Modern Mining January 2015

MINING INDABA PREVIEW

Diamond, the ex-Chief Executive of Barclays (he departed after the bank was fined for its role in the LIBOR scandal) who has now founded Atlas Mara, a company which is busy invest- ing in Africa’s banking sector, Rob Hersov, founder (in 2013) of Invest Africa, described as a “private members club with a multi-ser- vice platform for access and investment into Africa”, and Paolo Scaroni, Vice Chairman of Rothschild (and prior to that CEO of Eni, one of the world’s major integrated energy compa- nies). Diamond, Hersov and Scaroni will all be speaking during a keynote panel session enti- tled ‘Why Africa? Why Now?” As always, senior management of many of the world’s major mining companies will be presenting at the Mining Indaba. Among those thus far confirmed as speakers are Alan Davies, Chief Executive, Diamonds and Minerals, Rio Tinto, Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (‘Venkat’), CEO of AngloGold Ashanti, Mike Schmidt, CEO of ARM, Brad Gordon, who runs Acacia Mining (previously African Barrick Gold), Tom Albanese, CEO of Vedanta (which has recently announced the go-ahead of its US$782 million Gamsberg-Skorpion integrated zinc project), Ben Magara, CEO of Lonmin, Mark Bristow, Chief Executive of Randgold Resources, and Graham Briggs, CEO of Harmony Gold. Executives of some junior to mid-tier compa- nies who will be present are R. Michael Jones, President and CEO of Platinum Group Metals, who will update delegates on the progress at the company’s Western Bushveld JV (WBJV) project near Sun City and its Waterberg proj- ects on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex, and Clive Johnson, who runs B2Gold Corporation, which has just commissioned its new Otjikoto gold mine in Namibia. Based on past events, probably the standout speaker from the mining sector will be Robert Friedland, whose company Ivanhoe Mines has

of substantial investments we have made under our new ownership,” Jonathan Moore said recently. “These investments, made at a time when other events and the overall sector are contracting, reaffirm our belief that the long term outlook for African mining is excellent and our commitment for the Mining Indaba to remain the premier forum for uniting investors, mining companies and mining ministers.” Apart from Tony Blair, prominent speakers at this year’s Indaba will include Dr Dambisa Moyo, the Zambian-born author and global economist, who will speak on the topic of ‘What’s it Going to Take to be Successful in our Future World.” Moyo’s best-selling books include How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly – and the Stark Choices Ahead and, most recently, Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What it Means for the World . This latter book – which has not been without its critics – details how China has embarked on one of the greatest commodity rushes in history and examines the effects this is having on the global economy. Another well-known economist who will grace the event is Jim O’Neill, currently Chairman of the Cities Growth Commission in the UK but perhaps best known for his long stint (from 1995 to 2013) with Goldman Sachs, where he was Chief Economist. He is also the creator of the acronym ‘BRIC’, which he coined in 2001 as a shorthand way of referring to Brazil, Russia, India and China, four countries which he then believed had enough economic potential to challenge and possibly eventually overtake the mature economies of the First World. He will be talking on ‘Managing the Commodities Curse – What Are the Options?’, a subject which is bound to attract a full house when he delivers his keynote address,. Other speakers with a financial background who should be worth listening to are Bob

High profile speakers at Mining Indaba 2015 will include (from left) Mark Bristow of Randgold Resources, Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Mines and Dr Dambisa Moyo, best-selling author and economist.

“The 2015 Mining Indaba features a number of substantial investments we have made under our new ownership.” Jonathan Moore, MD, Mining Indaba

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