Adam Matthews

Chief Responsible Investment officer

Church of England Pensions Board

Frans Baleni

Former General Secretary

NUM

Mr Frans Baleni is a former mineworker, leader in business and various industries such as mining, finance, education, and environmental.

A seasoned Board member, who brings sound commercial, risk, governance, compliance skills, and strong expertise in health and safety, government relations, education and training, energy sector, stakeholder management and collective bargaining processes.

Dr. Marit Kitaw

Interim Director

African Union- African Minerals Development Center (AMDC)

Ms. Marit Kitaw, PhD  is the Interim Director of the African Minerals Development Center (AMDC), a Specialized Agency of the African Union, and a panafrican Center dedicated to harnessing Africa’s mineral resources for Africa’s sustainable development and structural transformation through implementing the Africa Mining Vision (AMV). She was previously an Economist at UNECA where she became a strong advocate of developmental and sustainable mining. Marit was also Chief Technical Advisor on Extractives Industries for Sustainable Development at UNDP Mozambique where she actively supported the elaboration of an AMV aligned minerals policy and strategy, the formulation of a local content policy and contributed to the environmental governance of the extractives sector.  As a founding member of the AMDC, she actively contributed to the development of major implementing tools. Dr. Marit previously worked in COMESA, at the African Development Bank, and at the Institute of World Affairs in Washington, DC.  Dr. Marit Kitaw received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Nice/ Sophia-Antipolis in France, and an MBA in Leadership and Sustainability from the University of Cumbria, UK.
 

July Ndlovu

CEO

Thungela Resources

July Ndlovu is the CEO of Thungela, a pure play coal mining company with operations in Mpumalanga, South Africa and in Australia.

July is an experienced mining executive with over 30 years of experience in different commodities. He was previously Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American’s coal business and prior to that occupied the position of Executive Head of processing at Anglo American Platinum.

July holds a BSc Engineering (Honours) degree from the University of Zimbabwe as well as a Master of Business Leadership (MBL) degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA). He has also completed a Senior Executive programme with Columbia Business School, New York.

He is an active advocate for coal, with a strong belief that coal is part of the energy mix. He is also the Chairman FutureCoal since July 2020.

July’s leadership style is respectful and fair, serving and supporting the people he works with.

Kwasi Ampofo

Head of Metals and Mining

BloombergNEF

Kwasi Ampofo is the Head of Metals and Mining at BloombergNEF based in London. His research covers industrial metals, rare-earth metals, battery metals and the pathways for miners to reach net-zero. Prior to BloombergNEF, he worked at Anglo American and Nous Group in Australia. He completed his PhD in Mineral Economics at the University of Queensland, Australia. He currently serves as a non-executive director on the board of Amira Global.

Marie-Chantal Kaninda

President

Glencore DRC and Chairman KCC

Mzila Mthenjane

CEO

Minerals Council South Africa

Mr. Mzila Mthenjane (“Mzila”) is the CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa, the lobby and advocacy group whose members represent 90% of South Africa’s mineral output and employment. He was previously the Executive Head for Stakeholder Affairs at Exxaro Resources Limited. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the resources business, which has been attained in the mining and financial services sectors.

He has held various board positions as non-executive director in various entities including Pamodzi Gold Limited, Fraser Alexander, and Merafe Resources. Most recently, he was on the Exxaro Board, intimately involved in stakeholder engagements and strategy.

He is the current Chairman of the Board of the Impact Catalyst and is the former Chairman of the Wits University Mining Engineers Association and the former President of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Mr. Mthenjane holds a BSc degree in mining engineering from the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) and he has completed various leadership development training including the Senior Management Development Programme from the Graduate Institute of Management and Technology (GIMT). In addition, he has completed the ABSIP leadership programme with GIBS and Advanced Management Programme, with INSEAD.

His leadership acumen has greatly benefited his current role, drawing on his experiences in building and retaining harmonious yet robust relationships with Exxaro’s diverse stakeholder groupings. These stakeholders included employees, customers, investors, legislators, communities, traditional leaders, the media, unions, and civic organisations. In parallel, he advised the Exxaro leadership on the dynamics and changes within the external environment and their possible impact on the business.

He is credited with successfully leading the development of Exxaro’s sustainable impact approach, as well as establishing Exxaro’s ESG narrative for stakeholder engagement. Through his leadership, Exxaro has remained among the top performers for integrated reporting, as acknowledged by local and offshore ratings agencies.

Rohitesh Dhawan

CEO

International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM)

Rohitesh “Ro” Dhawan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). Under his leadership, ICMM has undertaken landmark commitments and action on critical sustainable development issues, including the first industry-wide net zero commitment, pioneering actions on diversity, equity and inclusion, and significant steps towards radical transparency of the industry’s contribution and performance, including on tax and contract disclosure.

Ro is a Fellow and faculty member of the Africa Leadership Initiative and a Raisina fellow at the Asian Forum on Global Governance. He serves on the Advisory Boards of the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investment, Concordia, and Resolve.  He has served on the UK Government’s Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (PACT) Programme and was named one of South Africa’s climate change leaders for his work with the country’s mining sector.

Ro hold a Master’s in Environmental Change & Management from the University of Oxford in the UK and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Rhodes University in South Africa.
 

Sonia Scarselli

VP

BHP Xplor

Sonia Scarselli leads BHP’s robust Metals Exploration division and BHP’s innovative accelerator program, BHP Xplor, with a focus on creating transformative and collaborative approaches to further expand the company’s future growth options. She was appointed VP of BHP Xplor in June 2022 and her remit was expanded through this new role to include leadership of the Exploration organisation in September 2023.

As VP of BHP Xplor, Sonia pioneered the development and successful implementation of Xplor, a minerals exploration accelerator program seeking early-stage critical minerals concepts. This program expands BHP’s search space and complements exploration channels to establish a larger, diversified portfolio that can increase the chance of success for adding new resources. 

Since joining BHP in 2012, Sonia has held several leadership positions through her tenure within BHP Petroleum, including: VP of Exploration and Appraisal, Head of Algeria, and Exploration Manager for Trinidad and Tobago.

Sonia started her career at ExxonMobil UK and holds a master’s degree in Geological Science from Università degli studi di Perugia, a PhD in Geology from ETH Zurich and an MBA from the London Business School. She serves as advisor in Deep Energy Capital, LLP, CEOs Against Cancer Chapter, and the AAPG Advisory Council.

Tony Carroll

Executive Advisory Board Member

Mining Indaba

With over 35 years as a corporate lawyer & business advisor in the areas of international trade and investment, Tony is keenly focused on sub-Saharan Africa. His passion for Africa, its business and overall development date back to his Peace Corps service in Botswana in the late 1970s. 

He has served as a member of multiple boards including the Africa advisory boards at EXIM Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U.S. Trade Representative; and was also a congressional nominee to the Board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.