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.

Ann Bernstein heads the Centre for Development and Enterprise, South Africa. CDE is regarded by many including the London Financial Times as the country’s leading policy centre for social and economic development. In addition, CDE has a special focus on the role of business and its contribution to development. Ann was a member of the Transition Team and then the Board of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (1994 – 2001). In 2005 she was a Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, Washington DC. In 2007 she joined the Board of the Brenthurst Foundation. In 2008 and 2009 she was an invited faculty member at the World Economic Forum in Davos and participates in their Global Agenda Council’s Initiative. Her book, The Case for Business in Developing Economies was published by Penguin in 2010. She is a regular public speaker and has been published by newspapers around the country, often appearing on radio and TV. Her many other publications and books include Migration and Refugee Policies (with M. Weiner, London, 1999), Business and Democracy: Cohabitation or Contradiction? (with P.L. Berger, London, 1998), and Policy Making in A New Democracy: South Africa’s Challenges for the 21st century (CDE,1999).

André de Ruyter is currently the Eskom Holdings Group Chief Executive (GCE), overseeing a 100% state-owned company of over 40,000 employees, responsible for providing over 95% of South Africa’s electricity needs and approximately 45% of the electricity used across Africa. Under André’s leadership, Eskom operates 30 power stations, including base-load coal and nuclear power stations, hydro, pumped storage and gas-fired peaking power stations as well as a self-dispatching wind farm. Eskom has a total nominal capacity of over 44,000MW, supported by a network consisting of almost 400,000km of high, medium and low-voltage lines and underground cables serving over 6,000,000 direct customers.

A seasoned executive, with a career spanning over 30 years, André has amassed a wealth of experience both locally and internationally in various portfolios in the energy space, including the management of coal, oil, chemical and gas businesses, the marketing of export coal to international utilities and managing operations of mega coal and gas conversion plants, including electricity generation. His experience and expertise traverses a range of disciplines, including: strategic leadership, sales, manufacturing, production, finance, legal & regulation, people management and socio-economic development. André holds a Master’s of Business Administration from the Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands, a Bachelor of Law(LLB) obtained from the University of South Africa (UNISA) as well as a Bachelor of Civil Law and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pretoria.

He was a member of the Sasol group executive committee from 2009 to 2014, and spent some time in China as President of China Ventures, also leading business turnaround and transformation in Germany. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Nampak in 2014, a position he left  when he accepted the Group Chief Executive role at Eskom, beginning in January 2020 When often asked why he accepted the leading role at the beleaguered energy utility, André has consistently maintained that he believes the importance of Eskom in driving economic growth and development should never be underestimated, and is humbled to take up the challenge of restoring Eskom’s value-add, credibility and reputation. Deeply passionate about employee  engagement, André has made a concerted effort to consistently connect with people across the business and share the vision of the Eskom “city on the hill” - re-invigorating, rejuvenating and redefining Eskom’s destiny to lead the energy transition into the future in a sustainable manner, as well as the importance of high performance culture amongst employees, to make this a reality.

Portia Derby is the current Group Chief Executive of Transnet SOC Ltd, appointed February 2020. She has occupied senior positions in the South African government during a period of major economic reform. Portia is the former Director-General of Public Enterprises (2005 - 2009) responsible for the corporate strategy and structure of the investment portfolio (2004 - 2005) and former Chief Operating Officer of the Department of Trade and Industry (2002). Portia’s career in government started at the National Institute for Economic Policy (NIEP), as a financial researcher where she played an integral role working on the quantification of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). Portia previously served as a Non-Executive Director of Metair Investments and Safcol. She has also worked in the private sector as an Executive Director: Clients Africa at Aurecon, an international engineering and infrastructure advisory company. Portia holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree (majoring in Economics and Geology), an Honour’s degree in Economics from the University of Natal, as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Neal Froneman was appointed executive director and CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater on 1 January 2013. Over the past five years he has led the transformation of Sibanye-Stillwater from a 1.5Moz South African-based gold producer into a leading precious metals miner with an international operating footprint ranking among the world’s top three PGM producers. His career spans more than 30 years during which time he worked at Gold Fields of South Africa Limited, Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony) and JCI Limited. In April 2003, Neal was appointed CEO of Aflease Gold Limited (Aflease Gold), which, through a series of reverse take-overs, became Gold One International Limited (Gold One) in May 2009. He was primarily responsible for the creation of Uranium One Incorporated (Uranium One) from the Aflease Gold uranium assets. During this period, he was CEO of Aflease Gold and Uranium One until his resignation from Uranium One in February 2008. He held the CEO position at Gold One until his appointment at Sibanye-Stillwater. In May 2016, he was elected to serve as a Vice President of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa (now the Minerals Council South Africa).

Chris Griffith was appointed CEO of Gold Fields on 1 April 2021. Before this appointment, he was the CEO of Anglo American Platinum between September 2012 and April 2020 and CEO of Kumba Iron Ore from 2008 to 2012. Prior to that, he served as Anglo American’s Head of Operations for joint ventures. He joined Anglo American Platinum in 1990 and held various management positions at two of its mines before being moved into the wider leadership team at Anglo American. He holds a Mining Engineering Honours degree from the University of Pretoria.

Sandy joined Allan Gray as an investment analyst and economist in October 1991. Previously he was employed by Gold Fields of South Africa Limited in a variety of management positions for 24 years, where much of his experience was focused on investment-related activities. His current responsibilities include the management of fixed interest and individual client portfolios and he is a fund manager for the Allan Gray Bond Fund. He was a director of Allan Gray Limited from 1997 to 2006.

Nico Muller holds a BSc Mining Engineering degree from the University of Pretoria and has a 28-year mining career across a range of commodities, including platinum. He has a proven track record as a successful operator and is a highly-rated leader and strategic thinker. Nico was appointed to the board of Implats as both Chief Executive Officer and an Executive Director in April 2017. Prior to this he served as Executive Vice-President of Gold Fields’ South African operations (South Deep) for three years, where he fulfilled a pivotal role in re-energising and repositioning the mine for a sustainable future. He also served as the Chief Operating Officer at Royal Bafokeng Platinum, and in various other high-level positions at Anglovaal, African Rainbow Minerals, Avgold and De Beers.

Before joining Rothschild & Co in this role in 2003, she had 17 years of experience in the City of London at major financial institutions where she was consistently rated as one of the top investment analysts in mining, ending up as head of the European Mining Research at SSMB (part of Citigroup). In 2006, Fiona formed AIM Mining Research and, in the same year, published "Understanding Junior Miners" in conjunction with three geologists and a mining engineer. Prior to arrival in the City of London in 1986, she had six years of experience in financial journalism and academia in South Africa, building up a broad knowledge of managerial and financial topics. Fiona served as a non-executive director on the board of Dominion Diamond Corporation from February 2014 to January 2016.

Rick began his career 47 years ago in 1974 in the securities business and has been involved in it ever since. He is known for his expertise in many resource sectors, including agriculture, alternative energy, forestry, oil and gas, mining and water. Mr. Rule is actively engaged in private placement markets, through originating and participating in hundreds of debt and equity transactions

Henry Sanderson is executive editor for Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. He previously covered commodities and mining for the Financial Times for seven years. Before that he lived and worked in China from 2007 to 2014, where he was a Beijing-based reporter for Bloomberg News. He is the author of Volt Rush, the Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green, which was published in July. 

My new book Volt Rush, the Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green, is out in July in the UK, and September in the US.

Pre-order here: http://bit.ly/385q6Pe

Bernard is the Chairman of the annual Junior Indaba and Joburg Indaba as well as an Executive Director of the SBI. He is a Partner at To-The-Point Growth Specialists as well as a Partner in THINKspiration. He served as Non-Executive Director on the boards of Impala, Zimplats, Eqstra and African Rainbow Minerals Limited. Previous roles include Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Village Main Reef Limited and CEO of Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited. He is Chairman and Managing Partner of MMC (Manganese Metal Company) as well as a non-executive director of African Rainbow Energy Producer (AREP).

From his beginnings in education to his career in Human Resources, Mike has gained extensive experience in people and business management in BHP and Impala, as well as CEO of Optimum Coal Holdings (prior to it being taken over by Glencore). Mike is the Chairperson and controlling shareholder of the Masimong Group and serves as Chair/Non-Executive Director at the Anchor Group, Rofles Holdings and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal. He is also a past president of the Chamber of Mines and serves on the Council of the Chamber. In keeping with his passion to leave a legacy for the next generation, Mike serves on the board of the University of Johannesburg.

Natascha has served as Anglo American Platinum’s CEO since April 2020, also sitting on the Anglo American Platinum Board and the Group Management Committee of Anglo American plc. Prior to that, she spent five years as Group Head of Processing for Anglo American. Natascha is a seasoned senior executive, bringing 28 years of operational experience from across the mining industry, spanning many different countries, metals and minerals including, of course, the PGMs. Viljoen's operational executive experience also includes six years at Lonmin, where her last post was Executive Vice President of Processing. Viljoen holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from North-West University, in South Africa, and an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Cape Town.

Mr Viljoen started out as a lecturer at the University of Pretoria and subsequently joined SARB as an economic analyst. He joined Allan Gray Investment Counsel in 1991 as a portfolio manager and later moved onto Investec Asset Management in 1995. He founded Regarding Capital Management (Pty) Ltd in 2003 and is currently Chairman of RECM. He is also the executive chairman of the listed investment company RAC (Pty) Ltd and alternate director at Transhex, a listed diamond miner. 

Before joining Barclays Africa Group as Head of Communications, Songezo Zibi was the editor of the Business Day newspaper. He has 14 years of experience in corporate communications at multinational companies such as Volkswagen South Africa and Xstrata South Africa.

Politics, society and the economy are the core of areas that Songezo writes extensively on. In January 2014 he authored his first book Raising the Bar: Hope and Renewal in South Africa, which provides an unencumbered analysis of the topics such as race, leadership, politics, government, violence, the position of women, as well as the “taboos that haunt us”. He spent his tertiary years at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He joined the Centre for Development and Enterprise Board in 2016.