During his 32-year career within the resources sector, Philip Mitchell has held several senior leadership positions, including Head of Business Development and Strategy at Rio Tinto, during which he oversaw the company’s asset and commodity portfolio and the management of the BHP takeover proposal.

Mr. Mitchell’s roles have spanned finance, M&A and strategic business change, including playing leading roles in the transformation of Hamersley into Rio Tinto’s key iron ore business. In 2019, Mr. Mitchell worked as a consultant on HPX’s acquisition of the Nimba iron deposit.

Kadiatou Konaté is the Managing Director of Sustainable Mining & Infrastructure Group (SMIG), a purpose-driven organisation designing and implementing innovative approaches for the development and funding of sustainable mining and infrastructure projects in Guinea and West Africa.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Konaté held positions as Director of Planning & Business Strategy for the Rio Tinto Minerals Group, leading the business planning and evaluating capital expansion projects. She was previously Controller and CFO for Rio Tinto Simandou’s Iron Ore Project. Her prior roles include leading risk and compliance teams.

Ms. Konaté is a certified public accountant and she holds a master’s degree in accountancy from the University of Oklahoma.

Bronwyn Barnes is a highly respected and experienced resources industry professional with extensive experience in working in Guinea and Mali, and a more than 25-year career successfully leading exploration and mining projects internationally.

With a particular skill set around working collaboratively with Government to achieve development outcomes, her achievements in the resources sector led her to be honoured in 2015 as the recipient of the Outstanding Women in Resources Award in Australia. Ms. Barnes was also inducted into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame in 2019 for her services to the resources sector.

Bronwyn Barnes is a highly respected and experienced resources industry professional with extensive experience in working in Guinea and Mali, and a more than 25-year career successfully leading exploration and mining projects internationally.

With a particular skill set around working collaboratively with Government to achieve development outcomes, her achievements in the resources sector led her to be honoured in 2015 as the recipient of the Outstanding Women in Resources Award in Australia. Ms. Barnes was also inducted into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame in 2019 for her services to the resources sector.

Shane Kay is a certified practising accountant and chartered company secretary with 20 years’ experience in corporate accounting, financial management, budgeting, contracts, management, company secretarial responsibilities, reporting and legal compliance including with anti-corruption laws.

After starting his career in Brisbane in accountancy and financial analyst roles, Mr. Kay served as Finance Manager for Rio Tinto Plc. on its Simandou Project in Guinea. He joined the Nimba Iron Ore Project in 2012 as Finance Manager, responsible for the functional transition of the Nimba Iron Ore Project from a unit dependent on an owner to a standalone commercial entity across its human resource, IT, financial and governance functions. Mr. Kay was promoted to CFO in 2015, and is responsible for operational and capital budgets, forecasts and reporting, financial and tax reporting, contract management, company secretarial duties, anti-bribery and corruption and information technology.

Mike Glaser is a geologist by training but has assumed various technical, operations and management roles around the globe for the last 25 years.

Mr. Glaser worked for much of his career for BHP (Billiton), managing various geological and mine production teams and activities in South Africa and South America. He has worked in greenfield exploration, as a mine manager and on a complex joint venture where he supported HSEC performance, operations management and cost control. Mr. Glaser joined the Nimba Project team in 2011 as the Area Manager Technical. He currently serves as the Study Manager, responsible for the completion of technical and engineering studies for the project.

With degrees in cultural anthropology and environmental science, Jamison Suter worked for the Environment Department of the World Bank Group in the mid-1990s, mainly for the newly created Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Mr. Suter then worked for eight years managing environmental conservation programmes for the international NGO, Fauna & Flora International (FFI). He focused particularly on West African nations affected by conflict – Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire – and on balancing the perceived need for immediate ‘development’ in contexts of extreme poverty and socio-economic disarray, with longer-term imperatives like sustainability, protection of biological diversity & ecosystem services, and fighting corruption. Since 2006, Mr. Suter has supported exploration-level environmental management, community & external relations, and the environmental and social impact assessment for The Nimba Iron Project. He has been the Nimba Iron Project’s primary point of contact with the public on issues like world heritage, biodiversity, good governance, human rights and sustainable development.

Hadja I. Diallo has over 15 years’ experience in the Guinean mining sector. She has a practical understanding of Guinean labour laws and a strong background in management of human resources (HR).

Previously, Ms. Diallo worked as Human Resources Manager for Alliance Mining Commodities Guinee (AMC SA) from 2017 to 2021 and as Senior Human Resources Business Partner at Guinea Alumina Corporation SA, a subsidiary of Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) in Dubai from 2016-2017.

Ms. Diallo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Rouen (France) and a Master’s degree in International Banking and Finance from the University of Le Havre (France), and in HR management from the University of Poitiers (France).

Ms. Diallo is President of the Guinean Council for HR Professionals (COGUIPRO-RH).

Nathaniel Blama brings to Ivanhoe Liberia 23 years of experience in operations, administration and public policy. From March 2018 to August 2020, he served as the Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA). He also worked with the EPA from 2008 to 2014, serving in a number of roles, including: Deputy Executive Director, Chief Technical Advisor, and Programme Coordinator, UNDP/Government of Liberia, Energy and Environment Programme. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Blama worked with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), serving in several capacities. He is an Environmentalist, Public Policy Specialist, and an Administrator.

Mr. Blama holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Liberia and has earned certificates on public policy courses from the John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), and further certificates in the environmental field from technical agencies in the USA, Liberia, Kenya and South Africa.