’s policy, regulation and enforcement and has held various senior positions in both the public and private sector. Among his areas of competence are planning for energy and power systems as well as policy development. Jacob holds a Master’s in Business Administration, a Post Graduate Diploma in Engineering (Industrial) and Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Electrical). He is the Co-Chair of the Economic Sectors Employment and Infrastructure Development Cluster.

Louis Nel is a highly accomplished senior manager with over 21 years of experience in the manufacturing and manganese refining industries. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Manganese Metal Company (Pty) Ltd, the world's largest producer of pure electrolytic manganese metal, where he has successfully positioned the company for profitability through his effective leadership, vision and operational expertise. Louis is also a visible member of industry organisations and serves as the Executive Director on the board of Manganese Metal Company (Pty) Ltd. Earlier in his career, Louis worked as an Audit Manager at Deloitte, where he completed his mandatory articles and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA).

Jan is a geologist by profession and holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Earth Sciences. Jan has over 28 years of practical experience in management, mine production, exploration and team building. Jan has been the CEO of companies listed on the JSC, London’s AIM market and the Canadian TSX-V. Jan has been instrumental in building several junior companies, most notably Pan African Resources which he started with a market capitalization of less than ZAR250m and grew it to a company with a market capitalization in excess of ZAR5 billion with over 5,000 employees. Jan was also instrumental in listing Pan African Resources on the JSE Alt-X and later the Main Board with it being the first dual primary AIM listing. Jan’s key strengths are goal driven, an opportunity spotter and driver and motivator of people.

Lili Nupen is a founder of Nupen Staude de Vries Incorporated, a boutique law firm specialising in construction, mining and environmental law. She has extensive experience in the environmental and mining legal regulatory arena. Previously, Lili was a senior associate at Bowman Gilfillan for three years, and a director for over seven years at Malan Scholes Inc, specialising in mining and environmental regulatory law practice. She has a deep understanding of the South African mining industry and enjoys well-established relationships with its regulators. Lili has practical experience working on transactions involving both international and local mining and exploration companies throughout South Africa and Africa. She is currently assisting with the analysis of the new Mining Charter and the effect which it has on mining operations in South Africa.

Johan Odendaal is a Mineral Economist and holds a B.Sc. degree in Geology, a B.Sc. Hons degree in Mineral Economics and a M.Sc. degree in Mining Engineering. Johan is director and co-founder of mining consulting firm Minxcon (2005) and has 36 years’ experience in the mining and financial industry. This includes 19 years as an independent mining consultant and 12 years as a financial analyst involved in mine-financial analysis and valuations and corporate advisory. He headed mining research at a leading South African broking firm and spent several years at Merrill Lynch as Vice President. Johan is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Miracle Upon Miracle and Managing Director of Southern Palladium.

George has extensive experience in the natural resources sector in Africa, providing consultancy to prospective exploration companies and is actively involved in several start-ups that have listed on AIM and TSX-V. George has successfully obtained licences and concluded mineral exploration and exploitation agreements in the entire SADC region, Ethiopia and most of CEMAC and ECOWAS regions. Prior to founding Premier, George was the Managing Director Africa, for Uramin Inc.

Hulme is a director of the firm and a mining attorney with over 20 years’ experience in the mining sector in South Africa and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. He has in-depth knowledge of mineral rights issues and BEE transactions in this industry. Hulme was previously the head of the mining practice at Werksmans Inc. and a director of the firm for eight years. He sits on the boards of various mining companies as a non-executive director and has a practical understanding of the industry, having begun his career as a Learner Official on the then Rand Mines Limited Harmony Gold Mine.

Errol is a geologist, registered with the South African Council of Natural Scientific Professionals. He has more than 25 years of industry experience across all aspects of exploration, mine development and operations with experience in precious and base metals. Errol has held positions in Anglogold, Cluff Mining, Metallon Gold, Clarity Minerals, LionGold Corporation and African Stellar Holdings. His senior executive roles have been on several boards of companies listed on the TSX, ASX and JSE.

Alan is a Wits Mining Engineer with over 45 years’ industry experience. He spent 27 years with Anglo and De Beers group of companies. He was the CEO of AngloGold South African Region, when it was the largest production unit for AngloGold. He was the CEO of FreeGold Ltd prior to the formation of AngloGold, He was also the GM of De Beers’ Central Mines (Kimberley, Finsch and Koffiefontein mines). Alan is a member of the Association of Mine Managers South Africa.

Ian Stalker has over 40 years’ experience in development and mining projects across multiple jurisdictions in Africa, Europe, South America and Australia. He has significant experience in the corporate arena and has been involved with numerous M&A transactions across a wide range of companies.  He has also raised over US$700 million for mineral resource projects, with a proven track record of delivering significant shareholder returns for investors. He has held board positions on a number of companies, including CEO of K92 Mining, purchased from Barrick for $2million in 2014, now in 2021 a C$2 billion market cap Canadian company, and is President & CEO of LSC Lithium. He holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland.

Willis joined CRU in February 2017 with more than five years in metals sales, production and procurement activities. As Head of CRU+ he is responsible for a team focused on efficiently delivering CRU data and custom reports which fall outside of the subscription or consultancy/advisory service offerings. Before moving to CRU+, he managed consulting projects across a wide range of mined commodities, metals and fertilizers. Willis has significant experience in ferroalloys (silicon, manganese, vanadium and niobium), steel metallics and raw materials, base and minor metals (zinc, tin, germanium), as well as broad coverage across fertilizer markets for nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and sulphur. Willis holds a Masters in Finance from Colorado State University and a BA in Political Science from Washington & Jefferson College. Willis is based in CRU's Pittsburgh office.

Andries van Heerden has been serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Afrimat Ltd since November 2006. He is also a member of the company's board of directors. Prior to serving in this role, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Lancaster Group (Pty) Ltd (2005), the Managing Director of Prima Quarries (Pty) Ltd. (2003-2005) and served in various other operational management roles, mostly in the mining and quarrying industries. Andries is well known for his visionary leadership and was instrumental in 2006 in the formation and listing of Afrimat on the JSE from the merger of Prima and Lancaster. Being a results-driven, performance-oriented people person, Andries is constantly investing time and energy in refining the business' strategy. He is passionate about people and leadership development and further enhanced his knowledge on these subjects when he attended the four-week "Advanced Management" programme in July 2017 at INSEAD, The business school of the World in Fontainebleau, France. With his extensive experience in strategic positioning, engineering, marketing and finance, Andries was humbled in November 2017 when he was named the winner of the masters' category of the Ernst & Young World entrepreneur of the Year award for the Southern African region.

Previously CEO and Director for St-Georges Eco Mining Corp. (CSE:SX), Vilhjalmur holds a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Bifrost, Iceland. In his professional career he has been active in the mining and civil  construction industry along with investments and development projects. Over the last 30 years he has mainly been operating in Iceland, Canada, Scandinavia, Greenland, UK and  Africa. His roles have been at Owner/Senior Management and Director level, ranging from greenfield exploration projects to mining services and mine build up. In his previous role he headed a team that took SX from $1m market cap to over $150m.

Anthony Viljoen is a seasoned African mining entrepreneur and mining executive. He is a founding shareholder of VM Investment Company (Pty) Ltd, a principal investments and advisory company with a bias towards mining exploration and development. He has been responsible for the establishment and project development of numerous mining projects, including vanadium, lithium, tin, tantalum, coal and gold across Africa.

Anthony was a founder and CEO of Lemur Resources (ASX:LMR), an Australian-listed company focused on the development of the coal basins for electricity generation in Madagascar, from inception in 2008 until the company was acquired by Bushveld Minerals in 2014. He was a founding shareholder and executive director of London-listed Bushveld Minerals (AIM:BMN), from 2011 until he exited earlier last year (2022), building Bushveld from an exploration company into a producer of 5% of the world’s supply of vanadium. His current role is as the founder and CEO of London-listed Andrada Mining (AIM:ATM), which is focused on identifying and developing technology metals for the energy transition. Under his leadership, the company identified and developed its flagship asset in Namibia, the Uis mine, which contains globally significant quantities of lithium, tin and tantalum. Anthony holds a Bachelor of Business and Agricultural Economics degree and a postgraduate qualification in finance and banking. He grew up in the mining industry in Africa and has drawn from the wealth of knowledge and experienced network of mining professionals acquired by his father and late uncle, Richard and Morris Viljoen, who were both pre-eminent professors of geology and are renowned for their contributions to the African mining industry and geology in particular. Between them, they cultivated more than a century of exploration and mine development experience.