Joe Bormann

Joseph Bormann, CFA, is a Managing Director and Regional Group Head of Fitch Ratings’ Latin America corporate finance team. Joe has more than 25 years of experience at Fitch Ratings and is an expert in corporate finance. He is responsible for the management of the group’s activities including credit rating accuracy, fixed income research and institutional investor outreach. Joe oversees a portfolio of more than 600 corporate fixed income issuers and leads a team of 75 analysts located in ten offices in six countries.

Joe also chairs numerous corporate rating committees and has served as a member of Fitch’s Corporate Criteria Committee. Prior to assuming a management role within the Latin America corporate finance team, Joe served as the primary analyst on more than 60 issuers during his career at Fitch. His sectors of professional expertise include metals/mining, pulp/paper, building materials, agriculture, sugar/ethanol, food, and beverage.

Joe holds a Bachelors of Business Administration degree from Iowa State University and a Masters of Business Administration degree with concentration in finance from the University of Chicago. He was awarded the professional designation of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in 1998 and is a member of the CFA Institute and CFA Society Chicago.

Prior to joining Fitch Ratings, Joe worked for BMO Harris Bank in its Global Securities Services department in Chicago.

Martin Valdes

Martin Valdes joined RCF in charge of the Latin American office in 2015 following a fifteen year investment banking career that included positions at J.P. Morgan and Citigroup in New York and as a Partner of Hudson Bankers, a Latin American M&A boutique based in Chile. During all this time he conducted several M&A and other transaction advisory services across Latin America, North America and Europe. Mr Valdes has an MBA with distinction from the University of Michigan Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Universidad Catolica de Chile.

El Sr. Valdés se unió a RCF a cargo de la oficina de Latinoamerica en 2015, luego de una trayectoria de quince años en bancas de inversiones, incluyendo cargos en J.P. Morgan y Citigroup en Nueva York y como Socio de Hudson Bankers, empresa boutique de fusiones y adquisiciones de Latinoamérica con base en Chile. Durante este tiempo, dirigió varias fusiones y adquisiciones y otros servicios de asesoría en transacciones en Latinoamérica, Norteamérica y Europa. Sr. Valdés es Ingeniero Comercial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile y cuenta con un MBA con distinción de la Escuela de Negocios de la Universidad de Michigan.

Daniel Peltonen

Daniel has a Master of Science (MSc) in Chemical Engineering with Industrial Economics from Åbo Academy University, Finland. Before entering Boliden AB Daniel has many years of experience from industrial companies i.e. as Business Area Manager, as site Manager for Business Unit and several roles as Production Manager both in Sweden and internationally.

Luke Gear

Luke Gear is a Senior Technology Analyst at IDTechEx where he leads the research on Electric Vehicles. He has a specialist knowledge of the markets and technologies underlying electric vehicles, energy storage for electric vehicles, and stationary energy storage, as well as an expertise in forecasting, technology benchmarking and competitive landscape analysis.

Luke’s background is a Master of Physics from the University of Bath, where he studied a variety of topics including photonics, nanoscience and condensed matter. His interest for sustainable energy began with his Master’s placement at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, where he helped improve the efficiency of a piece of specialist scientific software. His work contributed to the ITER project, a fusion experiment in Southern France that hopes to be the first to generate a surplus of energy.

Today, Luke speaks regularly both at IDTechEx events and external events, sharing the latest insights on electric vehicle and battery trends. He has provided keynote presentations and technical masterclasses across three continents.

Jose Tomas Morel

Desde 2012 es Gerente de Estudios del Consejo Minero.

También ha integrado la Comisión Preventiva Antimonopolios, el Tribunal de la Libre Competencia y el Panel de Expertos del Transporte Público.

Entre 2000 y 2011 se desempeñó en el sector público, primero en la Fiscalía Nacional Económica, luego en regulación de mercados del Ministerio de Economía y posteriormente como asesor del Ministerio Secretaría General de la Presidencia.

Es economista de la Universidad Católica de Chile y Master en Economía de Georgetown University (Ilades, Santiago de Chile)

Entre 1990 y 1999 tuvo cargos académicos, como investigador de Ilades/Georgetown University y profesor del Departamento de Industrias de la Universidad Federico Santa María.

Ha dictado cursos de regulación y competencia en diversas universidades.>

Vanessa Davidson

Vanessa Davidson is manager of CRU’s Copper and Wire and Cable teams. She has over 20 years’ experience in evaluating a range of metal markets, including lead, zinc, aluminium, nickel, stainless steel, ferrochrome, and more recently copper. During her time at CRU, Vanessa has managed many marketing studies, cost reports and project feasibility studies. She has also given frequent papers at international conferences.

Vanessa graduated with a degree in Economics in 1985.

Michèle Brulhart

Michèle Brülhart, Executive Director, The Copper Mark Michèle Brülhart serves as the Executive Director of the Copper Mark since the establishment of the organization in December 2019. With over 10 years of experience working on the design, implementation and independent assessment of sustainability standards, Michèle has evaluated and assisted companies at every level of the supply chain—from raw material to end product—and across multiple materials. She was previously the Director of Innovations at the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) and served as the Head of Auditing at RCS Global for several years. Prior to her work at RCS Global, she held roles focused on responsible sourcing at Underwriters Laboratories, the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and STR Responsible Sourcing

Robert Friedland

For more than 25 years, Robert Friedland has been recognized by leaders of the international financial sector and mineral resource industries as an entrepreneurial explorer, technology innovator and company builder. He has successfully developed a portfolio of respected public and private companies whose initiatives have led to several of the world’s most significant mineral discoveries and mine developments, applications of disruptive technologies and contributions to significant economic growth in established and emerging markets in the Asia Pacific Region, Southern Africa and the Americas.

Octavio Araneda

Octavio Araneda is a mining engineer from Universidad de Chile, a MSc from Curtin University in Australia and a MSc in metallurgy from Universidad de Chile. He has 33 years of experience, having practically developed his entire career at the state-owned mining company, mainly in the El Teniente division where he became general manager in 2010, before rising to become VP of operations Central South in 2012 and CEO of the entire company in September 2019.

Octavio Araneda es ingeniero civil de Minas de la Universidad de Chile, MSc de la Universidad de Curtin en Australia y Magíster en metalurgia de la Universidad de Chile. Tiene 33 años de experiencia, ha desarrollado prácticamente toda su carrera en la empresa minera estatal, principalmente en la División El Teniente, donde asumió como gerente general en 2010, antes de convertirse en vicepresidente de Operaciones Centro Sur en 2012 y presidente ejecutivo de la compañía en septiembre de 2019.

Jorge Gómez

Civil Engineer of Mines, with more than 20 years of experience in the mining industry.

He has been: General Manager of Los Pelambres; Vice President of Operations of Antofagasta Minerals; Vice President of Codelco Sur in charge of the divisions of: El Salvador, Andina, Ventanas and El Teniente, and since 2013 he is the Executive President of the Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi.

Ingeniero Civil de Minas, con más de 20 años de experiencia en la industria minera.

Ha sido: Gerente General de Los Pelambres; Vice Presidente de Operaciones de Antofagasta Minerals; Vice Presidente de Codelco Sur a cargo de las divisiones de: El Salvador, Andina, Ventanas y El Teniente; - y desde el 2013 es el Presidente Ejecutivo de la Cía. Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi.

Marcus Garvey

Marcus is the head of Commodities Strategy at Macquarie, having previously led the Metals & Bulk Commodities Strategy team. He is responsible for analysing cross-commodity macro themes and trading dynamics, whilst also leading coverage of base metals demand and precious metals. Since starting in commodities research at Credit Suisse, he has gained extensive experience across base and precious metals as well as bulk commodities, having been a principal analyst for each of the sectors at different points in his career. Marcus holds an MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford and a BA in Economics from the University of Durham.

Miguel Schloss

President Surinvest Ltda.; member of Bretton Woods (World Bank- IMF) Committee; Former Director of Corporate Planning of World Bank, and Executive Director of Transparency International

Nolan Peterson

Mr. Peterson is an engineer and finance executive with an extensive career in project development, corporate finance, accounting, engineering and project management in the mining industry. He brings a strong technical and financial background as he holds an MBA from UBC’s Sauder School of Business, a bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering from UBC, is a CFA® Charterholder, and a Professional Engineer in British Columbia & Ontario.

JT Clark

JT Clark is a Managing Director & Partner in BCG’s Denver office. He is BCG’s global mining leader, and works with his clients to optimize their processes through the use of Phosa, our proprietary AI product. JT focuses on advanced analytics applications in operation, traditional operations excellence and transformations in extractive industries, primarily Mining, and Oil/Gas. JT received his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a focus on Strategic Management and Finance & also holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Utah.

John J. Connor

John is President of SAI’s (Strategic Analysis Inc.) Industrial Group, a leading global market intelligence firm analyzing markets, suppliers, and customers for industrial clients from a wide variety of industries, including chemicals, plastics, metals, minerals and associated downstream segments.  He has over 30 years’ experience in governmental affairs, economics and market research.  Since 2006 while at SAI he has directed numerous projects in copper, aluminum and steel assessing growth, costs and supply chain operations.

Adrian Farnham

Juliana Barros Damasceno

Juliana Damasceno is the Lead for Low Carbon Hydrogen in Latin America for Worley. Senior Executive with over 19 years of experience in multinational Wind Energy, Engineering & Construction companies in the Energy, Real State, Oil & Gas, Mining, Metals, Chemical and Infrastructure sectors leading business development, contract management, customer relationship, risk analysis, sustainability, integrated management system, alternative analysis, market research, operational excellence and due diligence. Master of Science from the Polytechnic School of the University of Sao Paulo in the area of sustainability in the heavy construction sector and Graduated in Civil Engineering, Mackenzie University in Sao Paulo.

Fleming Voetmann

Fleming Voetmann is FLSmidth’s Vice President of Communications, Marketing and Sustainability. He has led FLSmidth’s marketing and sustainability efforts since September 2019 and has spearheaded the successful launch of MissionZero, FLSmidth’s ambition to deliver zero emission technology to both mining and cement already in 2030. MissionZero is a game changer in two industries labelled “hard to abate” by the UN and with emissions that total more than 10% of all global emissions. Prior to joining FLSmidth, Fleming was VP of Public Affairs and Sustainability at the Internal Copper Association (global trade association for the major mining companies), based in Washington DC., in addition to an distinct career at Danfoss, a leading company within innovative and energy efficient solutions for heating and cooling, and Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations at Novozymes, a global leader within biotech. Fleming holds an MA in communication from Roskilde University, Denmark, is an Executive Scholar from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and holds an Executive Certificate in Strategy and Innovation from MIT. Twitter: @fvoetmann LinkedIn: dk.linkedin.com/in/flemingvoetmann/

Ryan Cochrane

Dr Ryan Cochrane has over twelve years of experience as a metals analyst and geologist having worked on gold and polymetallic projects in South Africa, Western China, Armenia and the Northern Andes. Prior to joining Open Mineral, he led CRUs base metals supply and cost research, worked on copper mine costs and later led the gold mining research team at Wood Mackenzie. In earlier roles, he covered precious metals at Thomson Reuters GFMS. He has strong expertise of zinc, lead and copper markets along with precious metals. Ryan holds a PhD in geochemistry, geochronology and thermochronology from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Luis M. Gerard

BS Industrial Engineering form the Universidad Iberoamericana, with management diploma at IPADE Business School and several studies and courses at Wharton Business School.

Started his professional career in the automotive OEM industry where he worked for 20 years, becoming the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Lear Corporation Mexico and Latin America.

After Lear, Luis has served as CEO of companies in the telecommunication, textile and chemical industries and for the last 12 years he has been the CEO of Bohn de Mexico the leading manufacturer of refrigeration Equipment, heat exchangers and A/C components in Mexico and Latin America, he is a member of the Consulting Board of Citi Banamex in Mexico. Active member of YPO Gold Mexico City Chapter.

Pedro Paulo Dias Mesquita

Pedro Paulo Dias Mesquita, Secretary of Geology, Mining and Mineral Transformation, has Master degree in Public Policies, Strategies and Development from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) 2017, postgraduate in MBA Financial Management, Controllership and Auditing from Fundação Getúlio Vargas ( FGV-RJ) 2010 and graduated in Economics from UFRJ 2008. He worked as Sector Intelligence Manager in the Mining and Metals Department and in the Basic and Extractive Industries Department of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). He also acted as advisor to the Financier of Studies and Projects (Finep).

Pedro Paulo Dias Mesquita, Secretário de Geologia, Mineração e Transformação Mineral, Mestre em Políticas Públicas, Estratégias e Desenvolvimento pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) 2017, pós-graduado no MBA Gestão Financeira, Controladoria e Auditoria pela Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV-RJ) 2010 e graduado em Economia pela UFRJ 2008. Atuou como Gerente de Inteligência Setorial no Departamento de Mineração e Metais e no Departamento de Indústrias de Base e Extrativa do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES). Também atuou como assessor da presidência da Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (Finep).

Philippe Hemmerdinger

Philippe is a Civil Industrial Engineer, MBA and a former Chilean Navy officer, with 30 years experience in mining and forestry industries. Since 2013 is the CEO of Tecnología en Transporte de Minerales, with operations in the mining industry in Chile, Peru and Bolivia; he is also a member of the board at SOPROCAL, counselor for the Alumni at ESE Business School and President of APRIMIN (Asociación de Proveedores Industriales de la Minería).

Robert Owens

Robert is Business Development Manager for the Americas for Bechtel’s Mining & Metals business unit. He joined Bechtel in 2012 as part of the Oil, Gas & Chemicals (OG&C – currently Energy) business unit’s business development team. He subsequently transferred to Infrastructure’s Google Fiber Project as business manager in early 2016. He returned to OG&C at the end of the same year and then moved to Santiago, Chile, where served as global business development manager for the Water Business Line for four years, before being appointed to his current role in February 2021. Robert earned a BSc. in engineering and an MSc. in civil engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from Wharton.

Robert es Gerente de Desarrollo de Negocios para las Américas de la unidad de negocios de Minería y Metales de Bechtel. Ingresó a Bechtel en 2012 como miembro del equipo de desarrollo de negocios de la unidad de negocios de Petróleo, Gas y Productos Químicos (OG&C - actualmente Energía). Posteriormente, se trasladó al Proyecto Google Fiber de Infraestructura a principios de 2016 como gerente comercial. Volvió a OG&C a finales del mismo año y se mudó a Santiago de Chile, donde sirvió como gerente global de desarrollo de negocios para la línea de negocias de Agua por 4 años, antes de ser nombrado a su puesto actual a principios de febrero de 2021. Robert obtuvo un título de ingeniería y una maestría de ingeniería civil de Stanford University, y también un MBA de Wharton.

Marcel Brinkhof

René Aguilar

Joel Frijhoff

With over 10 years of experience working in supply chain responsibility in the energy sector, Joel has developed and implemented enhanced due diligence processes within the industry. As Lead Sustainability Advisor in Ørsted, he is leading their efforts on responsible metal supply chains and conducts supply chain due diligence on direct suppliers. He was previously the Responsible Sourcing Manager for the commercial trading department in Vattenfall. Joel drives change in supply chains through cooperation with external stakeholders such as peers, NGOs, industry initiatives and the extractive industry. (Joel is based in Copenhagen, Denmark)

Nadav Rajzman

Nadav Rajzman es licenciado en economía de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, ha cursado una maestría en Desarrollo Industrial en la Universidad de General Sarmiento y es especialista en minería, con una extensa trayectoria tanto en el sector público como el privado. Se desempeña actualmente como Director de Promoción y Economía Minera en el Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo de Argentina.

Alejandra Fernandez Campbell

Juan Merlini

Clayton Walker

Clayton currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Copper Operations. In this role, he has operating accountability for global operations and project assets spanning across Australia, North and South America. Before this, Clayton served as board director, executive chairman, and chief executive officer of the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). Clayton has held several senior leadership roles in operations, logistics, engineering, projects, sales and marketing, business development, and joint venture board across iron ore, copper, minerals and coal in North America and Australia for the Rio Tinto group. Clayton has over 25 years of international P&L experience in the heavy industry sector and has also worked in Japan, South America, and Europe. Clayton possesses a unique ability to inspire morale and deliver process improvements, combined with a proven track record of helping businesses increase their value across multiple jurisdictions and commodities. Clayton holds Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering and Masters of Business Administration degrees from the University of Utah.

Ricardo Garib

Ricardo is the President of Weir Minerals Division and is a member of the Group Executive Committee. He joined Vulco-Baker Hughes in 1980 and became the Managing Director of Weir Chile following the purchase of the Baker Hughes Minerals Division-LATAM in 1994 by the Weir Group.

In 2001, he was promoted to Regional Managing Director of Weir Minerals Latin America. Ricardo was a founder and Vice President of the Mining Suppliers Association and for two periods an elected council member of the Board of the Chilean Federation of Industry.

He holds an MBA and is a Civil Mechanical Engineer from the Catholic University in Chile

Eoin Dinsmore

Eoin Dinsmore joined CRU in 2011 after previously working for Nestle. Eoin is the head of the CRU aluminium primary and products team.As a research manager at CRU he leads a team of analysts across three continents. Through this work, supporting the world’s leading aluminium companies, he has built a reputation as one of the leading aluminium market analysts. Eoin has an extensive network in the aluminium industry and is a regular speaker at industry events.Eoin obtained an MSc in Finance and Capital markets from Dublin City University in 2008 and holds a BA in Economics and History from the National University of Ireland.

Will Tankard

William joined CRU in 2022 as a Principal Analyst, Base Metals.  He brings 17 years of prior mineral economics research and consulting experience across the base, precious and ferrous metal sectors.

His primary focus is on copper and on helping to further develop CRU’s base metals mining asset Costs and Emissions research capabilities.

Before joining CRU, William managed Wood Mackenzie’s Copper Costs & Emissions work for five years and spent a further 12 years at GFMS/Thomson Reuters holding various roles including Research Director, Mining. 

William is based in our London office and holds a BSc in Natural Sciences from the University of Durham.

Panos Kotseras

Panos started his career in commercial roles with copper and aluminium fabricators in the early 2000s.

He joined CRU as a copper demand and wire & cable analyst in 2008 and became the lead analyst for cobalt and molybdenum in 2011. Panos moved to Rio Tinto Copper in 2015, working as an analyst and marketing executive in the molybdenum and copper by-product sales and marketing team. He rejoined CRU in 2018 becoming responsible for stainless steel market analysis and price assessment. Since December 2022, Panos has been the Head of Base Metals Demand & Markets at CRU, managing a team of experts covering the copper, zinc, lead, tin and precious metals markets. 

Eric Medel

Eric joined CRU's Base Metals team as a Senior Analyst in January 2022 and is responsible for the costing and emissions of base metals assets, particularly focusing on copper.

He began his career at the Chilean Copper Commission as an intern, where he developed cost models for underground mine works. He then worked for four years as an analyst in a local consulting firm engaged in market research and strategic advisory for the mining and metals sector, particularly in Latin American copper assets.

Eric holds a BSc. in Mining Engineering from the University of Santiago de Chile and a Continuing Education Certificate in Data Analysis from the Universidad del Desarrollo. He is bilingual in Spanish and English and is based in CRU's Santiago office.

Juan Esteban Fuentes

Juan Esteban joined CRU in 2006 after six years as Assistant Vice President at Citigroup Chile within the Metals and Mining group, performing risk analysis for the main Chilean mining companies for financial transactions.

Since joining CRU Consulting, Juan Esteban has been involved in developing methodologies to quantify and mitigate risks in mining and mineral processing operations, as well as in market due diligence for Copper, Iron Ore and Fertilizers. Since 2009, Juan Esteban is the Office Manager of CRU Chile.

Juan Esteban holds a BSc in Industrial Civil Engineering from the Catholic University of Chile and is fluent in English and Spanish.

Clayton Walker

Clayton currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Copper Operations. In this role, he has operating accountability for global operations and project assets spanning across Australia, North and South America. Before this, Clayton served as board director, executive chairman, and chief executive officer of the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). Clayton has held several senior leadership roles in operations, logistics, engineering, projects, sales and marketing, business development, and joint venture board across iron ore, copper, minerals and coal in North America and Australia for the Rio Tinto group. Clayton has over 25 years of international P&L experience in the heavy industry sector and has also worked in Japan, South America, and Europe. Clayton possesses a unique ability to inspire morale and deliver process improvements, combined with a proven track record of helping businesses increase their value across multiple jurisdictions and commodities. Clayton holds Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering and Masters of Business Administration degrees from the University of Utah.

Clayton Walker

Clayton currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Copper Operations. In this role, he has operating accountability for global operations and project assets spanning across Australia, North and South America. Before this, Clayton served as board director, executive chairman, and chief executive officer of the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). Clayton has held several senior leadership roles in operations, logistics, engineering, projects, sales and marketing, business development, and joint venture board across iron ore, copper, minerals and coal in North America and Australia for the Rio Tinto group. Clayton has over 25 years of international P&L experience in the heavy industry sector and has also worked in Japan, South America, and Europe. Clayton possesses a unique ability to inspire morale and deliver process improvements, combined with a proven track record of helping businesses increase their value across multiple jurisdictions and commodities. Clayton holds Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering and Masters of Business Administration degrees from the University of Utah.

Barbara Dischinger

Barbara Dischinger is passionate about the advancement & promotion of women. She set up Women in Mining UK in April 2006  and International Women in Mining in November 2007.

Barbara worked in executive search for 15 years of which 9 years in mining prior to  joining the WISE Campaign (Women in Science and Engineering) in 2015 to advance her knowledge of Diversity & Inclusion, role she held for 4 years. She sat on the steering committee of Women in Rail in the UK from 2015 to 2020.

Since January 2019 she divides her time between the international mentoring programme she helped develop and delivering IWiM’s growth strategy.

Juan Rojas

Paulina Jaramillo

Martín Brenner