Expert Speaker - Sharps Pixley, Ross Norman

Ross is an entrepreneur in the bullion market and owner of Sharps Pixley Ltd. Ross started his bullion career at Johnson Matthey, Royston as Gold Refining Manager (then the worlds largest gold refinery), then a gold trader at NM Rothschild & Sons (formerly chairman of the London Gold Fixing) and later Credit Suisse, where he was a Senior Dealer in physical bullion trading.

Ross went on to co-found leading precious metals website TheBullionDesk.com about 10 years ago until recently turning his energies to selling physical precious metals at Sharps Pixley, London.

Ross has an enviable record within the London Bullion Market in forecasting the gold price over the last decade and is frequently sought by the media for commentary on the bullion markets. Ross has made frequent appearances on TV (BBC, CNBC, CBC) in newspapers (FT, Wall Street Journal) as well as in the newswires (Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones).

DRD Gold: Niël Pretorius, CEO

 Niël Pretorius was appointed Chief Executive Officer Designate of DRDGOLD on 21 August 2008 and Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2009. After joining the company on 1 May 2003 as Legal Adviser, he was promoted to the position of Group Legal Counsel on 1 September 2004 and General Manager: Corporate Services on 1 April 2005. Niël was appointed Chief Executive Officer of DRDGOLD SA on 1 July 2006, becoming Managing Director on 1 April 2008. A director of Rand Refinery Limited, he has 16 years of experience in the mining industry

Pan African Resources: Jan Nelson, CEO

After obtaining his honours degree in Geology, Jan embarked on a career in gold exploration and mining in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Tanzania and prior to joining Pan African, held positions in mine management and operations with Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited, Hunter Dickenson and Gold Fields Limited.  Jan was instrumental in transforming Pan African from an exploration company to a gold mining company. He was the driver behind the acquisition of Barberton Mines (Pty) Ltd and was also instrumental in acquiring the Phoenix Platinum Mining (Pty) Ltd project.
Jan has built up a competent mining team that is well positioned to build the Company to a mid-tier gold producer.

Troy Resources: Paul Benson, CEO

Chief Executive Officer, has over 25 years experience in the mining industry. Prior to joining Troy in October 2007, Paul spent the previous 7 years with BHP Billiton, based in Chile from 2004, where his most recent role was Chief Development Officer for BHP Billiton Base Metals and a member of the BHP Billiton Base Metals Executive Committee. Before that Paul worked with Rio Tinto and RGC. Paul has a Bachelor of Science in Geology and Exploration Geophysics and a Bachelor of Engineering in Mining, both from the University of Sydney, and a Sloan Masters of Science in Management from the London Business School.

Conroy Gold & Natural Resources: Kevin McNulty,

Kevin McNulty a graduate of Greenwich University BSc (Hons) Geology / MSc Remote Sensing, with over fifteen years’ international exploration experience, Kevin previously worked at the Teberebie gold mine (now AngloGold Ashanti) – which was producing over 350,000 oz Au p.a. Kevin also has gold exploration experience in Ghana, Niger and Burkino Faso and extensive experience in South America prior to joining Conroy Gold and Natural Resources. Kevin is a Past President of the Irish Association for Economic Geology and is also a qualified person under JORC and NI-43-101 holding a PGeo and EuroGeol.

 

Gold Road Resources: Ian Murray, Executive Chairman

Ian Murray is a qualified Chartered Accountant with more than 15 years' corporate experience in the publicly-listed resources sector.

Mr Murray was appointed Executive Chairman of Gold Road Resources in May 2008. Between 1997 and 2005 he held positions including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer with DRDGOLD Ltd. Mr Murray oversaw DRDGOLD's major acquisitions, restructures and stock exchange listings which grew the Company from a small, lease-bound South African miner into a globally listed multi-mine gold company producing over 1 million ounces of gold per annum at its peak.

Prior to this he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, worked in Management Consulting with PricewaterhouseCoopers and in the South African Revenue Service. Mr Murray also assisted in establishing one of South Africa's most successful biotechnology companies.

Toro Gold: Martin Horgan, Executive Director and CEO

A mining engineer by training, Martin started his professional career working at Gold Fields’ East Driefontein Mine in South Africa before joining SRK in 2007, working in Dr Mike Armitage’s Resources team. He joined Barclays Capital’s Mining team in 2000 covering global mining project finance and advisory mandates for the bank.  Martin joined AIM listed BDI Mining in 2006 as an Executive Director, and he was part of the team which negotiated the sale of the company to Gem Diamonds in 2007 realising a record share price for the Group.  Martin co-founded Toro Gold with Howard Bills in early 2009.

 

Kryso Resources: Craig Brown, Managing Director & Finance Director

Craig Brown qualified as a Chartered Accountant in New Zealand in 1993 and has spent more than fourteen years in the Central Asian mining industry, with the bulk of that time spent in Tajikistan in various positions including Chief Accountant of a substantial operating mine and Chief Financial Officer of a Canadian listed company.

Kryso Resources: Richard Li, Chief Operating Officer

Richard has 28 years experience as engineer and manager for China ENFI Engineering Co. Ltd. and more recently as Vice President of CNMIM. At CNMIM Richard managed numerous projects including rehabilitation of gold mines, exploration of copper mines and acquisition of gold projects in countries such as Laos, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Australia.

GoldPlat Plc: Brian Moritz, Chairman

Brian Moritz is a Chartered Accountant and former Senior Partner of Grant Thornton, London. He formed Grant Thornton’s Capital Markets Team which floated over 100 companies on AIM under his chairmanship. In December 2004 he retired from Grant Thornton UK LLP to concentrate on bringing new companies to the market as director. He specialises in mining companies, primarily in Africa, and was formerly chairman of African Platinum plc, Chromex Mining PLC and Metal Bulletin plc as well as currently being chairman of several junior mining companies, including Goldplat.

WITS Gold: Philip Kotze, CEO

Philip began his career In 1981 with Anglovaal Mining Corporation and has since accumulated 28 years’ experience in the mining industry, having held positions at AngloGold Ashanti, Kalahari Goldridge Mining, Harmony, and Deloitte & Touche. He has served on the executive level of mining companies since 1996 and has distinguished himself as a turn-around specialist. In early 2007, Philip initiated the formulation of a mining advisory service with Deloitte South Africa.
Philip joined Anooraq Resources Corporation on 1 June 2008 as President and Chief Executive Officer, a position he held until March 2011. He took up the position as Chief Executive Officer of Wits Gold on 1 August 2011. Apart from his executive functions with Wits Gold, he also serves on the board of Great Basin Gold.