In this section: Bridgette Radebe; Megan Cole; Elize Strydom; Marian van der Walt and more…
Megan Jane Cole
Research & Development Manager: Mine to Mill Anglo Platinum
Tel: +27 11 373 6272
www.angloplatinum.com
Megan Jane Cole spent a year working underground in Rustenburg and in an open pit mine near Mokopane in Limpopo after matric as part of Anglo Platinum’s exposure year programme for bursary recipients before proceeding to the University of Cape Town for a BSc honours in geology. After graduating with a first class pass, she enrolled for a master’s at the University of the Witwatersrand part-time while tackling a crucial task at the Mogalakwena open pit mine in Mokopane. The job focussed on slope design and slope stability management.
At that time the geotechnical risk at Mogalakwena was the highest in the Anglo group, but with the introduction of new technology and design tools and improved databases and management practices, the team took the operation to the lowest geotechnical risk in the group. In 2006, she took up a project management and research role, focussing on integrating mining and processing research and describing the ‘mine of the future”. She is a member of the council of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Andrie Mariana Garbers-Craig
Associate Professor University of Pretoria
Tel: +27 12 420 3189
www.up.ac.za
Andrie Mariana Garbers-Craig, the 2008/2009 president of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Pretoria; she forms part of the pyrometallurgy group, concentrating on refractory materials.
She was born in Polokwane, grew up in Johannesburg, and matriculated at Hoërskool Randburg, subsequently completing BSc, BSc (Hons) (Chemistry) and MSc (Chemistry) degrees at the University of Pretoria and an SM (Metallurgy) in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US. Garbers-Craig began her career at Mintek, where she was involved in fundamental and applied research in pyrometallurgy, at the same time completing her PhD (Metallurgy) at the University of Pretoria on a part-time basis.
She joined ITEC R&D (Iscor Ltd) in 1995, first as a member of the refractories group, and then as a member of the steelmaking group. In mid-1999 she joined the University of Pretoria.
Bridgette Radebe
Founder and Executive Chairperson Mmakau Mining
Tel: +27 11 268 6780
www.mmakaumining.co.za
Bridgette Radebe became the first black South African deep-level, hard-rock mining entrepreneur in the 1980s. The prime focus of her company, Mmakau Mining, is investment in sustainable mining ventures through community-driven involvement.
She won the international business person of the year award in 2008 bestowed by the Global Foundation for Democracy, which described her as ‘an economic activist, an agent of transformation and a pioneer of change … who pioneered the implementation of empowerment mining models in Africa and internationally”.
Radebe is the founder and a trustee of the New Africa Mining Fund, the founder and president of the South African Mining Development Association and vice-chairperson of the Minerals and Mining Development board, as well as a member of the board of Sappi. She participated in the design of the mining charter and current mining legislation.
Elize Strydom
Industrial Relations Adviser and Chief Negotiator Chamber of Mines
Tel: +27 11 498 7100
www.bullion.org.za
Dr Elize Strydom, the chief negotiator at the Chamber of Mines, is one of the few female negotiators making their presence felt in collective bargaining. A former associate professor at Unisa for 13 years, Strydom joined the chamber as an industrial relations manager in 1999. She was promoted to assistant industrial adviser and later to deputy industrial relations adviser and became the industrial relations adviser and chief negotiator at the chamber in 2003.
She holds is a BA degree in law and LLB from the University of Pretoria, as well as a master’s and doctorate in law from Unisa and is an admitted attorney of the high court. Strydom represents the mining houses within Business Unity South Africa and organised business at National Economic Development and Labour Council and on the Judicial Service Commission.
Marian van der Walt
Executive: Corporate & Investor Relations Harmony Gold Mining Company Ltd
Tel: +27 11 411 2000
www.harmony.co.za
Marian van der Walt joined Harmony in 2003 as company secretary and was appointed to the executive committee two years later. Responsibility for legal, compliance, risk management, internal audit and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance were added to her portfolio in September 2007 and a year later she was appointed to her current post.
A lawyer, she obtained a BCom (law), LLB and diploma in corporate governance from the University of Johannesburg, a higher diploma in tax from Unisa, a diploma in insolvency law from the Association of Insolvency Practitioners and Administrators and a certificate in business leadership from the Wits Business School.
She completed her articles at Routledge Modise Attorneys and was admitted as an attorney and conveyancer in 1998, working at Deloitte and Touche and Standard Bank before moving to Harmony.