Future Challenges for Mining

President 2025-2026

Christine Blackmore CEnv CSci FIMMM

Group Chief Executive, Anglo American

Duncan Wanblad CEng FIMMM

Duncan was appointed Chief Executive of Anglo American and joined the Anglo American plc Board in April 2022. Duncan is Chairman of the De Beers Group as well as Chair of the Anglo American Group Executive Leadership team and is a member of the Board's Sustainability Committee and Audit Committee.

Duncan has been part of Anglo American for 33 years and has held various executive positions during this time. From July 2016, Duncan was Group Director - Strategy and Business Development. He also served as CEO of the Base Metals business from 2013 to 2019 and he chaired the Anglo American Foundation from 2018 to 2022.

Between 2009 and 2013, Duncan held the position of Group Director - Other Mining and Industrial, responsible for a global portfolio of mining and industrial businesses for disposal or turnaround to maximise shareholder value. He was appointed CEO of our Copper operations in 2008, prior to which he served as joint interim CEO of Anglo American Platinum in 2007 (having served on the board since 2004). From 2004 to 2007, Duncan was Executive Director of Projects and Engineering at Anglo American Platinum. Duncan began his career at Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company Limited in 1990.

Duncan Holds the qualifications of an BSc in Mechanical Engineering and GDE in Industrial Engineering, both from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Duncan is also a Chartered Engineer.

Duncan is a keen cyclist, participating in long distance cycling competition when he can. He is also a classic car enthusiast, an avid Watford Football Club fan and enjoys flying model helicopters.

Director, International Women in Mining

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. 

President & Chief Executive Officer, ICMM 

Rohitesh Dhawan

Rohitesh 'Ro' Dhawan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). He leads the Council of 24 CEO's of the world’s largest mining & metals companies in voluntary leadership actions that raise the standards of responsible mining.   

Under his leadership, ICMM has undertaken landmark commitments and actions on critical sustainable development issues, including the first industry-wide commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the first collective commitment of any sector on nature positive, pioneering actions on diversity, equity and inclusion, and significant steps towards transparency of the industry’s contribution and performance, including on tax and contract disclosure.  

Ro is a Fellow and faculty member of the Africa Leadership Initiative and a Raisina fellow at the Asian Forum on Global Governance. He serves on the Advisory Boards of the Columbia Centre for Sustainable Investment, Concordia, and Resolve.  He has served on the UK Government’s Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (PACT) Programme and was named one of South Africa’s climate change leaders for his work with the country’s mining sector. 

Ro holds a Master’s in Environmental Change & Management from the University of Oxford in the UK and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Rhodes University in South Africa.  

Senior Adviser, TB Cardew

Tanya Chikanza

Tanya has extensive international experience in senior management roles in mining with most recent focus on critical materials. Her expertise lies in finance, reputation management of publicly listed companies, their relationships with financial markets and strategy. She is currently a Senior Adviser at TB Cardew, a strategic financial, corporate communications and public affair agency. She is the former CFO and Board member of Aim listed Bushveld Minerals, and concurrently served as non-executive director on the Board of the UK's Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB).

Previously, Tanya spent nine years at the then dual listed (London and Johannesburg) Lonmin Plc, in a wide range of management roles, latterly as Executive Vice President of Strategy, Investor Relations and Communication. Prior to that she was an Executive Director at Smith's Corporate Advisory as well as Vice-President Corporate Finance at JPMorgan Cazenove in London. Tanya is a Chartered accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered accountants (Zimbabwe), having started her career at PwC, (then Coopers & Lybrand) in Harare and London.

MinSouth

A voice in the South East on Minerals & Mining. We are funded by a grant from IOM3 and through company sponsors who share our learned society aims.

Website:

www.iom3.org/group/minsouth-minsouth.html

AMC Consultants

AMC Consultants is a global consultancy firm dedicated to assisting miners in uncovering hidden business value through smarter approaches. We aid mining leaders in assessing opportunities, addressing covert productivity challenges, and enhancing performance throughout the mining cycle.

Since 1983, we have been instrumental in assisting miners in evaluating potential mining projects or investments and establishing world-class mining operations. Our Advisory division alone has facilitated over $5 billion in bottom-line growth opportunities.

With over 10,000 projects completed for more than 1,800 clients across 111 countries and involving 60 commodities, our global team has encountered and tackled a wide array of challenges. Our expertise spans exploration, geotechnical engineering, geology, metallurgy, mining engineering, backfill, ventilation, strategy optimization, and business improvement. We are industry leaders in feasibility studies, technical audits, appraisals, and expert reports, adhering to the major international resource reporting standards.

Website:

www.amcconsultants.com/

Rockmate

Rockmate helps mining companies and blasting contractors optimize their blasting and shovel excavator production using innovative software solutions (e.g., blast design software, production management systems, lasers, drones and radio telemetry). With over 25 years of experience, they empower intelligent mining operations.

Website:

www.rockmate.com/

Cornish Metals

Cornish Metals is focused on advancing its 100% owned and permitted South Crofty high-grade underground tin project in Cornwall, UK to a construction decision and ultimately production. Our mission is to bring responsible tin mining to Cornwall for the benefit of our stakeholders and to sustainably supply this critical metal to the clean energy transition in the UK and beyond.

Website:

https://cornishmetals.com/

Anglo American

Anglo American is a leading global mining company, and our products are the essential ingredients in almost every aspect of modern life. Our portfolio of world-class competitive operations, with a broad range of future development options, provides many of the future-enabling metals and minerals for a cleaner, greener, more sustainable world and that meet the fast growing every day demands of billions of consumers. With our people at the heart of our business, we use innovative practices and the latest technologies to discover new resources and to mine, process, move and market our products to our customers – safely and sustainably.