PETRA DIAMONDS LIMITED - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Chairman of Coronation Fund Managers
- Non - Independent Non - Executive Director Committees
Skills and experience: Alex is a chartered accountant with expertise across corporate governance, financial and other forms of corporate reporting, investment, broad business and financial experience. With almost three decades' experience in corporate governance, she has held positions on listed boards for nearly 20 years. With a distinguished career in corporate reporting, Alex is currently an adjudicator of EY's Excellence in Integrated Reporting Awards and is the Chair of the South African Financial Reporting Investigations Panel. Alex was previously the Vice-Chair of the Global Reporting Initiative as well as of the Accounting Practices Committee, the technical accounting committee of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Ayoub has worked at Williamson Diamond Mine for 27 years in a number of technical and managerial operating roles.
Before joining Petra, Ayoub worked as a Mining Engineer at Chingola and Mufulira Copper Mines in Zambia, before moving to Tanzania as a Mining Engineer at Buckreef Gold Mine. After joined Williamson in 1994 (as a Mining Manager), he was promoted to Production Manager at Williamson, where he supervised both the mining and processing plant. After assuming the role of Assistant General Manager, Ayoub became General Manager in November 2019. Ayoub has overseen the restart of operations at Williamson, following its period of care and maintenance.
Ayoub has a BSc in Mining Engineering from the University of Zambia and is a registered Professional Engineer in Tanzania.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Independent Non - Executive Director Committees
- Managing Director of Karo Mining Holdings
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Non - Executive Director
- Independent Non - Executive Director Committees
Skills and experience: Deborah is a Chartered Accountant with more than three decades experience across corporate finance, restructuring and debt management, performance improvement and auditing. Deborah qualified as an ACA accountant at PWC (Coopers & Lybrand) and then spent eight years as Finance Executive with the Africa-focused miner, Lonrho plc. Since then, Deborah has held positions with Deloitte, BDO and Gazelle Corporate Finance. Deborah has extensive boardroom experience, having been appointed as a Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair at Acacia Mining, Highland Gold, EVRAZ and latterly Ithaca Energy and Serabi Gold
Job Titles:
- Sales & Marketing Executive
- Diamond Sales Enquiries
Gregory has led the Sales team at Petra Diamonds since 2008. He oversees the preparation, valuation and marketing of Petra's rough diamonds as well as managing the full sales process of the South African and Tanzanian production. Gregory has 35 years of experience in the buying and selling of diamonds.
Prior to joining Petra, Gregory spent ten years managing his own company, GDR Diamonds, Johannesburg, purchasing rough diamonds throughout southern Africa and providing independent valuations in Angola. Gregory's broad knowledge of the diamond industry stemmed from his global experience at De Beers, London, where he started his career as a trainee diamond buyer in 1988. This included two years of intensive training in all facets and sizes of rough diamonds, the Overseas Purchasing Division where, over the span of 8 years, he went on multiple tours and secondments, which included Kinshasa, Brazzaville, Mbuji-Mayi, Kahemba, Luanda, Johannesburg and Antwerp.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Finance Director Committees
Mr. Breytenbach assumed the role of Finance Director in February 2018. He leads the financial management of the Company and is responsible for financing, treasury, financial controls, reporting, legal, investor relations, compliance and corporate governance.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Breytenbach previously held the role of Finance Manager - Operations at the Company since 2006, with responsibility for financial management across the Group's operations, before becoming Chief Financial Officer of the Group in June 2016. He joined Petra from Anglo Platinum, where he held various roles, culminating in his position as Finance Manager - Capital Projects, with oversight for Anglo Platinum's extensive capital expansion programmes. He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Skills: Jacques leads Petra's financial management of the Company and is responsible for financial and management accounting and reporting, business development, treasury, financial controls and reporting.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Professional Engineer With a Mine Manager
Jaison joined Petra Diamonds as the General Manger of Cullinan Diamond Mine in July 2019. He has over 20 years of industry experience in various mineral commodities including heavy minerals, diamonds, manganese and coal. Jaison was appointed Chief Operating Officer at Petra Diamonds in 2022.
Prior to joining Petra he worked as General Manager at Khutala Colliery having worked for 8 years in a variety of managerial roles at BHP Billiton (South32) at the Wessels Manganese mine and Hotazel Manganese mines before this. Jaison also has an in depth understanding of Finsch Mine, having started his career there when it was owned by De Beers. During this time he acted a section leader, ensuring safe control, management, direction of underground excavations and infrastructure within the Ore Extraction Production area.
Jaison is an accredited Professional Engineer with a Mine Manager's certificate of competency (South Africa), and holds a BSc in Mining Engineering, a post-graduate Masters in both Mineral Economics and Business Administration.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Managing Director of Incomet Capital GmbH
- Non - Independent Non - Executive Director Committees
Skills and experience: Johannes has expertise across corporate finance, treasury and sustainability with more than 15 years' experience in commodities and mining industry. Prior to his current roles, Johannes was a non-executive director of Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Combine (formerly part of the Cronimet Group) and Stemcor Global Holdings, a leading steel trading company and was a director of ANS Exploration Ltd, a gold and copper exploration company, focussing on the Arabian Nubian Shield. Prior to this, Johannes spent the previous decade with Scholz Holdings GmbH, an international metals recycling group, latterly as Chief Financial Officer. Johannes' early career was spent with Deutsche Bank and Voith.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Independent Non - Executive Director Committees
Skills and experience: With over 37 years' experience in the mining industry, Jon was President and CEO of BHP's aluminium division, and Executive Chair of Worsley Alumina (Australia) and Mozal Aluminium (Mozambique). Through his career, Jon has developed has a wide skill-set, including project acquisition, development and construction, and international commercial and general management. Jon has operated large-scale, fully operational mining assets, starting his early career as a Graduate Mining Engineer at Harmony Gold Mines, and progressing to be General Manager of Winkelhaak Gold Mine. .Jon was previously the non-executive Chair of the National Atomic Agency of Kazakhstan, and thereafter the Chair, and then Independent Director, of Samruk-Kazyna, the sovereign wealth fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Juan joined Petra after the purchase of Cullinan Diamond Mine in 2008, becoming the Surface Manager and Group Metallurgical Manager for all 7 of Petra's treatment plants. He was subsequently promoted to General Manager of CDM in 2011 and in July 2019 he was appointed to Project Executive, before later that year becoming Chief Technical Officer.
He has nearly 30 years of experience, with a depth of knowledge of both Koffiefontein Mine, having worked in a broad spectrum of operational roles before becoming Plant Manager under De Beers' tenure, as well as Cullinan Diamond Mine where he acted as Metallurgical Manager for several years, having been an integral member of the team that re-engineered the De Beers South Africa business model. Before being promoted into the De Beers diamond mines, Juan worked at the East Rand Gold and Uranium Division of Anglo American in Johannesburg, where he worked as a Mineral Processing Engineer.
Juan graduated in 1994 as a Metallurgical Engineer from the Potchefstroom University for Christian High Education, South Africa and also holds an MA in Business Administration from the North West University Business School, South Africa.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Independent Non - Executive Director Committees
- Lead Independent Non - Executive Director of the South African Reserve Bank
Qualifications: BA (Psychology) (University of Johannesburg), Senior Executive Leadership Programme for Africa (Harvard University), Diploma in Senior Management Development (University of Stellenbosch Business School) and Diploma in Rural Development Programme (University of the Witwatersrand).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Non - Executive Chair Committees
- Non - Executive Chair of Keller Group Plc
Skills and experience: A mining engineer by background, Peter's early career was spent with natural resources companies including Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BP Minerals and Consolidated Goldfields plc. Peter was CEO of electronics and technology group Laird plc from 2002 to 2011 and an Executive Director on the board of the engineering and construction company Costain Group plc, also holding management positions with BTR plc and Invensys plc. Peter's boardroom experience is extensive and varied, having been directly involved in five takeovers of publicly listed companies, a FTSE 100 merger, a FTSE 250 de-merger and an IPO. He was Non-executive Chairman of Volution Group plc until January 2020, Non-executive Chairman of Imagination Technologies plc and Non-executive Chairman of Alent plc. He has been a Non-executive Director on the boards of Cookson Group plc, Meggitt plc, Essentra plc and Oxford Instruments plc, as well as a Non-executive board member of UK Trade and Investment, and a Non-executive Director on the board of the Royal Air Force, chaired by the UK Secretary of State for Defence
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Member of the Investment Committee
- Chief Executive Committees
- Director of the Natural Diamond Council
Mr. Duffy assumed the role of CEO in April 2019. He leads the management of the Company, implements the agreed strategy and runs the business on a day-to-day basis. He has 27 years of global mining industry experience, initially with Anglo American plc and then AngloGold Ashanti Limited, from its inception in 1998. In 2008 he was appointed Executive Vice President, Africa Region and continued in this role until January 2010 when he took charge of the Continental Africa Region, with operations in Namibia, Tanzania, Guinea, Ghana and Mali and a Joint Venture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2013 he was appointed Chief Financial Officer with direct responsibility for all financial matters including the formulation and execution of financial business strategy, debt and equity financing. In 2015 Richard became a co-founder and director of Africa Energy Management Platform, a private energy company targeting industrial and mining clients in sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Duffy holds a B. Com degree from the University of Witwatersrand and an MBA from Henley Management College in the UK.
Skills: In addition to his business, strategic and financial skills, Richard has extensive experience in open pit and underground mining. Richard's career reflects a proven focus on safety, productivity and community relations, having led multiple large-scale mining operations across Africa.
Rupert assumed the role of General Counsel & Company Secretary at Petra in June 2021. He leads Petra's Legal, Company Secretary, Risk, Assurance & Compliance functions and reports into the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman.
He has over twenty years' legal and executive experience, most recently at Tullow Oil plc, an African-focused FTSE 250 oil and gas company, where he was General Counsel from 2015 to 2020. Prior to Tullow, Rupert was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at global law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, where he worked on a broad range of significant transactions across multiple sectors and jurisdictions.
Rupert qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2001 and holds a BSc degree in Economics and Politics from Bristol University
Job Titles:
- Mining Engineer
- Professional Driven Employee
Sibusiso Mathabela is a professional driven employee with a vision, who used Petra Diamonds' educational pipeline to the benefit of advancing his career and growing as a person.
Job Titles:
- Group HR & Public Affairs Executive
Before joining Petra, Thashmi spent 18 years at the Massmart Group, a leading retailer in South Africa. Her pivotal role was HR Director for Massbuild from 2003 to 2013. During this time, Thashmi and her team oversaw the integration of the newly purchased building supply company Builders Warehouse, into the Massmart group. The merger expanded successfully into the wider South African and African market leading to Thashmi's promotion in 2013, to Group Compliance Officer for Massmart. Later that year Massmart was purchased by the Walmart group. Thashmi led the integration of Massmart's South African businesses, into the Walmart Group with a focus on compliance. In 2015 she joined the Taste Group, overseeing the People Roll-Out plan for Starbucks.
Thashmi has a B.Admin (Public Finance) with honours in Industrial Psychology from the University of Durban Westville.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Non - Executive Director, Executive Coach
- Senior Independent Non - Executive Director Committees
Skills and experience: Varda is a non-executive director, executive coach (with Meryck & Co since 2014) and expert adviser in the diamond industry. A 30 year career with De Beers, culminated her appointment as CEO of De Beers Trading Company (a mid-stream business with a turnover of approximately $60bn). Varda was the first woman to be awarded honorary lifetime membership of the Israel Diamond Exchange and in 2011 was inducted into the Women's Jewellery Association Hall of Fame. Varda has also received Honorary Membership of the London Diamond Bourse. In addition to a number of appointments as a Non-Executive Director, Varda has worked extensively as an executive mentor focussing on leaders and business growth and transformation and has previously been a Non-Executive Director at Lonmin plc.