MINEX MINING FORUM - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner
- Managing Partner of AAR
Alexander Lopatnikov, Managing Partner of AAR (formerly American Appraisal. Russia), has been managing valuation and consulting services for mining companies for over twenty years. He has experience in many countries around the world for companies such as Norilsk Nickel, ERG, Polymetal, Molycorp, Rusal, Kazakhmys, Evraz, LARCO, Mechel, Polyus, Severstal-Resource, Petropavlovsk, IRC Ltd, Mongolian Mining Corportation, Metalloinvest, Chalco and many others.
Mr. Lopatnikov participated in the group of experts of the International Assessment Council, which developed assessment standards for the extractive industries. Alexander Lopatnikov is a member of OERN, the American Society of Appraisers, the Russian Society of Appraisers, and the Royal Institute of Certified Appraisers (RICS).
Alexander Lopatnikov is the author of a large number of publications on the value of mining projects and companies, their assessment and risk management. For many years, he has taught the course "Cost Management" at the IDAB School of Business at State University of Management.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer of Highland Gold
Denis Alexandrov has served as Chief Executive Officer of Highland Gold's operating arm, Russdragmet LLC, since January 2016. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Alexandrov held a series of senior positions and board memberships at mining and natural resources companies, most recently as CEO and Director of Auriant Mining AB, a Swedish company focused on gold production in Russia, and as Managing Director at A1 Investment Company and Chief Financial Officer at Arlan Investment Company, both of which had substantial holdings in the mining industry. From 2003 to 2006, Mr Alexandrov worked as Finance Director and board member at Highland Gold. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland (USA) and Far-Eastern State University (Russia), holds an eMBA from the Skolkovo Moscow School of Management, and is a chartered accountant (UK).
Job Titles:
- Senior Adviser / World Gold Council
- Senior Adviser to the World Gold Council
Edward Bickham is Senior Adviser to the World Gold Council on environmental, social and governance issues and was closely involved in the development of the Responsible Gold Mining Principles. He was formerly EVP External Affairs for Anglo American and is a former Board member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and Chair of the Institute of Business Ethics.
Job Titles:
- General Director
- Managing Director / New Mining Company
Today, the New Ore Company owns more than 20 licenses for gold and polymetallic facilities located in the regions of Siberia and the Far East. Under the leadership of Bogdanov E.V., offices were formed in the city of Khabarovsk and in the city of Yekaterinburg. The company is actively conducting exploration work and is engaged in designing field development.
Job Titles:
- Director of Market Relations and Climate Change Lead / World Gold Council
John is Director of Market Relations and Climate Change Lead at the World Gold Council, managing its climate change research programme and its associated engagement activity with stakeholder organisations.
Additionally, John contributes to the organization's wider insight and communication outputs. He has written extensively and comments regularly on gold market dynamics, investment strategy and sustainability issues.
John joined the World Gold Council in early 2005, working initially on investment research and investor outreach and, later, on projects examining gold's wider socio-economic and sustainability impacts.
He has worked in or around the financial markets for over 25 years, including senior roles in business development, product management, trading systems, and market analysis. He started his career in the development and marketing of advanced computing and AI software as applied to financial market data.
Beyond gold and finance, John has also consulted on research, business analysis and knowledge management projects for a wide range of clients, from SMEs to supranational organisations.
John has degrees from the University of Sussex and Birkbeck College, University of London.
Job Titles:
- Specialist Events and Information
MINEX Forum TM is a specialist events and information exchange platform dedicated to promoting Mining Technological Innovation, Regulation and Investment opportunities across Eurasian continent. MINEX Mining and Exploration Forum was established in 2005. Since then MINEX Forum TM has organised 100 mining events in Russia, Central Asia, UK, Europe and China.
Job Titles:
- Chief Technical Officer
- Chief Technical Officer at the LBMA
Neil is the Chief Technical Officer at the LBMA and is responsible for ensuring that the integrity of the physical side of the market is maintained.
Previously he worked at the largest gold refinery in the world as well as the second-largest platinum producer.
He is a member of the BSI Committee responsible for Specifications and test methods for jewellery and horology.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor / World Gold Council
Peter is a C-Suite executive and sustainability advisor to the global mining industry. He helps companies navigate the complex external landscape associated with running a successful mining business. With a career spanning three decades, Peter has worked in the trenches in some of the most complicated jurisdictions in the world and in the boardrooms of the world's leading gold mining companies.
Peter is formerly the SVP and Chief Sustainability Officer at Barrick Gold Corporation where he led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives related to sustainability. He established a world-class community relations discipline at Barrick, developed a comprehensive investor engagement program on sustainability and led the company's climate change strategy. Peter is currently retained as a Senior Advisor with the World Gold Council, where he helped developed the Responsible Gold Mining Principles, launched in September 2019 as the new ESG benchmark for responsible gold producers.
Prior to joining the mining industry, Peter had a successful career in international development, holding several senior management positions with international NGOs. He spent twelve years living and working abroad, including in Swaziland, Rwanda, Congo, Chechnya and the UK. He has worked, lived or travelled in more than 65 countries around the world.
Peter holds a Business Degree from Queen's University in Canada and a Masters in International Development (Gender Studies) from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex in the UK. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife and four children.