Christine joined the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration in late 2025. Previous to joining the Department Christine provided technical advice on numerous mine rehabilitation and closure projects. She has led studies and trials on optimisation of mining materials, including characterisation test work and erodibility testing and modelling to determine their suitability for rehabilitation and closure. Christine's work has supported the development of closure designs that are stable, non contaminating and supportive of post mining land uses. Christine obtained a Masters of Philosophy in environmental engineering in 2020 through partnership with the Centre for Mine Site Restoration.

Justina Senam Lotsu is a PhD student in Mining Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), USA, where she is a Graduate Research Assistant with the Mining Industry of the Future Initiative (MIFI) Research Team. Her research focuses on the design of geometrically efficient and autonomy-aware mine layouts, integrating optimization, machine learning, and data-driven decision-making to improve the performance and sustainability of surface mining systems. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering from the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Ghana, where she graduated with distinction and received the Best Second-Year Female Student Award at the 8th Ghana Mining Industry Awards. She has industry experience as a Graduate Mining Engineer at AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Limited and Asante Gold Corporation, where she worked across mine planning, drill and blast, and general mine operations. Her work bridges academic research and practical application, with a strong interest in open-source optimization frameworks, ESG-integrated mine planning, and autonomous mining systems. Justina is passionate about advancing sustainable mining practices and contributing to the future of intelligent, efficient, and responsible mineral resource development.

Master in Mine Engineering (University of Leoben / Austria) 18 years experience in Mine Engineering, Mine Planning and Strategy

Mothusi Mochubele completed his undergraduate studies in BSc Engineering in Mining at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1998. He then joined De Beers Consolidated Mines and worked at Cullinan Mine, first as a miner, then shift boss, Mine captain, section manager and Expansion project Mining Engineer. During his time at De Beers, he obtained the government’s mine managers’ certificate of competency in 2001 and a Project Management qualification through UNISA in 2007. Mothusi has also extensive experience in the Gold, Chrome, and Coal mining sectors, petrochemical and energy sectors, in capacities including engineer, project manager, and section lead. In 2011, Mothusi was appointed as a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand's School of Mining Engineering. While at Wits, Mothusi obtained his MSc in Engineering (mining), specialising in ventilation in 2015. He is lecturing on Mine Ventilation and Health and Safety courses . He has undertaken a project commissioned by the World Bank, where he was the country consultant (SA) for ACET on Local Content and Value Addition. His research interest lies in the field of Local Content and Value Addition (LCVA) in mining, property development, health and safety, ventilation in ultra-deep mines, as well as Automation.