Day three of on-line panel discussions hosted during "ESG Week: Challenges and Opportunities in the Mining Sector" with investors and key advisers as awareness and understanding of ESG risks in the minerals exploration and mining industry increases among the investment community. This panel discusses how companies are developing and implementing ESG policies into their business strategies, highlighting some of the successes and challenges they face, as well as how larger companies are integrating environmental, social and governance factors into their "new" corporate agendas.
Chair:
John Merry, SRK Consulting, Principal Consultant (ESG)
John Merry is a Principal Consultant with over 25 years of experience in social and environmental management in the mining sector. John has worked on projects covering numerous different commodities including, iron ore, gold, copper, diamonds and coal. His areas of expertise include; project management; project design; health, safety and environment; community development strategies, stakeholder engagement and government interface.
Speakers:
Jack Cunningham, Gemfields, Group Sustainability, Policy & Risk Director
A corporate responsibility and ESG specialist with 18+ years experience across multiple sectors; big-4 consulting, media, retail, luxury goods and mining. Jack currently leads sustainability, health & safety, policy and risk for Gemfields, the world's largest coloured gemstone mining company and owner of luxury jeweller Fabergé. Jack is the strategic and operational link between reputational risk planning, proof-points and operational change and has experience of human rights litigation and reputational crisis response.
Alexander Lemon, Mkango, President
Mr Lemon is a graduate of the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London (MSc Dic in Mineral Exploration) and Oxford Brookes University (BSc Geological Sciences). He has 24 years’ experience in mineral exploration and business development. Mr Lemon is a founding Director and President of Mkango and Mkango’s major Shareholder, Leominex. From 1994 to 2001 he was the Managing Director of a gold mining company that owned and operated a producing gold mine in Central Asia, where he gained extensive operating experience in emerging markets including government negotiations and project management. From 2001 to 2005, he worked for a family office, Allied Commercial Exporters as an investment adviser. Since 2005 has been involved in the exploration and evaluation of a variety of projects throughout Africa, Central Asia and Europe. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society, Fellow of the Geographical Society and a Member of the Southern African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy.
Joe Walsh, Lepidico Ltd, Managing Director
Mr Walsh is a resources industry executive, mining engineer and geophysicist with over 25 years’ experience working for mining companies and investment banks in mining related roles. Joe was the General Manager Corporate Development with PanAust and was
instrumental in the evolution of PanAust from an explorer in 2004 to a US$2+billion, ASX 100 multi-mine copper and gold company. Joe also has extensive equity capital market experience and has been involved with the technical and economic evaluation of many mining assets and companies around the world.
Jeremy Wrathall, Cornish Lithium, CEO
A mining engineer by training, Jeremy initially worked in the South African gold mining industry and then followed an investment banking career, starting as a mining analyst in 1988. Over the last 30 years he has held various roles including Global Head of Mining Equities at Deutsche Bank, Global Head of Mining Equity Sales at UBS and, most recently, Head – Global Natural Resources at Investec Bank in London. In 2017 he left the investment banking industry and founded his own company, Cornish Lithium Ltd, where he serves as the Chief Executive Officer.