Previous Speakers

H.E Hala Zawati

HE Eng. Hilal Al Busaidi is the CEO of the Public Authority for Mining, appointed to this role in April 2015 by a royal decree. Previously, he was working with Petroleum Development Oman as the Petroleum Engineering Manager. He started his career in 1991 after graduating in the US as a petroleum engineer.

Presently is the Director of Petroleum and Oil Shale Directorate at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, responsible for the characterization, assessment, management, promotion and utilization and exploitation of Jordan’s energy resources, especially the Kingdom’s extensive deposits of oil shale and setting the policies and strategies of both the Petroleum exploration campaigns and investment projects as well as the oil shale exploitation and investment projects. Responsible for monitoring seven Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) and four Concession Agreements (CA) negotiated between the Government and the companies which propose to develop oil shale in Jordan and two Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) and one Enhancement Production Agreement (EPA).
Helped in developing Jordan’s current strategy for oil shale development projects and working currently on setting Instructions and regulations to control the Investment Projects in both Oil Exploration and Oil Shale exploitation fields. Helped in setting MEMR’s evaluation criteria for oil shale investments. Finalized various provisions of the Oil Shale Mining Agreements for MEMR. Helped finalize the agreement templates for new field tests and pilot plants. Supports the continuous updating of MEMR’s template for Memoranda of Understanding and various agreements.

Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari was appointed Minister of State for Solid Minerals Development on November 11, 2015. A consummate politician with extensive working experience in both public and private sectors, he began work as a planning officer with the Niger State Ministry of Lands, Survey and Town Planning in 1988 before setting up his own practice, Tropical Design Associates in 1994. His other business interests include Gamji-Tech Aluminium Company, Mercury Nigeria Ltd, Interstate Property Development Company and a dealership with Unipetrol Nigeria. Elected member of the House of Representatives for Suleja/Gurara/Tafa Federal Constituency in 1998, he served as the Chief Whip of the House for 8 years (between1999-2007), becoming the longest serving member of the National Assembly leadership. During this eventful period, he was elected Vice President of the African, Caribbean, Pacific and European Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly and Chairman of the planning committee, ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in 2000. In 2004, he was awarded Officer in the Order of Leopold (the highest honour bestowed on a foreigner) by His Majesty King Albert II of Belgium, and in the same year, he received a honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from the City University of Los Angeles. Hon Bawa Bwari holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and is a registered member of both the Nigeria Institute of Town Planners and Town Planning Registration Council. Hon. Bwari is widely travelled and enjoys sporting activities (he is known to be an excellent Football Match Commentator). He also enjoys reading and continues to be actively involved in environmental issues and projects that directly impact on the lives of his people.

Hon. Naana Eyiah is the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and the Member of Parliament for Gomoa Central in the Central Region of Ghana.

She is in charge of mining at the Ministry.  Hon. Naana Eyiah is a businesswoman and holds a certificate in Project Management from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

She is passionate about girl child education and women empowerment, so as to enable them to contribute effectively and efficiently towards economic and social development.

Hon. Naana Eyiah currently serves on the health committee and privileges committee of the Parliament of Ghana. She enjoys reading, listening to music and dancing.

Dr. Abdulkadir Mu’azu was born in Mayere Village of Makarfi Local Government Area of Kaduna Sate.

He attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1981 and 1986 where he studied Medicine.

Dr. Mu’azu, joined the Federal Public Service in 1988 after his National Youth Service as a Medical Officer I with the defunct National Sports Commission and rose through the ranks to become a Director in 2009.

Dr. Mu’azu trained as a Specialist Sports Medicine Physician at the Prestigious Australian Institute of Sports and the University of Canberra between 1994 and 1995 and attended numerous International Conferences, Fellowships and Courses in Sports Medicine, Sports Policy and Doping and Anti-Doping in the last 29 years. He was the first African to undertake an International FIMS Sports Medicine Fellowship Program in the year 2000 and remains the only Nigerian Sports Medicine Doctor holding the membership of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

He is a Sports Medicine Instructor for the Confederation of African Football (CAF), a FIFA Doping Control Officer, chairs the Medical Committees of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF). He is also a member of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) Medical Commission and one of two Africans on the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Medical Commission.

During his public service career spanning 30 years, Dr. Mu’azu has been part of the key milestone achievements recorded by Nigeria in the Sports Sector. He was the Team Doctor to victorious Saudi 89 Flying Eagles of the “Miracle of Dammam”, Team Doctor to the Nigeria Olympic Football Team that won the only Olympic Gold Medal in football for Nigeria at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 and has been Chief Medical Officer for Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympic Games, 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, and 2016 Rio Olympic Games respectively.

In addition to his numerous involvements in organization and provision of sports medicine support to national athletes and during major international events hosted by Nigeria, sports policy developments with particular reference to the promotion of physical activity amongst citizens for the promotion of health and prevention of non-communicable diseases, National Anti-Doping Policy, Promotion of National Safe Sports Participation, Dr. Mu’azu was engaged in a project working with UNESCO to use the power of sport to promote Sustainable Development and Peace within the frameworks of the 2030 Development Agenda, National Sustainable Development Priorities and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

He was appointed a Federal Permanent Secretary by President Muhammadu Buhari in August 2017 and served in the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development before his redeployment to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the 24th of September 2018.

Dr. Abdulkadir Mu’azu is married to A’isha and they are blessed with three children.

My name is Almaz Belayneh and I am working for Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas. I studied my first degree in Geology from Addis Ababa University. I also completed my post graduate studies with masters in business administration (MBA) in Industrialization and Management from Maastricht school of management in the Netherlands. I am now working as an advisor to the Minister’s office since April 2010. Before taking this position, I worked as a plan expert, team leader and acting head of planning and programming department. I also led the human resources development and management department for one year between 2009 and 2010.

Mohamed Baba SYLLA, B.Eng., M.Eng., holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (Telecommunication) and a master’s degree in computer engineering from Polytechnique Montréal affiliated with Université de Montréal. He holds also a strategic foresight certificate from Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) in Paris.
From 2002 to 2008, he has been working in Montreal as software engineer and consultant for several companies, including the investment bank Morgan Stanley through Compuware.
From 2008 in 2015, he worked as Senior Consultant in France mainly for CAC 40 companies (Accor, Cap Gemini, T-Systems…) as major Information System project manager and architect.
From 2015 to 2016, Mohamed Baba SYLLA was Chief Operating Officer in Niger in charge of defining and implementing a strategy of transformation and development of one of the leader company of the country.
Since July 2016, Mohamed Baba SYLLA is the Deputy Director-general of the Mining Promotion and Development Center of the Republic of Guinea. He has driven successfully the completion of the modernization of the mining cadaster which now enables an efficient and transparent management of mining titles and authorizations.

Daouda Diakite is a geological engineer who did his graduate studies in Morocco and France.  He joined the Cabinet of the Minister of Mines and Geology, as Technical Assistant, in 2017. Since then, he has been strongly involved in the development and monitoring of geological research projects,  the establishment and management of the geoscientific data bank,  working abroad to communicate the mineralogical potential of the country and negotiations on the revival of mining development projects.

Previously, Mr Diakite worked in several internationally renowned groups, notably within the Rio Tinto group, where he worked on the bankable feasibility studies of the Simandou project. On this project he obtained a merit of recognition from the Canadian company Golder Associate for the quality of his geological work and the different linguistic links between the English-speaking expatriates and the local population; Within the BRGM – France, he participated in the mapping of underground quarries in the Department of Vienne; He also worked in the GRS Valtech – Veolia Group, where he participated in the management of the database of polluted sites and soils, also carrying out soil and groundwater remediation work.

Mr Diakite has carried out several field missions relating to geological and geochemical mapping in the Pyrenees, the Dordogne and the High Atlas, for the recognition of sedimentary deposit environments and their modes of formation.

In addition, his technical experience in the fields of geology and the environment led to a complementary training in computer science at Claude Bernard University in Lyon (France), focusing on the design and development of management of a database.

These computer skills allowed him to set up an application for monitoring and management of all security equipment within the EDG company, where he trained some managers in the prevention of occupational risks in the context of Health and Safety. Safety at work.

Mr Diakite was president of the Association of African and Guinean Students respectively in Kenitra (Morocco) and Bordeaux (France), where he organized scientific, cultural and sports activities. He is currently Professor of Sedimentology, Stratigraphy and Metallogy at Barak Obama University in Sonfonia.

Prior to his appointment at the Senegalese Ministry of Mines as the National Director of Mines & Geology, Mr. Ousmane CISSE worked as a Technical Specialist with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Project for Capacity Development for Negotiating and Regulating Investment Contracts to strengthen the long-term institutional capacity of some African countries to negotiate contracts and manage related large-scale natural resources investment projects. Mr. CISSE has been involved in many international projects related to the mining sector. He has been selected as a Person Resource by the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA) to review the mineral law and policy of some selected West and North African countries, by Oxford Policy Management to review issues and challenges in the design and application of minerals taxation regimes. Also, he served as a National Expert at the Economic Commission for West Africa States to prepare the draft document of the ECOWAS Directive on the Harmonization of Guiding Principles and Policies in the Mining Sector. Mr. CISSE is a Geologist Engineer and also completed an MBA degree in General Management and a Master of Laws – Mineral Law & Policy.

Dr Mowafa Taib serves as a physical scientist in the Global Minerals Analysis Section of the National Mineral Information Centre at the U.S. Geological Survey. He focuses on mineral production statistics, developments, exploration, and outlook of the mineral industries in the Middle East and North Africa region, and writes annual reviews of the mineral industry of fifteen Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The reviews are published in the U.S. Geological Survey Minerals Yearbook. Dr. Taib holds a Master of Science and Doctorate of philosophy degrees in soil chemistry from the University of Maryland at College Park as well as Bachelor of Science and Post Graduate Degrees in agricultural sciences and agricultural economics from Damascus University.

Hon. Francis Gatare

Hon. Francis Gatare is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rwanda Mines, Petroleum & Gas Board (RMB) with extensive experience in both the public and private sector. Previously he was the CEO of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) from 2014-2017. From October 2009 to July 2014, he served as Principal Private Secretary to H.E the President of the Republic of Rwanda. He also served as the Chief Economist and Deputy Head of Policy and Strategy in the Office of the President. Prior to joining the Office of The President, he served as the Principal Deputy CEO of the RDB. Mr Gatare also served as the Director-General of the Rwanda Investment & Export Promotion Agency from May 2007 to September 2008. From April 2005 to October 2009, he was the Personal Representative of H.E the President of Rwanda, to the NEPAD Steering Committee. Mr Gatare has served in several managerial positions in UNDP and taught economics at universities. He was a Mason Fellow at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Dr Mbizvo is chairman of the newly established Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency. The Agency is intended to be a One-Stop Investment Services Centre, bringing under one desk all the services a would-be investor needs to consider investing in Zimbabwe.

Known as “Madame Energie,” Amina Benkhadra started her career in 1982 as a mining engineer at the Moroccan mining research bureau (BRPM). Eight years later, she became head of the investment division at BRPM, managing a portfolio of more than 30 subsidiary companies. In 1994, she became director of mines within the ministry of energy and mines, the first time a woman was appointed by a royal decree to such a position.
In 1997, Minister Benkhadra moved into government as one of the first four woman named by his majesty as secretary of state. She became general director of BRPM in 1998, then general director of the National Office of Oil Research and Exploitation (ONAREP), the state’s exploration company, in 2000. In 2005, she presided over the merger of the BRPM and ONAREP which is when ONHYM was created. In October 2007, she was appointed as a minister in charge of energy, mines, water and the environment.
Jeune Afrique named Minister Benkhadra one of the 25 most influential women in Africa. She has been awarded the Wissam al-Arch, known as the Order of the Throne, for her work on Arab-European organization in the environment, as well as, the Legion of Honor from the Republic of France. She holds a bachelor’s of science in civil mining engineering from École des Mines de Nancy and a doctoral in mining sciences from Mines ParisTech (École des Mines de Paris.)

Khaled Alohali joined Ma’aden in 2014 as a Vice President of Strategy, Planning and Development. He also led the Ma’aden Aluminum’s strategy until he was appointed into his current role. He is an alternate member of the MBAC and MAC Board of Directors, and a member of MRC Board of Directors.

In the 20 years prior to joining Ma’aden, Khaled held leadership positions in the public and private sectors. He worked at the Project Management Office of Saudi Arabian Economic Offset Program, was a consultant for the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and was the Vice President of the National Industrial Clusters Development Program. He led the Saudi side of the Saudi-Japan Industrial Cooperation Taskforce and also had a stint as the Vice President of Charles River Associates International (CRAI) and was the Managing Director in Saudi Arabia.

Alohali holds a BSc in mechanical engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia.

Mohamed Saif Al Afkham is the Director General of Fujairah Municipality; the biggest local government department in the Emirate of Fujairah, established in 1969 to handle urban and rural municipal affairs and provide public services consistent with the requirements of development. He was involved in the Municipality affairs and projects since 2006, and he was appointed Director General in 2008. Eng. Al Afkham is alsothe Director General of Fujairah Culture and Media Authority which is the biggest and most influential cultural entity in Fujairah. Moreover, he holds the position of the General Manager of Fujairah Media Group. Al Afkham is a board member of several companies and organizations such as: Fujairah Natural Resources Est. (Chairman), Al Hilal Real Estate Company (Deputy Chairman), Fujairah Energy (Board Member), Emirates Wildlife Society (Board Member) and J.K. Cement (Board Member).

Mr. Imad Toumi serves as Chief Executive Officer of Managem S.A. Mr. Toumi has been the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President at La Mancha Resources, Inc. since May 2013. He has over 20 years of experience in managing industrial projects in the energy and mining sectors. After starting his career at CEA, he joined Areva in 2002 at the La Hague plant where he notably managed the production and project programs. In 2007, he joined Areva’s mining division as Director of Projects, in charge of a €3B portfolio for the development of mining projects in Africa and Kazakhstan. In 2011, he became General Director of Areva in Niger, a country where Areva produces more than 40% of its global uranium production. He serves as a Director of Societe Metallurgique d’Imiter SA and Managem S.A. As a Board Member of Areva Mines, he managed the AREVA South African subsidiary and was a Board member of many other mining companies. Mr. Toumi is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and holds a PhD from Université Paris 6 and an executive MBA from HEC.

Mr. Newall graduated from the Royal School of Mines, University of London, England in 1971 with an honours degree in Mining Geology, and was awarded an MBA from the Scottish Business School at Strathclyde University. He has worked in mining and exploration throughout his career, having held senior management positions with Amax Exploration Inc. and the Robertson Group plc. Mr. Newall is a co-founder and has been President and Director of the Company since its start-up in 1996. He is also a non-executive Director of Gemfields Plc and Baker Steel Resource Trust Limited.

Daniel Major is a mining engineer from the Camborne School of Mines in the UK. His career spans over 30 years in the mining industry where he has established a solid track record initially with Rio Tinto at the Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia and later as a mining analyst with HSBC Plc followed by JP Morgan Chase & Co. in London. More recently Mr. Major was Chief Executive and later Non-Executive Chairman of Basic Element Mining and Resource Division in Russia, and held leadership positions in several Canadian listed mining companies with exploration and producing assets in Canada, Russia and South America. Daniel joined GoviEx in 2012 as a director and as CEO, and has been responsible for the transition of the company from explorer to developer.

Fayez Gress is the Chairman of ASEC Company for Mining “ASCOM”. A trained geologist, Fayez gained his BSc in Geology from the Ain Shams University Cairo in 1978. From university, Fayez began straight as a field geologist for the Arab Swiss Engineering Co. (ASEC), later moving partly into an office role alongside the field work. Between 1995 and 2001, Fayez worked his way up to geology department manager and then technical manager, before assuming the role of managing director in 2001. As MD, Fayez has been in charge of significant growth of the company in the field of mining in a number of Arab and African countries, as well as establishing of the industrial arm of the group                ( Ascom for Carbonates ACCM, and Glassrock insulation ).

In 2018 Fayez is the Chairman of the group composed of a number of companies in Mining and Industrial Minerals.

Mining Geologist with a strong financial background. Thirty years experience in the mining industry: major companies (Gencor, De Beers, JCI)  to juniors (Golden Star, MDN) and mining finance (James Capel, Lehman Brothers, Ernst & Young).  Worked in Eritrea since 1995

Mr Campbell, who has been the President and CEO of Aton since 2015 and a director since 2009, has many years of experience in the mining, investment banking and petroleum industries, with 29 years of experience in Egypt. Mr Campbell was a former consultant to Pharaoh Gold Mines, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centamin Egypt Limited and before that Mr Campbell was in the drilling and oilfield services business operating primarily in Egypt and the Sudan. In addition, Mr Campbell has held senior positions with a number of investment banks, including Salomon Brothers, First Boston and Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb. Mr Campbell studied petroleum geology at Texas Tech University.

Andrew Prelea has been Chief Executive Officer of Vast Resources PLC since January 1, 2018 and its Executive Director since March 1, 2018. He has been involved with Vast since 2013 and has spearheaded the development of the Company’s Romanian portfolio. Beginning his career in the early 1990s as a bulk iron ore and steel trader in Romania, he then went on to develop his career in the property and earthmoving sector in Australia before returning to Romania in 2003, initially to focus on the development of properties for the Romanian Ministry of Defense and latterly, private sector developments. Throughout his 26 year career, Andrew has developed extensive investor and public relations experience and has advised the Romanian government on wide ranging high-level topics including social housing and economic policy. He has built a strong network of contacts across the mining and metals industries and Europe and southern Africa, in addition to policy makers and governmental authorities.

Tim has been involved in exploration and advanced project development for three decades and has worked on a number of globally significant exploration and development projects in the Junior and Major mining sectors, focused on gold and base metals. He has a proven record of delivery in large scale exploration & on feasibility studies and is experienced in Project, Country & Company management.

Notable roles include Exploration Manager Eurasia, Barrick Gold; Project Director, Tethyan Copper Company; CEO, Tethyan Copper Company; COO, Reservoir Minerals Corp; SVP Serbia, Nevsun Resources. He has served on several Boards including Barrick Gold UK Limited, Barrick Gold Romania SRL, Tethyan Copper Company Pvt, Tethyan Copper Company Ltd, Chairman at Lelantos Consulting Limited, non-exec chairman at Minexia, Associate Director at Strategia-Worldwide and advisor to the Board at WRS (Mining).

Tim is currently the CEO at Oriole Resources PLC, where the primary focus is early-stage gold exploration in Cameroon

Peter has 24 years’ experience as a geologist. He has worked on exploration and mining project across Australia and the African continent for Homestake, Barrick and more recently as Head of Discovery Group for Acacia Mining. There he was responsible for building an exploration portfolio of more than 7,000sqkm in Mali, Burkina Faso and Kenya, which led to the delineation of the Liranda gold discovery of 1.2Moz at 13g/t in Kenya. Currently, he is Head of Discovery for La Mancha. There he works in a technical role completing due diligence of the technical aspects of projects that La Mancha is considering investing in or acquiring throughout Africa, Latin America and Central Asia. Peter holds a Bachelor of Applied Science, Geology degree from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia.

David is an economic geologist with 35 years of worldwide experience and established the new AngloGold exploration team in South America in 1999. He took the company into Colombia and resulted in the discovery of the giant La Colosa gold deposit (+20Moz).

David is the founder of Stratex International Plc and also Horizonte Minerals Plc both AIM listed companies. He is also a founder of Rathdowney Resources, Medgold Resources and Erris Resources. David is first and foremost a field economic geologist. In Egypt, as Exploration Manager for Minex from 1985 to 1989, he discovered the Abu Marawat and Hamama deposits. He also managed the exploration team responsible for the discovery of the new Afar Epithermal Gold Province in Ethiopia and Djibouti, now one of the TSR assets.

He is responsible for and led teams for the discovery of Romero in the Dominican Republic (2.6Moz), Zarshuran in Iran (+3Moz) and Oksut in Turkey (1.25Moz) and has been involved in all levels of exploration and development.

Andrew is a founder and the Executive Chairman and CEO of Sarama Resources Ltd. Andrew is committed to development in Africa and is a board member of the Australia-Africa Minerals & Energy Group (AAMEG), a peak body representing Australian companies engaged in the development of Africa’s resource industry.

Andrew has over 30 years of experience in the international mining arena having worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, West Africa, UK, Russia, and Australia. He has extensive mine management, operations, and capital markets experience and has spent most of his career in the gold sector. Andrew was a director and President of DRC based Moto Goldmines Ltd from 2005 to 2009. He oversaw the development of the company’s Moto Gold Project (Kibali Gold) from 2 million to +22 million ounces of gold, taking the project from exploration to pre-development prior to the $600 million takeover by Randgold Resources and AngloGold Ashanti in October 2009.

Mr. Dinning has an MBA, a First Class Mine Managers Certificate (Western Australia and South Australia) and a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) degree.

Javier has 20+ years of experience primarily as an exploration geologist and has worked in Australia, Central Asia, west and north-east Africa, Europe, Cuba, and the Middle East. He has worked in regional greenfield exploration, through to brownfield mine-based exploration, and also spent time as an underground mine geologist at St Ives in Western Australia. He has also worked on several feasibility studies and mine development projects and has been involved in successfully bringing several major projects through to production in Kazakhstan. He has experience in a wide variety of geological settings, and mineral types and has been involved in gold, copper, chromite, nickel, bauxite, iron ore, and mineral sands exploration and development projects and has extensive experience in VMS deposits.

Javier has a BSc in Geology from Southampton University, and also has master’s degrees from the Camborne School of Mines and Imperial College in the UK.

James Philip has been Vice President of Corporate Development at Thor Explorations since 2016, where he has driven the development of Thor’s flagship Segilola Gold Project in Nigeria. He has over 20 years’ experience working in the mining and mining and metals investment banking fields, primarily focussing on Africa and the Middle East. During this time, he has established a strong track record in project development, financial advisory and financings across the capital structure, working with companies at many different stages of development from single asset junior developer to multinational corporate. James holds a Master’s degree in Earth Resources & Environmental Engineering from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London.

Christian Mildner is the Head of Corporate Sales at the London Metal Exchange where he focusses on the physical end users. He has over 10 year’s industry experience and has in-depth knowledge of corporate commodities and metals hedging. Prior to joining the LME, Christian worked at Commerzbank in London where he headed up the Commodity Corporate Sales team. Christian has a Msc. in Financial Markets from University Paris Dauphine

Simon is a geologist by training but has spent the last 15 years in the world of mining finance: analysing, researching and investing in various sectors of the natural resource space.  Having graduated from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College), he moved into mergers and acquisitions in the metals and mining sector before spending time as a Mining Analyst for two stockbrokers, and a stint as part of Investec Asset Management’s Natural Resources team managing multi-billion dollar natural resource funds.  He believes that the move to the electrification of transportation will be transformative for the metals and mining space and is excited to be part of a team that is creating the supply chain to feed it.

Techmet is building projects to secure the supply of the key metals critical to the future growth of electric vehicles, battery storage, renewable energy and other disruptive technologies.  It has both producing and development assets involved in the mining, processing and recycling of these metals in Africa, and both North & South America.

Mr Richard is an accomplished corporate lawyer and business manager who has played a key role in helping build and maintain Alara’s international joint venture relationships. He has been the Company’s General Counsel since 2011 and in 2013 took up residence in Riyadh as Alara’s Country Manager for Saudi Arabia. The Company later expanded his role to include management of Alara’s joint venture companies in Oman.

Prior to joining Alara, Mr Richard worked as Senior Commercial Officer & Contracts Specialist with Bateman Engineering (Australia), Corporate Counsel and head of legal for UGL Limited’s resources division and as a lawyer in Minter Ellison’s Construction, Engineering and Infrastructure group.

Before entering the legal profession, Mr Richard enjoyed a successful career in private enterprise as Managing Director of Irrigate Australia.

Mr Richard has attained an Executive MBA from London Business School, a Bachelor’s degree in Law from University of Western Australia and is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.

Artyom joined Natural Resources team in 2017 and is overseeing the EBRD’s activities in this sector in Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

Prior to that Artyom was with the Bank’s Equity team where he was involved and led equity transactions in manufacturing & services, agribusiness, transport, ICT and natural resources sectors across the EBRD’s countries of operation. Artyom also served on the boards of Bank’s investee companies.

Before joining EBRD in 2003 Artyom worked for Ernst & Young Corporate Finance in London and International Moscow Bank in Moscow in corporate banking and risk management/corporate recovery. He holds an MBA from London Business School (2002).

Since 2014, Mr. Sy has been an integral member of Teranga Gold’s senior management team, acting as Teranga’s primary government liaison in West Africa and ensuring compliance with the company’s in-country obligations and its corporate code of conduct. Mr. Sy has developed and maintains the long-term strategic plan for Teranga’s community relations and environmental management departments and also supports the company’s strategic growth initiatives, with a particular focus on permitting and lease approvals. Prior to joining Teranga, Mr. Sy served as Vice President Senegal Operations for the Oromin Joint Venture Group (2010-2014), Senior Manager Exploration of Lonmin for West and Central Africa (2007-2010) and Randgold Resources’ Country and Exploration Manager for Senegal (1995-2007). Mr. Sy is a geological engineer with a M.Sc. and MBA from Université du Québec.

Mr. Auclair is a geologist with over 25 years of experience, including 20 years in Africa, both in exploration and development of gold deposits. M Auclair has worked for major mining companies such as the Noranda group and Ashanti GoldFields, as well as medium-sized producers, such as Rio Narcea Gold. Mr. Auclair has been involved at the early stages of development of the Tasiast Mine during his tenure as General Manager, Tasiast mine, with Rio Narcea from 2004 to 2007. Prior to joining Algold, Mr. Auclair was the Vice-President Exploration of Gondwana Gold Inc., a gold exploration company in Burkina Faso. Mr. Auclair was formerly Chief Executive Officer of Nimini Gold, a subsidiary of Polo Resources, developing the Komahum gold deposit in Sierra Leone. Prior to this, Mr. Auclair was the Vice-President, Exploration and Business Development of Diabras (now Sierra Metals) and Country Manager, Nevsun in Eritrea. Mr. Auclair was a member of Aur Resources’ Louvicourt VMS deposit discovery team

Harry Anagnostaras-Adams was founder or co-founder of Citicorp Capital Investors Australia, investment company Pilatus Capital, Australian Gold Council, EMED Mining, KEFI Minerals and Cyprus-based Semarang Enterprises. He has overseen a number of start-ups in those and their related organisations principally through the roles of Chairman, Deputy Chairman or Managing Director. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant while working with PricewaterhouseCoopers and has a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Management

Mr Evans is an experienced project delivery and operational management expert who has most recently held the role of Chief Operating Officer at Altura Mining. During his tenure with Altura, he was responsible for building and bringing into operation a lithium mine and processing facility, covering all facets of commercial, construction and operational management. Mr Evans was also involved in establishing and maintaining key relationships with project finance and off-take partners.

Mr Evans has a Civil Engineering background with close to 20 years demonstrated success in managing large scale construction and mining development projects and operations across various commodities.

Mr Evans holds a Master of Engineering Science, Construction Management, (University of New South Wales), a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), Civil (University of New South Wales), and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Mr.Sylvestre brings over 30 years of mining sector management, operations, technical and project experience to Wellgreen Platinum. Mr. Sylvestre is currently the Regional VP Africa Kinross Gold Corp., prior to which he served as a Director and Interim CEO of Claude Resources. Mr. Sylvestre spent a significant portion of his career with Inco Ltd. where he held key senior management positions domestically and internationally. Most notably, he held the position of CEO ValeInco New Caledonia, President ValeInco Manitoba Operations, and Vice President of Operations PT Inco, Indonesia.
Mr. Sylvestre holds a M.Sc. and a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from McGill University and Queen’s University, respectively. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) in partnership with the Rotman School of Management.

Namrata Thapar is Global Head of Mining for IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Ms. Thapar leads IFC’s investment team responsible for supporting the mining sector and developing IFC’s mining business with a focus on sustainability and development impact across the emerging markets. IFC’s financing includes investments in equity, mezzanine and senior debt. She joined IFC in 1999 and has managed investments in mining transactions globally with clients ranging from major diversified companies to juniors through equity, project and corporate financings. She is based in Washington D.C.

Lisa is a Vice President in BMO’s Investment Banking Team in London where she supports the franchise in offering a variety of financial products to global clients in the Natural Resources sector. Select advisory deals include De Beers’ acquisition of Peregrine Diamonds as well as Amara Mining’s sale to Perseus Mining.

Prior to joining BMO in 2015, she spent several years in the Metals & Mining sector teams at HSBC and Société Générale working on M&A and ECM related transactions across commodities & geographies.

Lisa is a keen supporter of Women Mining UK (WIM) through BMO’s sponsorship of the “100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining” project which showcases inspiring females active in the mining industry.

Lisa holds a Master in Management from ESCP Europe in Paris, London and Berlin and a BSc in International Business from Maastricht University.

Amanda van Dyke is a Canadian and Italian national with extensive international investment expertise, specializing natural resources, equities, and gold.
Based in London since 2010, Amanda previously worked with the mining teams of GMP, Pareto, and Dundee Securities, as an analyst and mining specialist sales person. She spent 5 years chairing Women in Mining UK, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and progressing the development of women in the mining and minerals sector. She now spearheads the investing efforts at South River Asset Management as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager.

Amanda is a frequent and popular conference speaker and has authored numerous research reports as well as articles on the mining sector.

Amanda speaks multiple languages having lived in Switzerland, China, Belgium, England, Canada, Italy and the Bahamas.

She is a professional gemmologist, and holds an MBA and MA in International Economics, from SDA Bocconi and China Europe International Business School.

Steve has worked with UK Export Finance (UKEF) for many years in a variety of roles. He is currently part of a small International Business Development team aiming to raise awareness of our financial support overseas (and in the UK) and works closely with the DIT sector specialists where export credit support may be a key factor in the success of projects. Steve has regional responsibility for the Middle East and Latin America and his role involves early engagement with sponsors/buyers/borrowers/bankers on specific project opportunities and suppliers/trade bodies in the UK and specific project leads. He has previous experience in Country Risk and of promoting, in simple terms, how UKEF’s products can provide valuable support to UK companies wishing to export and to Overseas Buyers looking at engaging UK contractors/suppliers

Ignacio is IFC’s London-based Principal Investment Officer for Natural Resources with responsibility over IFC’s Western European based clients in the oil, gas and mining sectors. Prior to his posting in London, Mr de Calonje was based in Istanbul and was IFC’s Natural Resources Sector Lead for Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa. He joined IFC in 2004 in Washington DC. Mr. de Calonje has extensive experience in the field of international finance, having worked on numerous equity, quasi-equity and debt investments in the natural resources sector in emerging markets. Before joining IFC, he worked for Lehman Brothers’ investment banking division in London and Madrid advising Spanish and UK corporate clients in mergers, acquisitions and debt capital market transactions. Mr. de Calonje has a Bsc in Business Administration from Universidad San Pablo-CEU (Madrid) and a Masters Degree from Columbia University (New York).

In 2011 Per Wimmer founded Wimmer Family Office based in London, UK. The current investment strategies of Wimmer Family Office are:
1) The Wimmer ETF Plus Strategy – Investment into ETFs across asset classes with CTA overlay aiming to achieve a low to medium risk profile with double digit returns.
2) Eastern European Commercial Real Estate. Focus on prime locations in Prague, Budapest and Bucharest.
3) Natural resources (mining, oil & gas, green energy) and hard assets, real estate, infrastructure, aviation and shipping.
4) Emerging Market Hedge Funds Investment Strategy – Investment into locally based Emerging Market funds with a strong track record spanning a minimum of three years.
5) Other opportunistic ad hoc investments.
Per Wimmer is expected to be the first private Dane in space and has three trips to space lined up on three different rockets. Per has completed space training such as Zero-G, centrifuge and flying various fighter jets.
As he is fulfilling his dreams through space exploration, Per conducts his charity activity within Wimmer Space. Wimmer Space works with charitable organizations to inspire children to live their dreams – whatever those may be. This includes school presentation and financial support.
On Oct 6, 2008, Per Wimmer wrote world history when successfully completing the world’s first tandem sky dive over the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest.
Adventure travelling has taken Per all over the world. His experiences range from spending time with the tribes of the Amazon forest to walking on live volcanoes in Hawaii; from skiing at the highest facility in the world in Bolivia to riding across the USA on a Harley Davidson (and back!). He has visited 70 countries on Earth.
Per is the author of three books including “Wall Street” talks about bubbles in the financial markets, along with anecdotes from his time in the world of global finance. “The Green Bubble”, published in English, Danish and Swedish promotes the argument that for green energy to be truly sustainable, it must be commercially sustainable.
Per Wimmer founded Wimmer Financial in 2007. Wimmer Financial is a merchant bank/corporate advisory firm specializing in natural resources (mining, oil & gas and green energy), real estate, infrastructure, aviation, shipping and project debt financing.
Per Wimmer was awarded a Master of Public Administration and the Don K. Price Award from Harvard University with concentrations in business, finance and international relations. Per Wimmer also holds a Master of Laws degree from University of London and B.A. / M.A. degrees in law from University of Copenhagen. He is fluent in French, English and Danish with some knowledge of Spanish and German.
Per Wimmer worked for Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York and London, including during its IPO, covering European Equity products into Scandinavian-based financial institutions. Furthermore, Per Wimmer has been working for MF Global/Man Group and Collins Stewart/Canaccord.

Fernando Rodrigues is currently working as Senior Investment Officer within the Industries & Services team of the Private Sector Department of the African Development Bank. He is responsible for originating, structuring and executing transactions in the manufacturing and mining sectors. Before joining the Bank, Fernando worked at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking as a senior credit analyst in emerging countries and within the Energy and Environment coverage team. Fernando holds a Master’s degree in Finance & Capital Markets from ESG Paris, specialized in corporate finance.
M. Fernando Rodrigues est actuellement Chargé d’Investissement au sein de l’équipe “Industries & Services” du Département du Secteur Privé de la Banque Africaine de Développement. Il est chargé de l’origination, la structuration, et l’exécution de transactions dans les secteurs manufacturiers et de services. Avant de rejoindre la Banque, Fernando occupait les postes d’Analyste Crédit Sénior sur les pays émergeants puis au sein de l’équipe Coverage du département Energie & Environnement de Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking. Fernando possède un Master en Finance d’Entreprise et Marchés de Capitaux de l’ESG Paris.

Nick joined LGIM in 2013 and is a Fund Manager within the Global Equity Team. He joined LGIM from Revelation Capital, an equity Hedge Fund focussing on special situations. Prior to this, he was an Investment Director for Developed Asia and Global Emerging Markets at Standard Life. Previously he was an Assistant Fund Manager at Griffin Capital Management covering convertible bonds, equity derivatives and distressed debt. Nick started his career in corporate advisory and has also worked as a software developer.

Nick has an LLB (Law), and a Masters in Jurisprudence on securities law, both from the University of Durham.

Vomic Nur Shah is the Regional Head for Business Development at UK Export Finance leading UKEF’s transaction origination efforts in Europe, Eurasia, Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
UKEF is the UK’s export credit agency with a mission to ensure that no viable UK export falls for lack of finance or insurance. It supports long term economic growth and competitiveness by complementing the private market with insurance for exporters, loan guarantees to banks, and support for and provision of loans to overseas buyers of UK goods and services.
Vomic is a seasoned professional in international finance with a career spanning over 15 years.
Before moving to public service in Her Majesty’s Government, Vomic held various leadership positions in corporate and investment banking in international banks, including Societe Generale and Citigroup.
During his career, Vomic has originated and executed cross-border transactions globally, and has worked closely with both the private sector and state authorities. He has had a particular focus on emerging markets providing both strategic advice as well as delivering structured financing solutions for projects across the CIS region, Middle East, Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.

Cobus co-founded Africa Merchant Capital in 2012. Prior to founding AMC, he served as Principal for Africa at Templewood Merchant Bank. His professional experience includes corporate finance advisory, merchant banking, business consulting and auditing, as well as personal investing in Africa. Cobus qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in South Africa, spending the last 5 years of his time in the Global Risk Management Services division. Cobus also pursued a successful professional rugby career, representing South Africa and playing professionally in both the Southern and Northern hemisphere. Cobus holds a B.Comm (Hons) degree from the University of Stellenbosch.

Ana Lucia Lind is an International Banker, financial advisor, asset and wealth manager and strategic advisor to Government.

Mrs. Lind is highly recognized as a leader and expert in finance on the international market. She builds the bridge between emerging markets and the global
developed markets. With her years of experience in the international banking and financing industry she has advised governments and corporations on infrastructures financing and
development, market direct investment, portfolio and capital structure, fund raising, refinancing and restructuring across the debt, creating value through pioneering innovative solutions. She has advised on diverse portfolios of deals and developments worth over USD 60 Billions. She is been known as the Iron Lady in finance due to her high quote of successful transaction and working together with government and corporation in emerging market, making the raise for those countries and companies.

She is a fully committed philanthropy taking care of over 7.000 children’s through the world. Mrs. Lind has worked in leadership positions at UBS bank Switzerland and Germany, Julius Baer
Bank, Metzler Bank Frankfurt-­Germany and Co-­Founded Swiss Capital Engineering AG Zurich Switzerland, before founding Swiss Financial Engineering AG.

Mark Tyler is a Director at Bardene Finance, a consultancy offering technical and financial advisory services to the mining industry. He has BSc (Eng) in Metallurgy and postgraduate qualifications in Mineral Economics and Engineering Management. He has over twenty years of mining finance and project development and ten years of metallurgical research and consulting experience. Mark was previously Managing Director for Mining at Nedbank Capital, South Africa’s leading resource-focused investment bank.

Matthew is a former merchant banker who has worked extensively across Africa on large scale infrastructure projects. Now however, his family Office, Ptolemy, is focussed on the development of international natural resource, Industrial, manufacturing and technology projects and they actively invest in and back technical operational teams in early stage mining and energy projects. They aim to help create growing and profitable businesses through investment and innovation.

A seasoned fund manager and investor with over 15 years of experience directing open-ended funds and private equity investments in natural resources. Earlier 14-year career in Emerging Markets investment banking with leading financial institutions.

Founded Sector Investment Managers Ltd in 2004, a U.K., FCA-authorized and regulated company specializing in private and public companies exploring for and producing oil, gas and precious metals. In the precious metals mining segment, the Junior Gold fund which he manages invests in smaller gold and silver mining companies in safe political territories. Most of the portfolio companies have growing production, sustainable operating structures and active exploration programmes that could add materially to reserves.

Born in Athens, Greece in 1963. Graduated in 1985 from the University of Glasgow with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering. In 1990 he obtained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Sheffield.

Rama Ayman is CEO of MMG Capital with over 25 years of metals and mining corporate finance experience. Following a 10-year career as an investment banker at Bankers Trust (merged with Deutsche Bank) in New York and Director of Corporate Finance at BNP Paribas in London, Mr. Ayman joined Arcelor in Luxembourg in 2002 as Corporate VP of M&A until Nov 2006, few months after its merger with Mittal, when he joined Hatch Corporate Finance as Managing Director until 2012; most recently Mr. Ayman was Partner and Global Head of Metals and Mining Corporate Finance at KPMG in London prior to joining MMG Capital. Rama Ayman has led numerous M&A and Capital Raising engagements, in the metals and mining sector, throughout Europe, Americas, CIS, MENA, Africa, Japan, China and India. He has played a major role in landmark M&A transactions including the €34bn Arcelor Mittal merger which created the world’s largest steel company and the $13bn Tata Corus merger, and has led over 40 M&A, equity finance and debt finance deals in the steel sector, raw materials for steel, precious metals, base metals, energy metals as well as industrial metals over the past 25 years. Mr. Ayman holds BAs in Economics, Political Science and Philosophy from University of Illinois Champaign Urbana, and Masters of International Management from Thunderbird Global School of International Management in the US.

Tom joined the Primary Markets team at the London Stock Exchange Group in September 2013, with a focus on large-cap companies and the LSE’s relationships with private equity clients.  Since the second half of 2016, Tom has taken on responsibility for business development across our international markets.  In this role, Tom advises companies and their owners on the process of going public and life as a listed company on London’s markets.

Prior to joining the LSE, Tom was at Citigroup for over 15 years. Tom was a Managing Director in the Equity Capital Markets division, originating, structuring and executing equity and equity-linked transactions across EMEA. He has been involved in a large number of IPOs and follow-on capital raisings over the years, including many involving a London listing.  Prior to Citi, Tom worked in Kleinwort Benson’s Equity Capital Markets team from 1994 to 1997.

Tom graduated from Oxford University with a BA (Hons) degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Ibukun is responsible for London Stock Exchange Group’s growth strategy in emerging markets with a key focus on India and Africa. Prior to this Ibukun ran the listings business for London Stock Exchange covering key markets in South Asia, Middle East and Africa. Managing relationships with companies, international advisors and regulators; in this capacity Ibukun was involved in over 200 London IPO’s by issuers from these regions. He was also the Exchange’s regional contact for companies listed on London’s Main Market Professional Securities Market, Specialist Fund Market and AIM.
Educated in Bath, United Kingdom Ibukun holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and started his career as a foreign exchange trader for NatWest Markets in London in 1995. He went on to set up and run a successful business specialising in managing foreign exchange risk for African and Asian companies and managed a Forex fund investing in the dollar major currency pairs.
Immediately prior to joining the London Stock Exchange Ibukun worked in the financial communications division of United Business Media there he ran an operation dedicated to blue chip clients from across the globe in the capacity of financial communications adviser and was one time adviser to the Lakhsmi Mittal family and their companies.

Ingo Hofmaier is Partner – Metals and Mining at Hannam & Partners, a London-based, natural resource-focused merchant bank. Mr Hofmaier has 18 years’ experience in corporate finance, corporate M&A and capital markets advisory across various commodities. Ingo was formerly with Rio Tinto, focusing on JVs and multi-jurisdictional transactions, and with Wienerberger AG, an Austrian diversified heavy industries group. He is a forest engineer by background, has a MBA and is an INSEAD (Asian International Executive Programme – Shanghai) graduate. He is a CFA charter-holder since 2004. His sector and commodity experience spans base and precious metals, fertilizers, bulk commodities and steel, aluminium and building materials. He is worked extensively with GCC investors and on mining projects in the Arab world, with clients in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

Mr Owen is a mining sector professional with over 10 years’ experience working within both public and private companies, the last seven of which have been focussed exclusively on Africa.
He is the VP Corporate Development for Altus Strategies PLC (AIM: ALS), an African ‘project generator’ which listed on London’s AIM market in August 2017 and which recently announced the planned acquisition of Canadian gold explorer Legend Gold Corp (TSX-V: LGN).
Altus’ focus is on providing shareholders with a high quality portfolio, diversified by both location and commodity, with exploration assets in Morocco (Cu, W, Zn), Liberia (Au), Cameroon (Al, Fe, Au) and Ethiopia (Au, Cu) and plans to expand into Mali and Ivory Coast. In order to minimise the risks inherent in mineral exploration the company actively seeks joint venture partners to fund the more advanced phases of exploration and development.
Mr Owen is part of the management team responsible for delivering the Company’s recent AIM IPO and has been involved in completing the JV of the Birsok bauxite project with ASX listed Canyon Resources and the MOA over the Tigray-Afar copper project with Japanese sovereign group JOGMEC. His role encompasses all corporate activity within the Altus group where he is responsible for the assessment of strategic opportunities and the corporate aspects of entry into new countries, including assessment of the mining law, tax regime and creation of an appropriate local corporate structure.
Prior to joining Altus, Mr Owen was Business Development Manager for Metals Exploration Plc (AIM: MTL) and was involved in progressing the Runruno gold-molybdenum project in the Philippines. He was involved in a number of equity financings and corporate transactions, including the offer by Solomon Capital, and was responsible for investor and public relations. He holds a degree in Environmental Science from the University of Plymouth.