With thought-provoking presentations from CEOs and Presidents, our event focused on how evolving global issues affecting the industry can be addressed to secure platinum’s future.

Our guest speakers

Nico Muller, Chief Executive Officer, Impala Platinum

Alexander Mhembere, Chief Executive Officer, Zimplats Holdings Limited

Nico was appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Impala Platinum in April 2017. His mining career spans a period of over 27 years and he has held numerous senior management positions at Royal Bafokeng Platinum, Gold Fields, De Beers, Consolidated Mines, Anglovaal Mining and African Rainbow Minerals. Impala Platinum is a leading producer of PGMs. The company is structured around Impala Refining Services and five mining operations located on the Bushveld Complex in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe, the two most significant PGM-bearing ore bodies in the world.

Alexander joined Zimplats as Chief Executive Officer in October 2007, having formerly been the Managing Director of a Zimbabwean PGM producer. He is Chairman of the operating subsidiary, Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Private) Limited. Zimplats, in which Impala Platinum has a holding of 86.9%, is situated on the Hartley Geological Complex, in the northern half of the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. The operation includes an opencast and an underground mine at Ngezi and the Selous Metallurgical Complex.

André Christl, President, Heraeus Precious Metals

André has been President of the Global Business Unit Heraeus Precious Metals since April 2017. André joined Heraeus in 2009, heading Group Finance, and from 2011 he managed the company’s Trading Division until 2015 when he headed the Global Business Unit Heraeus Metal Management. Heraeus is a leading international family-owned company, founded in 1851 and based in Hanau, Germany. Heraeus Precious Metals is a major provider of precious metals services and products with comprehensive expertise in the precious metals loop, from trading to products to recycling.

Dr Graham Cooley, Chief Executive Officer, ITM Power

Graham was appointed as Chief Executive Officer at ITM Power in 2009. Prior to joining the company, Graham was Business Development Manager at National Power plc and spent 11 years in the power industry developing energy storage and generation technologies. ITM Power was founded in 2001 and specialises in the manufacture of integrated hydrogen energy systems. The company floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2004 and was the first UK-based fuel cell company to go public. ITM Power operates out of two premises in Sheffield, UK, and has other offices in Germany, France, the USA and Canada.

Liu Qiang, Executive Vice President, China National Resources Recycling Association

Liu Qiang, Executive Member of the China Economic and Social Council, Executive Vice President of China National Resources Recycling Association (CRRA), has been working in China’s recycling industry for nearly 30 years. He has been instrumental in the formulation of major policies to promote a circular economy in China, and is a consulting expert for key ministries in China including the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology. CRRA, the biggest public organisation within the Chinese recycling industry, is composed of over 10,000 enterprises, public institutions and organisations involved in recycling in China. CRRA links government, industrial parks and enterprises to promote the development of the national recycling industry and acts as a bridge and platform for enhancing cooperation on enterprise, industrial, national and international levels.

Hisako Hankinson, President, Platinum Guild International (PGI) Japan

Hisako Hankinson is the President of Platinum Guild International K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Platinum Guild International Ltd. She is responsible for the development of demand for platinum jewellery in the Japan market. Drawing upon Hisako's extensive marketing expertise and detailed knowledge of Japan's jewellery sector, PGI Japan delivers innovative business development strategies and consumer programs to Japan's platinum market, including fostering the next generation of platinum jewellery consumers.

Stephen Forrest and friends

Stephen Forrest, one of the PGM industry’s foremost authorities, known universally for his value-chain-spanning expertise, has spent a career working for a portfolio of the leading mining, investment bank and trading companies and clients. In more recent years, he has become the analytical link between producer and end-user, processor and investor, as Executive Chairman of SFA (Oxford), the leading consultancy he set up in 2001.

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 15 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.