His Excellency Kgalema Motlanthe was President of South Africa between 2008 and 2009, and subsequently served as the Deputy President from 2009 to 2014.

Mr. Motlanthe heads the Motlanthe Foundation, which is dedicated to a range of public-benefit activities, including conflict resolution, promotion of human rights and democracy and the provision of care for pre-school-age children, along with buildings, equipment and educational support for public primary schools. Mr. Motlanthe also is a trustee of Liliesleaf Trust and the Brazzaville Foundation.

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.

Melinda serves as VP Innovations and Commercial Director for HPX Mines, focused on driving Nimba’s regional circular economy, sustainability and customer engagement initiatives needed to reach net zero and improve planetary health.

Melinda has extensive broad-ranging global commodity industry commercial, funding and innovations experience, as a thought leader and change agent, amid whipsawing global market conditions, spanning a career of over 25-years. Melinda has worked for companies such as BHP and ICBC Standard, as well as running her own specialist commodity consultancy. Melinda was the first to forecast China would become a major steel exporter, part of the team to pivot iron ore pricing to more agile market mechanisms and the first woman to trade iron ore financial derivatives, as well as consulting on digital supply chain financing & metallurgical process technology innovations. Melinda was listed as an inspirational Women in Mining in 2013 and served as Finance Director and Head of Global Outreach for WIM UK from 2018-2022.

Ibrahim Baldé studied law at Hassan 1^er University in Morocco.  In 2007 he was selected by BHP Billiton to join its future leaders program.

Mr. Baldé joined SMFG as Human Resources Superintendent from 2009 to 2012.  Between 2012 and 2013, he worked with the Nimba Project’s Study Team based in London, developing the likely terms, conditions, opportunities and constraints relating to the Project’s resourcing.

From later 2013 to April 2023, Mr. Baldé has served as SMFG’s Government Relations Manager from its office in Conakry.  He quickly developed extensive working relationships at multiple levels across government, in particular with the Ministry of Mines and Geology and with many other government departments and agencies with which SMFG interacts. He represents SMFG at the Guinean Chamber of Mines. In May 2023 Mr. Baldé was appointed as SMFG’s Director of Operations for Guinea.

Patricia Moller is a former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea, and in recognition of her service, she received an appointment to the National Patriotic Order of Guinea with rank of Commander.

Ms. Moller’s highly distinguished diplomatic career spanned more than 25 years. She has left active service with the U.S. Department of State to return to the private sector where she currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of West Africa for the LNG Group and is a Board member of the BAARA Hospital in Guinea, VISTA Insurance Company, Orbis International-The Flying Eye Hospital, Orbis UK and FAYUS. Ms. Moller now consults with companies looking to do business in developing countries, many of them in Africa, and was one of the founding members of the Ebola Private Sector Mobilization Group formed in response to the 2014 West African Ebola crisis.

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.

Oumar Sylla is a mining engineer by training with 13 years’ experience in the industry in the fields of mine planning, drill and blast engineering, project management, construction management, procurement, and operations management.

After graduating from a mining school, Mr. Sylla started his career in the bauxite mines of northwest Guinea.  His connection to SMFG began when he was selected for BHP Billiton’s “Green Shoot” programme in 2007, which led him to study and work for 2 years in South Africa.

Upon returning to Guinea, he worked successively as a mine planner for a bauxite mine and drill and blast engineer for a granite quarry before rejoining SMFG in late 2011 as a drilling supervisor. Since then, he has held supervisory and managerial roles across the departments of Geology, HSE, Infrastructure, Procurement, and Operations. Mr. Sylla is currently the Lead Operations Manager at the Nimba site with overall responsibility for coordinating site activities.

Bangaly Bangoura joined the SMFG Geology Department in 2006, providing support for the laboratory team. He went on to supervise the drilling rig teams, ensuring safe operations by the drilling contractors and the accurate recording of samples.

In 2008, as Project Geologist, Mr. Bangoura joined the Exploration team in Diecké for the first drilling programme. In 2012 he became Senior Geologist and was responsible for supervising the Geology team and the preparation of reports for government agencies. Mr. Bangoura participated in the 2012 Shareholders’ Resource Range Analysis meeting in London for the Nimba North and Diecké tenements, before returning to site to join the team carrying out the Selection Phase Study drilling programme.

When the Ebola epidemic struck, Mr. Bangoura stepped up to take on the role of Administration Superintendent and regularly deputised as Director of Operations.  In 2018 he was appointed as Acting Health, Safety, Environment and Technical Services Manager until 2021, when he was appointed as Site Technical Services Manager, also deputising as Site Director of Operations.