Agenda

Senior Vice President,  CRU
Jorn P. de Linde was appointed to his current position following the merger between Resource Strategies Inc. and CRU International in April 1996. Based in the United States, he specialises in ferroalloys-related research, with particular emphasis on silicon-based alloys and electric power, drawing on 30 years of experience. In addition to the manganese ferroalloy cost data service, Mr de Linde is the principal author of CRU's silicon metal market outlook and silicon cost data service reports. Mr de Linde also is a contributor to other CRU ferroalloy-related reports, including the Bulk Ferroalloys Monitor. He earned an MSc Degree in Mineral Economics from the Pennsylvania State University in the USA and holds an MBA (Siviløkonom) from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in Bergen, Norway.

Chairman,  Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd

Senior Vice President,  CRU
Jorn P. de Linde was appointed to his current position following the merger between Resource Strategies Inc. and CRU International in April 1996. Based in the United States, he specialises in ferroalloys-related research, with particular emphasis on silicon-based alloys and electric power, drawing on 30 years of experience. In addition to the manganese ferroalloy cost data service, Mr de Linde is the principal author of CRU's silicon metal market outlook and silicon cost data service reports. Mr de Linde also is a contributor to other CRU ferroalloy-related reports, including the Bulk Ferroalloys Monitor. He earned an MSc Degree in Mineral Economics from the Pennsylvania State University in the USA and holds an MBA (Siviløkonom) from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in Bergen, Norway.

Partner - Advocaat aan de Balie van Brussel (A-Lijst),  Sidley Austin LLP
Arnoud R. Willems leads the EU trade and customs team and co-founded Sidley’s office in Brussels. Mr Willems represents the interests of companies in high-profile trade matters and advises clients on strategies for solving market access problems and resolving other disputes that affect their business. With respect to the latter, he is a leading advocate of companies challenging EU anti-dumping regulations, with an exceptional success rate in such cases before the national and European Courts. Since 2000, Mr Willems has been continuously involved in anti-dumping cases concerning ferroalloys like silicon, ferrosilicon, ferrochrome and silicon manganese.

Principal Consultant, Aluminium,  CRU
Eoin Dinsmore joined CRU in 2011 after previously working for Nestle. He obtained an MSc. in Finance and Capital markets from Dublin City University in 2008 and holds a BA in Economics and History. Mr Dinsmore is a Principal Consultant in the Aluminium Primary and Products Team. His main areas of specialism include aluminium price forecasting, semis and primary demand and production analysis.

Senior Vice President Raw Materials Procurement,  Wacker Chemie

Chief Executive Officer,  Elkem AS
Helge Aasen was appointed chief executive officer of Elkem AS in April 2009. Mr Aasen has broad experience from various business areas in Elkem, within operations, as well as sales, marketing and commercial positions. He started his career in Elkem in July 1990. Previous experience includes engineering work in Norsk Ferro AS, part of Norsk Jern Holding. Mr Aasen holds a Masters degree in process metallurgy from the Technical University in Trondheim (NTNU) and has completed the IMD programme for executive directors in Lausanne, Switzerland. Since 2011, Mr Aasen has been a member of the board of China National Bluestar Company, the owner of Elkem.

Director in charge of European Energy, Climate and Raw Materials Policy,  EUROALLIAGES
Iva Ganev is a Director with EUROALLIAGES, the European Ferro-Alloys and Silicon Producers Association. Her daily tasks consist of tracking and analysing development, as well as recommending and implementing advocacy on the European Energy, Climate and Raw Materials policy aspects relevant to the sector. Building on her understanding of the interaction between corporate needs and the necessary alignment with public policy, her strong points are the design and execution of institutional strategies. Prior to joining EUROALLIAGES in 2012, Ms Ganev was Manager at a Brussels-based consultancy, chairing the Energy department and seconding the Executive Director in the daily management of the Brussels office and team.

President & CEO,  Rogue Resources Inc.
Sean Samson runs a Canadian miner called Rogue Resources, with a portfolio of assets, including Silicon Ridge, a high quality quartz quarry under development in Quebec, planning to supply silicon metal producers. Before Rogue, Mr Samson helped run base and precious metal mining companies, joining the resource business after a decade in private equity and consulting (Bain) and trading for investment banks in New York (Lehman) and Istanbul. He has degrees from Harvard (US) and Cambridge (UK), is an elected board-member of the PDAC (the leading industry group for global mineral exploration) and won the CIM's Young Mining Leader award in 2012.

Steel Raw Materials Analyst,  CRU
Cathy Kang has more than 6 years experience in commodities analysis and consulting. Before joining CRU, Ms Kang worked at AZ China for 2 years as a market analyst specializing in aluminium & raw materials. She also spent 4 years at Joy Global, a top U.S. based mining equipment company, working on the China coal market as a senior strategic market analyst. Ms Kang gained significant experience in cost model development and maintenance for both aluminium and coal in her previous roles. She brings that experience to the China section of CRU’s Steel & Raw Materials Costs Service, covering steel, metallurgical coal & iron ore. In addition, Ms Kang is also in charge of CRU’s China thermal coal market & cost service and silicon metal market & cost service.

Principal,  Silicon & Ferroalloy Consulting Pty Ltd
After working as Commissioning Manager in the Submerged Arc Furnace Division of Mannesmann Demag for a number of years, Jim Brosnan joined SIMCOA Operations in 1990 after overseeing the commissioning of the silicon furnaces. Mr Brosnan held a number of roles at SIMCOA up until the end of 2012, including Smelter Manager, Technical Manager, General Manager Operations and Vice President. Since 2013, he has been working as an independent consultant, providing advisory services to existing producers and new projects in the silicon industry. These services include troubleshooting/ process optimisation for existing operations and project support from prefeasibility through to commissioning for new projects.

Director of Metallurgy and Engineering,  Viridis.iQ GmbH