Kenneth de Graaf is FLSmidth Global Product Line Manager, Downstream Gold Recovery Products. Ken is a chemical/metallurgical engineer with over 20 years of experience in the global precious metals industry. He has held various senior technical and managerial roles both in industry and in mineral project develop. Ken has over 3 years with FLSmidth, and prior to his current role was Sales Manager, North America, for Mining SPA (Sampling, Preparation and Analysis) which included key account management of commercial mineral laboratory customers and being an integral part of the SPA team in 2020 that sold largest integrated mine-site Automated Sample Preparation Laboratory in the Americas with fully automated sample preparation, fire assay and wet chemical analyses. In his current FLSmidth role, he is also responsible for contributing his extensive experience to support R&D and initiatives to drive digitalization and process optimization. Ken has a M.A.Sc (Metallurgical Eng.) from University of British Columbia and B.A.Sc. (Chemical Eng.) from Queen’s University (Kingston).

Paul is a chemical engineer with over 20 years experience in gold hydrometallurgy research and process optimisation, including: cyanidation of copper-gold ores and concentrates; impact of sulfide minerals; cyanide analysis, deportment and speciation; cyanide destruction and recycle processes; in-place/in-situ leaching; and thiosulfate based processes for gold recovery. His major research and development focus in recent times has been supporting the commercialisation by Clean Mining and industry uptake of thiosulfate based processes for gold recovery.

Anne Johnson is an Assistant Professor in the Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining at Queen’s University. She is cross-appointed to the School of Policy Studies and the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering. She holds a PhD in Mining Engineering, a Master of Public Administration and a Master’s of Education (curriculum for engineering and sustainability). She is interested in the ways in which intercultural competence and dialogic ways of thinking can enable engineers to navigate social tensions that arise when communities and industry fail to understand each other’s perspectives. The growing variety, scope and potential for voluntary ESG reporting to advance shared value in the social and EDI space is a theme in current teaching and research. Anne is also Director of Queen’s Graduate Diploma in Social Performance Management in the Extractive Industries (SPMEI).

Wayne van Drunick has 21 years in the mining industry and is the VP Metallurgy for Anglogold Ashanti. He holds a BSc and MSc in Process Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand. He has experience across multiple commodities including Gold, Platinum Group Metals, Base Metals, Iron Ore and Non-Ferrous/Industrial Minerals. Wayne has balanced his career between several production roles, R&D, capital projects and more recently the technical support function. The last 11 years have been focussed on business management, governance and process improvement at AngloGold Ashanti. He is currently accountable for the technical governance, technology and discipline health for Metallurgy.

James Koerting is a mining and energy professional, leading the regional energy supply strategy for Gold Fields Australia. He manages the power supply portfolio for the Granny Smith, Agnew, St Ives and Gruyere gold mines and is actively involved with integrating innovative renewable energy power solutions with these remote mining operations. He has experience with contracting for remote power generation, gas transportation and natural gas as well as project studies and delivery. Projects include the 55-60% renewable Agnew wind, solar, battery & gas hybrid (with funding from ARENA) and the Granny Smith and Gruyere solar, battery & gas hybrids. Combined, these projects are contributing to a 66,000 t CO₂-e annual reduction in Gold Field’s carbon emissions. James has a Bachelor of Engineering in Instrumentation and Control from Murdoch University, a diploma in Project Management and an MBA from Curtin University.