Expert Speakers

Bernard is a seasoned marketing professional with more than 35 years of experience in the mining and metals industries, having spent a number of years with BHP Billiton Aluminium, BHP Energy Coal and South 32. He has worked in Singapore on commodity trading and risk management, is known for his extensive commercial knowledge and is a director at RBCT. In his most recent role as Group Manager Marketing and Sales for South 32, he established the marketing strategy and structure for domestic and export sales across Johannesburg and London.

Rudi Dicks is the Head of the Project Management Office (PMO) in the Private Office of the President. He is responsible for supporting the implementation of the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES), the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) as well as unblocking regulatory challenges that impact on employment an economic growth. He also oversees the coordination and implementation of the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan. Rudi jointly leads Operation Vulindlela which has been established as a joint initiative between the Presidency and National Treasury to accelerate structural reforms.
In his previous role, he was an Outcomes Facilitator at the Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), responsible for monitoring the performance of economic and infrastructure outcomes and supporting various economic interventions across government. In this role he established the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) that is currently applied across national government.
He also formally served as the Executive Director of the National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI), the research arm of COSATU from 2008 to 2013. Before 2008, he worked at COSATU and its affiliates, in various capacities since 1994.
Rudi has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Economic Principles as well as a Master of Science (MSc) Finance from the University of London. He also has a Management Advanced Programme qualification from the WITS Business School.

Robert has worked for Cresco Group for the past 18 years across industries but strong focus on e energy, mining and infrastructure. He focusses particularly on project finance advisory and finance structuring for cross border opportunities. In the past 5 years – an increasing focus on Decarbonisation Solutions to energy users (of various sizes) which includes Energy Strategy / procurement, project development and implementation assistance

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant who has focused on project finance in Sub Saharan Africa for the past 18 years, with an additionally 4 years’ experience in the UK / European market in similar areas. He has extensive financial modelling experience across various industries. Strategic business development services for start-up and technology entities. He is experienced as project and company turnaround specialist.

Izham brings over 27 years of in-depth experience in procurement and supply chain management, with specialised knowledge across diverse product categories. Since joining TNB Fuel Services (TNBF) in 2016, he has become a key figure in coal procurement, serving as the Head of Procurement & Supply Chain. In this role, Izham oversees the annual procurement of 32 million tonnes of thermal coal, critical to Malaysia’s electricity generation. He is also responsible for shaping coal and freight procurement strategies, and leading the execution of procurement and tendering processes to ensure security of coal supply through best value procurement.

Jamie possesses deep experience in the transportation industry, gained over the 14 years that he has been in the rail industry. He has served at the helm of two private rail companies in South Africa first as the CEO of Grindrod Rail at 31 years old and now at Traxtion. Jamie took over as the CEO of Traxtion, then Sheltam, in 2016 and has since evolved the company into the largest private rail operator in Africa. 

Jamie is the representative for Africa on the Management Committee of the Rail Working Group which is a non-profit organisation promoting the adoption of the Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment.

Jamie is also the Chairperson of the Africa Railway Industry Association which represents the interests of the private sector in Railways in South Africa.

Jamie is a CA(SA) and completed his articles at KPMG in the Financial Services division. He attended Stellenbosch University and holds 5 financial degrees.

Gautam Jain has more than 17 years of experience in the commodities sector. He has a vast experience of working with global mining majors like BHP Billiton and Vedanta and is now working with India’s biggest Steel producer in the private sector – JSW Steel focusing on coal procurement. 

Gautam has a considerable experience across a wide span of commodities ranging from crude oil to non-ferrous metals and ferrous ores as well

An Engineering graduate and an MBA in International Marketing, Gautam brings in specialized techno- commercial skills and strategic business acumen in commodities transactions while working as a Buyer or Seller and is known to provide strategic foresight into his functions.

Beyond his work-life, Gautam actively practices yoga and likes to maintain healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Clifford Hallatt is the Chief Operating Officer for Menar, a South African mining company with an actively managed and growing portfolio of diversified minerals. He obtained a BSC Honours degree in Geography and Environmental Management from the University of Johannesburg in 2007 and holds an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch Business School which he obtained in 2023.
He has over 14 years’ experience in environmental, project management and mine development, and as the Chief Operating Officer, he oversees all projects for the group from planning, inception and execution through to commissioning while maintaining production targets and profitability. These projects include, amongst others, exploration programmes and mine development projects. He also oversees the statutory processes required to lawfully commence with these projects

Appointed as the CEO of The Road Freight Association (RFA) in 2019, Gavin joined the Association in 2007, as its Technical and Operations Manager. 

He has been involved in the resource, strategy and operations field for 42 years: from operations leadership, co-ordination and training – to leadership development, lateral management, operations and business survival training.

Over the years, Gavin has played a key role in developing standards and procedures for the transport industry. These include driving licence training (driving school industry) and licence testing and issuing; the development of standards and procedures for vehicle equipment standards (non-OEM) and testing (vehicle testing industry); as well as the development of standards for the transportation of passengers, goods and dangerous goods. 

He has also actively contributed to the development of road traffic related legislation, as well as traffic policing initiatives, including the Short Term Implementation Programme (STIP), Arrive Alive, National Traffic Police (NTP) and the Code of Conduct, Traffic Officer (TO) Diploma, Examiner of Driver Licences (EDL), Examiner of Vehicles (EoV), AARTO, and finally road safety programmes (public target), formal school curricular programmes (Safety in Traffic Education Programme (STEP), Bridge, School Driver Education Programme (SDEP), Child in Traffic (TIC), Scholar Patrol) and industry targeted programmes (Captain Safety, Safe Driver, SafeCab & TruckSafe).

He was involved in various SANS standards committees and has served on various Agency Boards.

Gavin holds various degrees and diplomas – ranging from Curriculum Development, to Policing Ethics, and most recently completed a SACAS certified SANS17021 qualification (Conformity assessment – Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems).

He has written numerous articles for technical journals, trade publications and various media house periodicals, regularly appears on a number of TV channels and radio stations and is a sought-after speaker at industry events and leadership seminars.

Adv. Michelle Phillips is the current Group Chief Executive of Transnet SOC Ltd and was appointed into this role effective 01 March 2024. She has 24 years’ experience in Transnet with a proven track record in business and operations improvement, especially in the port environment. In 2020, She was appointed as the Chief Executive of Transnet Pipelines, a company that managesand operates 3800km of underground, high pressure petroleum and gas pipelines. In this role, she was responsible for ensuring security of supply to the market. Michelle is an admitted Advocate of the High Court with a B Juries LLB from the Nelson Mandela University (Port Elizabeth); various executive development leadership programmes such as GIBS AND IMD and several certificates for international terminal operations management from Antwerp, Rotterdam, Paris and Le Havre.

Hugo has 20 years’ experience as a macro economist. Before that, he was as an economics reporter at Die Burger newspaper in Cape Town. After leaving the media industry and helping to establish a newly formed economic consultancy firm, Hugo spent 17 years at the Bureau for Economic Research, the last five as chief economist. He was the Thomson Reuters South African Economist of the Year in 2014 and the Media24 Economist of the Year in 2021. 

In his current role, Hugo leads the economics department at the Minerals Council. He focuses on collecting and analysing data on commodity markets and the South African mining sector, as well as advocating for a more conduce domestic mining policy environment. 

Hugo holds a Master’s of Economics degree (cum laude), Stellenbosch University.

Thabiso Sekano is the head of the Mining and Metals business unit at the IDC. He has spent the last 16 years at the IDC working on deals that cover, mergers and acquisitions, BEE structuring’s, project finance, standard term loan facilities, guarantees and more. Thabiso started his career as a mining graduate at Anglo Coal. Thabiso holds a BSc Eng (Mining) from the University of the Witwatersrand and a MBA from the University of Pretoria.

Zaheer Surka is an Executive Director at OZA Holdings which includes Ikwezi Mining.

A Chartered Accountant by profession, prior to 2006 when he became a founding member of the Group, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Investec Bank. Zaheer has significant experience in mineral resources, business development, trading and logistics, with particular focus on coal.

Involved in the mining industry since 1990, Sakkie Swanepoel has filled various positions in Iron Ore, Base Metals and Coal. He was appointed as the Marketing Head in Base Metals, the Programme Director for a major corporate restructuring project and currently heads up Exxaro Coal’s Marketing and Logistics division, as General Manager, Marketing and Logistics, responsible for getting Exxaro’s 42 Mtpa of coal production to the markets.

Mike Teke is the CEO of Seriti Resources Holdings which he co-founded in 2018.  His qualifications include a BA (Ed), BEd, BA (Hons) and an MBA.  

Mike has held HR roles at several companies including Unilever from 1992 to 1994,  Bayer from 1994 to 1999, BHP Billiton from 2000 to 2005 and Impala Platinum from  2005 to 2007. Upon his departure at BHP Billiton, he became a founding member of  Optimum Coal from 2007 to 2012 where he took on the role of CEO, and later Non Executive Chairman until 2015.  

Mike was also the VP of the Chamber of Mines in SA between 2011/12 and  subsequently became the President from 2013 to 2017. He became the Chairman of  the Richards Bay Coal Terminal Board in 2012 and stepped down in 2016 to become  a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee.  

Mike currently serves as Executive Chairman and controlling shareholder of  Masimong Group Holdings and Non-Executive Chairman for a number of  companies, including Rolfes, Anchor Group, and is the Chairman of Council at the  University of Johannesburg. Mike is also a Non-Executive Director of ARB,  Halewood and Mouton Citrus.

Dr. Christie Viljoen is an economist and analyst focused on Southern African economies. He has 15 years of experience in areas such as macroeconomic research, industry analysis, market entry studies, scenario planning, country risk assessments, and thought leadership production. Key themes that he has frequently worked on include: economic growth and development, business resilience, sustainability (climate, social, etc), job creation, skills development and education, energy, global and local risks, upskilling and education, public finance and debt, and global megatrends. Prior to joining PwC, Christie worked for two years at KPMG in a similar capacity. This was preceded by nearly eight years working as a senior economist at NKC African Economics, now an Oxford Economics Company). Christie has a PhD in Economics from Stellenbosch University.