Geologist

Johannes Henckel received an MSc in geology from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. His PhD thesis dealt with the Igneous Bushveld Complex, South Africa. After a short stint at the University, he took up a position in 1985 with the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, doing research work on Witwatersrand gold deposits. In 1990, he joined Gold Fields of South Africa, working on exploration projects in Southern Africa. He was seconded for several years to South America as Chief Geologist for Gold Fields Latin American Operations. From 2002, he was part of Placer Dome’s Platinum Division. He was responsible for the exploration of the Sedibelo Platinum Project in South Africa. The work culminated in a bankable feasibility study outlining a reserve of 6.5 Mio ounces of PGEs. With the creation of African Barrick Gold in 2010 (later Acacia Mining) he got involved, as Chief Geologist, in Africa-wide target generation, project assessment and exploration. From January 2018 to August 2019, he held the position of VP exploration for Acacia Mining.

Hannes has written a number of publications in national and international journals and presented at numerous national and international congresses. He is a fellow of the GSSA and SEG.

Summarised work history:

• September 2019 to date, self-employed geological consultant.
• January 2018 to August 2019, Acacia Mining VP Exploration. Key function: management of Acacia’s exploration projects.
• January 2012 to January 2018 African Barrick Gold/Acacia Mining, Chief Geologist, Africa. Key functions: greenstone gold project assessment, staff training, exploration support.
• April 2010 – December 2011, African Barrick Gold, Manager Exploration & Geology. Key functions: greenstone gold target generation and project assessment Africa.
• June 2006 – April 2010, Barrick Gold, Manager Geology. Key areas: project management Sedibelo PGE Project, South Africa.
• 2002 – 2006, Placer Dome Exploration (Africa-Eurasia) Ltd, Senior Project Geologist. Key areas: project evaluation, PGE target generation, exploration in Australia and Russia, from 2004 project management
  South Africa.
• 2000 – 2002, Bastillion Resources, Senior Consultant.  Key areas: contract exploration work, greenstone gold and PGE in Tanzania and Malawi, worldwide PGE target generation for Placer Dome.
• 1996 – 2000, Gold Fields Guernsey, Chief Geologist Gold Fields Latin American Operations.  Key areas: project management Venezuela (Greenstone Gold and PGE), gold target generation and project evaluation in Mexico, Central and South America.
• 1990 – 1995, Gold Fields of South Africa, Chief Geologist. Key areas: exploration geochemistry support for gold, base metal and diamond exploration projects, target generation.
• 1985 – 1990, Chamber of Mines Research Organisation, Principal Scientist. Key areas: Witwatersrand reefs, grade prediction, sedimentology, mineralogy, tectonic.
• 1982 -1984, University of Munich, Research assistant and part time lecturing.

Geologist

Jan van der Merwe obtained a BSc Honours in Geology from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 1982. 

He started his career at the Council for Geoscience in 1983, and then joined Western Platinum Limited (Lonrho) in 1988 as Mine Geologist. In 1989 he was transferred to East Platinum Limited (EPL) as Chief Geologist. EPL was a new mine, with his experience here covering mine development (including the development of 3 decline shafts), through to full production. 

In 1993 Jan moved to Lonmin Platinum as Divisional Geologist, overseeing Geological and Mineral Resource functions for the group, which consisted of 3 mines (Western Platinum Mine, Eastern Platinum Mine and Karee Mine). The work included management and reporting of Lonmin’s Mineral Resources, management of PGE exploration in South Africa, overseeing exploration projects operated by JV partners (Panton Sill & Munni Munni in Australia and the Luwumbu and Mibango projects in Tanzania).

In 2006 he was appointed as Senior Exploration Manager for Lonmin.

From 2008 to 2023 Jan was employed as Exploration Manager at Sedibelo Platinum Mines (originally Platmin). The company was in the process of developing a large Open Pit Platinum Mine and his work included all exploration activities and Mineral Resource Management. During this period he was involved with a number of feasibility studies. 

Jan has more than 35 years’ experience in mining geology, exploration, mineral resource management and project management.

Mining Engineer / Mining Manager

Angie holds a BSc (Hons) Mining Engineering from Nottingham University (UK) 1975 and a South African Metalliferous Mine Managers Certificate of Competency1981. He is a Retired Fellow South African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (FSAIMM) and a Retired Member – Association of Mine Managers (RSA). Angie has over 40 years of experience in alluvial, open pit and underground operations within Southern Africa, covering diamonds, gold, platinum and copper.

The first twenty-two years were with AAC (Anglo American Corporation), the premier mining group in Southern Africa in those years. Following a well-choreographed career path Angie began in 1975 as Learner Official at Vaal Reefs progressing to Shift Boss before moving to De Beers CDM in 1980. Here he progressed to Section Mining Superintendent. He concluded his time in diamond mining as Section Production Manager responsible for open pit operations at De Beers Finch Mine before returning to gold as Section Manager Planning Elandsrand Mine in 1988. From ‘89 to 1994 he was Section Manager Production and broke the production record. Angie then returned to Vaal Reefs to cap off his time with AAC. Here he was Ass Manager Services, Ass Manager Production and Ass Manager Training before concluding as Manager Business Unit Vaal Reefs Operations in 1997.

After AAC Angie rounded off his extensive experience as:

• Shaft Manager at Selebi Phikwe – two years
• Contracts Manager for RUC/ M&R – four years
• Projects Director for CI International – two years
• Project Mining Engineer Barrick Platinum Sedibelo Project – four years
• Principal Mining Engineer Platmin – three years
• General Manager Platmin Sedibelo Project – three years
• General Manager Platmin Operations – two years

Over the years Angie participated in several project development assignments, including pre-feasibility and definitive/bankable feasibility studies. This experience has been key to the development of the IMDG concept.

Mining Engineer / Mining Manager

Kevin has more than 40 years’ experience in both soft and hard rock mining at underground and open-pit operations.

As Learner Official, Kevin cut his teeth at Rand Mines’ Blyvooruitzigt Gold Mining Company, spending time in production first as a shift-boss and later as the mine’s Rock Mechanics Overseer, taking charge of both stope and haulage support.

Kevin then transferred to Duvha Opencast Mine as a Long-Term Planner and later as the Short-Term Planning Overseer. These particular skills and experiences became very important for the remainder of his career in various projects and management positions at mining operations. 

Kevin has the ‘lived experience’ of working outside South Africa in remote locations. These include coal mine projects in the Tete Province, Mozambique, and AngloGold Ashanti’s Geita Gold Mine in Tanzania, as a Pit Supervisor and Project Manager.

Kevin is proud of his reputation as a reliable and steadfast worker, which has enabled him to spend the last sixteen years of his career working with various mining consultancies and independently on a number of project studies and offering advice on production to increase operational excellence. He has also taken on strategic leadership roles at mining operations. His extensive experience in managing small operations is unique in the core team.

Chemistry Professional

Bob is a qualified chemist being a Chartered Scientist, a Chartered Chemist and a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (CSci, CChem, MRSC); in addition, he was a Fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and was authorized to complete 43 101 documents for the Toronto stock exchange. Whilst at the INCO Europe platinum metals refinery in London, he was involved in laboratory analysis of platinum group metal products, plant control and process development. This set in motion a career that would have a significant impact on the PGM industry – and metallurgical process plants more generally – in South Africa.

In 1968 he became a research chemist working for Union Corporation on the new Impala platinum project, followed by three years at Mintek doing research into analytical methods concerning the platinum group metals and research into platinum metal refining techniques and plant designs. From ’78 to ’87 he was with Matthey Rustenburg Refiners as R&D Manager where he began implementing new refinery processes and eventually became Production Superintendent. He still considers one of his greatest achievements turning around Western Platinum Refinery, which entailed highlighting deficiencies, developing management practices, objectives and ultimately the future company strategy. He redesigned the process routes for all the PGM’s and rebuilt the refinery without any loss of production.

Bob has spent over thirty years in the Platinum Mining industry in various production related positions up to and including Director level. He has also operated in the projects’ environment as a Project Manager and Project Director in a contracting company and as a client manager on various projects. He is an experienced man manager and has experience in the planning, conducting, managing, and documenting of projects and studies using a systematic approach to achieve the clients’ objectives.

Bob has played a critical role in developing the IMDG concept.

Metallurgist

Val is an extractive metallurgist with global exposure and forty-two years’ experience. He obtained a HNDT Extractive Metallurgy (Technikon Witwatersrand) in 1982 and B. Com. Economics and Quantitative Management (UNISA) in 1992. He is a Member of South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) and a Member of South African Coal Processing Society. Of importance to Val’s market intelligence and information systems role for IMDG is his Certificate in Computer Programming & Data Processing (South African National School of Electronics).

Val gained processing experience across various aspects of the mining and minerals processing industry, including gold, pyrite flotation, uranium, sulphuric acid and diamonds. He has a deep understanding of mineral processing techniques, equipment and project management.

He worked for AngloGold from 1982 to 1990, progressing from Plant Metallurgist to Plant Production Superintendent where he managed production in multiple areas. From 1990 to 1995 he worked at the De Beers Finsch Diamond Mine as Plant Superintendent Projects & Development and later as Divisional Plant Superintendent. Val was responsible for plant operations and project development in diamond production.

From 1995 to 2017 Val was successful in business development, marketing and sales of mineral processing equipment in the service of five companies: Osborne MMD, Linatex Africa, Joest Vibrating Technologies, Gekko Systems and Solo Resources. He gained extensive experience working on international projects, providing technical support and product training worldwide. Val’s notable achievements include initiating the creation of a screens field services division at Linatex Africa, providing essential aftermarket support that promoted sales growth. He also introduced screen fabrication in Santiago, so eliminating prohibitive import duties.

Since 2017, Val has been an Independent Minerals Processing Consultant. From 2018 to 2020 he was chief metallurgist on an EPC contract in Kyrgyzstan for AAE Engineering on the Talas Gold Project. In 2022 he conducted an oxide plant audit in Kazakhstan for RG Gold.

Engineer

Neville Pollard is Senior Member of the Institute of Certificated Mechanical and Electrical Engineers. He is exceptional in having a Government Certification of Competence for Mines and Works for both Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

Neville is a seasoned Engineering Manager. His CV covers a wide range of mining projects and operations in a variety of jurisdictions – he has enjoyed the expat experience in the past and was relied upon to deliver top results in the most challenging of circumstances.

Neville has had repeated success in guiding sizeable, cross-functional engineering and operations management teams in the design, redesign, and launch of leading-edge mining solutions. He has a talent for launching asset management programs that generate significant expenditure reductions.

Neville is an expert negotiator and project implementation specialist; able to forge solid relationships with management and workforce, as well as build consensus across multiple organizational levels.

Neville is currently leading a highly challenging mega project in Indonesia to its completion. Thereafter, he will be ready to bring his lived experience to the development phases of minerals projects throughout Southern Africa and to make a decisive contribution on IMDG’s Exco and Board.

Engineer

A prominent mining house currently employs this engineering professional. He has chosen to join IMDG when his employment contract expires and will bring highly relevant experience as well as impressive qualifications to the IMDG core team. He has more than 30 years of experience in the mining & minerals industry and holds graduate and post-graduate qualifications in Engineering and Management. He also has a GCC (Mech Eng) Mines & Works and is a registered Professional Engineer.

CEO

JJ obtained a B.Sc. Eng. (Elec.) degree from University of Pretoria in 1973, obtained his GCC Electrical Engineer Mines & Works in ’78, registered as a Professional Engineer with the ECSA in ’79, completed the Advanced Executive Program at the UNISA School of Business Leadership in ’81 and participated in the Joint Staff Course at the SA Defence College in 1988.

JJ has used his talents in integrative roles in systems engineering and in the integrative management of multi-disciplinary projects and organisations, rather than becoming a specialist in any narrow technical field. JJ has worked in several engineering and management roles in the mining, electrical power distribution, chemical and ICT industries.

A major part of his career was in the defence industry, from 1978 to 1994. JJ’s outstanding achievement in this period may best illustrate his diverse talents. The sheer scope and ambition of this endeavour back in the 80’s are not easy to communicate to most South Africans today. While still in his thirties, JJ led the establishment and initial operations of the Overberg Test Range (Overberg Toetsbaan / OTB), from ‘81 to ‘88. The work included conceptual design, master-planning, systems engineering, managing a programme of multiple interdependent projects for the acquisition of high-value systems and infrastructure, while also developing and leading an organisation. For this, JJ was nominated for the Armscor Chairman’s Award in 1987.

OTB was created to facilitate the engineering and operational test and evaluation of several classes of high-velocity aerospace and defence systems, from guided air-to-ground ordnance to ground-to-air systems, and from guided artillery shells to intermediate range ballistic missiles. OTB would also support the launch of low earth orbit surveillance satellites. For event documentation and trajectory measurement, OTB used telemetry and a diversity of optical and electromagnetic instrumentation, with very high resolution and accuracy. These were integrated via an elaborate system for communications, command and control. The best available technologies were used to achieve the very exacting performance levels required. The facility extended along a coastline of about 60km and up to 30km inland. Remote instrumentation positions further afield provided down-range coverage. OTB had a complement of 400 people and an establishment budget of just over US$400M, which is ~R20 Billion in 2024 Rand. OTB was acclaimed by foreign experts in the know, rating it the most elegant facility of its kind in the world.

JJ’s experience in the mining industry is not sufficient to qualify him as an industry veteran, but sufficient to conceive IMDG’s PDC business model. It includes being the electrical engineer responsible for maintenance operations, fault-finding and repair on electrical power distribution systems, process plants and on open-pit mining equipment and haul-trucks in the 70s. From 2008 to 2010 he established and managed a capital projects office on Kloof Gold Mine. He later temped as the responsible engineer on Buffelsfontein and on Cons Murch – both vintage mines on the cusp of closure.

JJ is a student of leadership-management. He received Louis Allen training in MBO when in his first line management role and UNISA business school education several years later. JJ has a need to know and to understand the fundamentals, the laws of nature and of human nature. His twin desire is to create better quality order, with more synergy and harmony. JJ is rational and task-focused at work, balanced by real compassion and empathy for others.