The MSA Group - Specialist Consultants & Contractors to the Mining and Resource's Industry

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Management and Key Staff

The MSA Group employs highly qualified professionals, both internally as permanent staff as well as utilising a large network of specialist associate consultants where appropriate.

Management at MSA

Keith Scott - Managing Director

A geologist with over fifteen years of experience managing exploration and evaluation projects throughout Africa in a wide range of commodities, Keith joined the MSA Group in 1995 and was appointed Managing Director in 2006. He is passionate about the business and provides strategic direction and leadership to The MSA Group.

Dr Ian Haddon - Head of Group Operations

Ian joined the MSA Group in November 2007 as the manager of MSA Geological Services. Ian holds a PhD in geology and has over 15 years experience as a geologist, specialising in the planning, execution and management of geological mapping and mineral exploration programs. Ian is currently responsible for all commercial divisions at MSA including the Exploration, Evaluation, Environmental and Diamond Laboratory Services. Prior to joining MSA Ian was manager of the Central Regions division at the Council for Geoscience, responsible for regional geological mapping, sampling and exploration programs in South Africa and other African and South American countries.

Melanie van der Werff - Financial and Administrative Manager

Melanie is a Chartered Accountant. She joined The MSA Group in January 2008 after periods with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Snowden Mining Industry Consultants. Her first role was to develop MSA’s systems to ensure the optimum operation of all resources, including technical, financial, HR, marketing and administrative management systems. Since November 2009, she has been responsible for all of The MSA Group’s financial and administrative functions.

Claire McMaster - HR Manager

Claire joined The MSA Group in early 1999, in the role of Human Resources Manager. She has extensive experience managing the Human Resource function of organisations active in the global mining industry. Her main focus is the recruitment, motivation, development and performance management of our MSA staff ensuring that they are equipped to operate as a service provider of choice, while ensuring that all employees’ experience of MSA is one of an employer of choice. Previously Claire developed and managed Geostaff, a specialist placement agency focused on the professional recruitment and HR consulting needs of the mining industry.

Key staff at MSA

Dr Frieder Reichhardt Pr. Sci. Nat.

Frieder has over twenty years experience in PGE, base metal and diamond exploration. He has worked at the Bushveld Research Institute, for Gold Fields Botswana and also with Rio Tinto where he managed Rio Tinto’s regional exploration programmes in Zimbabwe which resulted in the discovery of the diamondiferous Murowa kimberlite field which started production in 2004. He also has the discovery of significant PGE-Ni mineralization in Botswana to his credit. Frieder has worked as a consultant and project manager on several PGE-Ni-Cu, chromitite, V- and Ti-iron ore projects in the Eastern, Western and Northern limbs of the Bushveld Complex and on PGE-Ni sulphide and laterite deposits in West and Central Africa. He is a CP/QP for a wide variety of magmatic deposits and kimberlite-hosted diamond deposits.

Mike Robertson Pr. Sci. Nat.

Mike has more than twenty years experience in all aspects of gold and base metal exploration in Russia and the CIS states, Canada, and throughout Africa and the Middle East, including the Central African Copperbelt. Previously with Anglovaal, Avmin and SRK Consulting, Mike undertakes property reviews, exploration programme audits, due diligence audits, feasibility studies, independent technical and listing reports for various commodities worldwide. He is a CP/QP for gold and base metal deposits and has prepared technical reports compliant to all of the major reporting codes.

Richard Wadley Pr. Sci. Nat.

Richard has over 40 years of wide ranging experience in the minerals industry, including exploration project management, mineral economics analysis, project valuation, marketing of services to the mining industry, marketing of commodities to industrial consumers, corporate strategic planning, representation on numerous public company boards both in SA and Australia, the creation of governance frameworks, and advisor to local and international investors. Richard is a CP/QP for coal, iron ore, uranium, heavy mineral sands, and zinc.

Rob Croll

Rob trained as a mining engineer and started his career with De Beers in 1975. He subsequently worked with Anglo American on Wits gold mines and with Anglovaal. He then switched track to become a research analyst and mineral economist, working for various companies, analyzing and valuing companies and projects in a wide variety of commodities including gold, coal, copper manganese and PGEs. He is a Qualified Valuator and provides consulting support in the valuation and technical due diligence of minerals projects.

Mike Hall

Mike has nearly 30 years experience in the exploration and development of PGE/Nickel deposits in the Bushveld Complex and elsewhere with Gencor, Genmin and BHP Billiton. He has considerable experience in 3D orebody modelling and resource evaluation, using Datamine and Vulcan software, as well as Whittle 4D/4X open-pit optimisation skills. He has modeled and evaluated a broad range of deposit types and commodities and managed the evaluation of Bushveld PGE projects up to Bankable Feasibility level. He is a CP/QP for Platinum Group Element deposits and has authored several public reporting documents for PGE and base metals.

Mike Venter Pr. Sci. Nat.

Mike has 15 years experience in the minerals industry, including periods with large corporate mining houses, junior exploration companies and consulting firms. He has been involved with exploration for uranium, precious, base and industrial minerals and diamonds throughout Africa. He is a CP/QP for base metal and uranium projects.

Owen Garvie – BSc(hons), MSc, Pr.Sci.Nat, MMSSA, MGSSA

Owen has extensive experience in the mineralogical analysis of kimberlitic indicator minerals and micro-diamonds. At De Beers, he managed the exploration division’s indicator mineral recovery and sorting facilities and the micro-diamond recovery laboratory. He has developed the surface texture analytical techniques that are widely incorporated within mineralogical laboratories around the world. These techniques are used to examine indicator mineral populations to assess distance from the primary source, an invaluable tool in targeting. At MSA, Owen’s mineralogical expertise is routinely used in exploration projects, and his management experience has been applied to develop MSA’s ISO/QC systems within the analytical section. He has recently taken control of the Analytical Division as Head of Diamond Laboratories within the MSA Group.

Eugene Snyman

Eugene is a geologist by training and has developed specialist expertise in exploration and evaluation data management. At MSA he is responsible for the construction of GIS and relational databases using a variety of different software products, ongoing geological data and spatial data management, validation and QC of datasets, assay data QA/QC, and the acquisition and interpretation of remote sensing data for various specialist applications.

Francois Joubert

Francois has a unique and valuable set of skills gained over 20 years in the environmental management industry. With degrees in law, geography and environmental management, Francois is a former director of Edward Nathan and Friedland, and former managing director of Sustainable Law Solutions. He is an adviser and researcher for local and provincial governments on current developments in environmental legal risk assessment strategies relating to mining, biodiversity, water, safety, health, energy, land, city and town planning and cultural heritage law. He also advises financial institutions on credit risks, lenders liability, guarantees, warranties and indemnity provisions and mining and corporate clients on administrative and transitional arrangements and procedures in respect of the conversion of old order prospecting and mining rights into new order rights. He also lectures in Environmental Law at the University of Johannesburg.

Adri Venter

With qualifications in environmental science, adult education, and environmental health, Adri has nearly 25 years experience in a variety of fields. She has worked for local government, the consulting industry as well as in the field of tertiary education in the areas of policy and strategy development, curricula development, education, and project execution. Adri’s key competencies include environmental auditing, due diligence assessments, the implementation of environmental management systems, environmental education, and sustainability projects. She has been involved in projects such as the construction of the Gautrain and the new multi-purpose pipeline (NMPP), as well as several projects for the mining industry.