The platinum industry went through traumatic times in 2015 and, despite recent positive automotive figures from Europe, the uncertainty over growth in China and geopolitical stresses and volatility in oil markets mean the Oxford Platinum Lectures took place at a pivotal moment for the PGM industry.

Our event brought together authorities from across the platinum landscape to discuss the fundamental shifts in the industry, with an emphasis on those parts of the value chain where major investments are being made.

Our guest speakers

Paul Dunne, Chief Executive Officer, Northam Platinum

Paul was appointed CEO of Northam Platinum in 2014 and is transforming the company through acquisitions and growth projects, fostering a culture of innovation and decisive leadership.

Prior to joining Northam, Paul had a distinguished career at Impala Platinum Holding Limited (Implats) with his last position as executive director led the South African mining and mineral processing operations at Implats Rustenburg and Marula mines.

Paul joined Implates in 1987 and was appointed as general manager: Mineral Processes in 2000. IN 2009 was appointed as Group Executive: Operations. He was later appointed to the Implats Board as executive director in 2010. He was chair of the operations committee and a member of the Executive Committee.

Neal Froneman, Chief Executive Officer, Sibanye Gold

Neal Froneman was appointed executive director and CEO of Sibanye-Gold on 1 January 2013.

Neal has led the transformation of Sibanye-Stillwater from a 1.5Moz South Africa-based gold producer into a leading precious metals miner with an international operating footprint ranking among the world’s top three PGM producers.

His career spans more than 37 years during which time he worked at Gold Fields Limited (Gold Fields), Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony) and JCI Limited. In April 2003, Neal was appointed CEO of Aflease Gold Limited (Aflease Gold), which, through a series of reverse takeovers, became Gold One International Limited (Gold One) in May 2009. He was primarily responsible for the creation of Uranium One Incorporated (Uranium One) from the Aflease Gold uranium assets. During this period, he was CEO of Aflease Gold and Uranium One Incorporated until his resignation from Uranium One Incorporated in February 2008. He held the CEO position at Gold One until his appointment at Sibanye-Stillwater. In May 2016, he was elected to serve as a Vice President of the Minerals Council South Africa.

Dr Katsuhiko Hirose, WPI Professor, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER), Kyushu University and Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Promotion Group, Toyota

Katsuhiko played a key role in Toyota's fuel cell development and was for several years responsible for hydrogen energy and hydrogen infrastructure, and the development and commercialisation of the Toyota Mirai, as well as Toyota's wider hydrogen vision. 

He retired from his full-time Toyota role in 2015 but remains a Professional Partner, providing insight and advice at a strategic level. In 2015 he took on a Visiting Professorship at Kyushu University, where he is particularly interested not only in the technical and scientific but also in the societal role of renewable energy and hydrogen technology.

Katsuhiko joined Toyota Motor Corporation in 1981 where he initially worked as a systems engineer specialising in engine control, emission control and hybrid control and played a central role during the development of the Prius, managing the fuel economy and emissions portfolio. Following this, he moved to the planning division to deploy hybrid technology worldwide.

Katsuhiko Hirose obtained his bachelor’s degree in physics and BSC degree in applied physics from the University of Nagoya and his PhD from Kyushu University in Mechanical Science.

Anton Berlin, Director of Strategic Marketing, Nornickel

Anton Berlin leads Nornickels marketing operations. Nornickel is a diversified mining and metallurgical company, the world’s largest producer of refined nickel and palladium and a leading producer of platinum, cobalt, copper and rhodium. The company also produces gold, silver, iridium, selenium, ruthenium and tellurium.

Anton has held this position since 2003 covering all products and markets globally. He has global responsibility for research of commodity markets, macroeconomic analysis and global market development for Nickel, Cobalt and Platinum Group Metals. He is a regular speaker at public and corporate meetings. Before moving to the current position Anton Berlin was part of the Precious Metals Division of Norilsk Nickel from 1999 to 2003. In his role has been engaged in researching the precious metal market for the past twenty years.

Anton served as a board member for Norilsk Nickel Europe Limited - the European sales arms of Norilsk Nickel group of companies from 2003 till 2014.

He has been a board member of the Nickel Institute since 2005 and Chairman of the Nickel Institute from 2017 to 2019. This organisation is the global association of the world's primary nickel producers representing about 85% of global annual nickel production outside China with the mission to promote and support the use of nickel inappropriate applications.

Graduated from Moscow State Aircraft Technology University in 1996, he was employed as a Head of Laboratory by the same university until 1999 and a Senior Lecturer until 2003.

Dr David Deegan, Chief Technical Officer, Tetronics

As Chief Technical Officer for Tetronics, David oversees all technical aspects of client project delivery, operational permitting and ongoing support. David is also responsible for technology research and development as well as patent portfolio management.

With a commercial and regulatory focus, particularly in the areas of resource recovery, David was sponsored by Tetronics to obtain his PhD in plasma waste processing in 2003. David is a Chartered Environmental Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Huw Daniels, Chief Executive Officer, Platinum Guild International

Huw Daniel leads the local market teams in China, Japan, India, Korea and the US, in addition to the global team in Hong Kong.

Huw joined PGI USA in 2003, after 25 years in advertising, working in Europe, Asia and the US at McCann, Saatchi and JWT. He has worked with many clients across varied categories, most notably Procter & Gamble in France, China and the US, developing award-winning campaigns for Ariel, Tide, Pampers, Head & Shoulders and Olay. With DeBeers, Huw ran the Diamond Marketing Group for 11 markets across the Asia Pacific region including China.

Huw has a BSc in Business Studies from City University London (now CASS Business School) and currently serves as President of the Precious Metals Commission and Board Director of CIBJO, the World Jewelry Confederation. He has also served on the boards of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, New York Insight Meditation Center and the Hetrick Martin Institute.

Beresford Clarke, Managing Director and Head of Research, SFA (Oxford)

Beresford’s principal remit is to service SFA (Oxford)'s wide range of clients worldwide. He has responsibility for the analyst team, product delivery and innovation, and is the lead research author. Beresford has been a metals market analyst for 13 years, covering platinum-group metals on a daily basis on behalf of clients, but also providing in-depth analysis on the lithium, cobalt, gold and other commodity markets.