Brian Menell
Chairman & CEO TechMet
Brian Menell is the Chairman & CEO of TechMet Limited, a leading critical minerals investment company with a portfolio of assets that responsibly produce, process, and recycle the metals that are the essential ingredients of 21st-century technology. TechMet’s major shareholders include the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), S2G Investments, and Mercuria. He has over 25 years’ experience funding, developing and managing mining, energy, trading and agri-industry projects across Africa, Europe and the Americas. TechMet’s portfolio of ten assets across four continents includes lithium extraction from both brine and hard rock sources, nickel and cobalt hydroxide production from laterite ores, vanadium chemical production from industrial waste feedstocks, rare earth production and processing, tin and tungsten mining, lithium-ion battery recycling, and high-performance cathode manufacturing. Brian serves as a Director of a number of TechMet’s investee companies, including: Trinity Metals Ltd., US Vanadium LLC, Brazilian Nickel Ltd. and TechMet SCM. He holds a B.A (Hon.) in Political Science & Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
2026 Agenda Sessions
Debate: Africa is a winner from current geopolitical disruption
Conventional wisdom suggests that Africa is negatively impacted by the current geopolitical forces. Tariffs, immigration curbs, reduced development funding and a more nationalist agenda in traditional allies are risks to Africa's growth, particularly in minerals. But could the opposite be true? Could the geopolitical (dis)order have more upside than downside for the continent, through for instance - new investment and trade routes, extra focus on intra-Africa trade, and a push for local beneficiation and industrialisation?
This debate will see two teams argue the case in opposite directions relating to Africa's place in the current geopolitical order. The views they express may not represent their personal or organisational view, but they assume the side they've been given so we can benefit from a diversity of perspectives.
Tuesday 10 February 10:20 - 11:05 Table Mountain Stage (CTICC1 - Ground Floor - Exhibition Hall)
Governance, regulation and policy
Leadership
Conventional wisdom suggests that Africa is negatively impacted by the current geopolitical forces. Tariffs, immigration curbs, reduced development funding and a more nationalist agenda in traditional allies are risks to Africa's growth, particularly in minerals. But could the opposite be true? Could the geopolitical (dis)order have more upside than downside for the continent, through for instance - new investment and trade routes, extra focus on intra-Africa trade, and a push for local beneficiation and industrialisation?
This debate will see two teams argue the case in opposite directions relating to Africa's place in the current geopolitical order. The views they express may not represent their personal or organisational view, but they assume the side they've been given so we can benefit from a diversity of perspectives.
Table Mountain Stage (CTICC1 - Ground Floor - Exhibition Hall) Africa/Johannesburg
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