Ferdi graduated from the State University of Milan as Doctor of Sedimentology in 1966 and went on to study at the Parisian School of Mines in Fontainebleau for an MSc in Mining Engineering (Geostatistics). His extensive career in the industry has included working for De Beers on diamond exploration and mining projects (1967-73), Anglo American’s Gold Division (1973-78) and the Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa (1978-87) where he was part of the Working Group that formulated a new policy on uranium mining and reporting legislation for South Africa. From 1987 to 2001 he was Valuation Manager of Anglovaal Mining. He retired in 2001, but retains the capacity of Competent Person on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves reporting as well as serving as Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria and acting as a consultant to the mining industry.

He was chairman of the Working Group that compiled the SAMREC Code until 2004. In 2000 and 2001 he was a member of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Committee responsible for compiling and updating the Listing Rules Section 12. From 2000 he has been a member of the Independent Technical Readers’ Panel of SAMREC for the JSE. He is a Member of the Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO) and is currently Co-Chair of the Joint UNECE/CRIRSCO Committee. From 1999, he has been a Member of the International Council of ‘Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Minerals Industry’ (APCOM) representing the SAIMM.

In April 2002 the Council of the Geological Society of South Africa conferred upon him the 2001 Honours Award. In November 2004 the Council of the University of Pretoria conferred on him the title of Extraordinary Professor for the teaching of geostatistics. In August 2005 the Council of SAIMM elected him to the grade of Honorary Life Fellow of the Institute at its 2005 AGM. He has published 25 papers and 2 books.

John Clifford is a graduate in Geology of University College Cork, with post-graduate qualifications from the Royal School of Mines. Based in Ireland, he established his own consulting practice in 1993 and has investigated and assessed mineral properties and managed exploration programs for base and precious metals world wide. Between 1979 and 1993 he worked with Ennex International as Senior Geologist and Exploration Manager, and was intimately involved with the gold discoveries at Curraghinalt in Northern Ireland and Cononish in Scotland. Prior to that, he was responsible for establishing the Athlone Institute of Technology as a national centre for mining education and worked as an exploration and mining geologist in North America.

He acted as President of the Institute of Geologists of Ireland between 2001 and 2003, and was a member of the governing council of the European Federation of Geologists from 1999 to 2005. In these capacities he was actively involved in the international codification of mineral resource reporting practices. He is a member of the Institute of Geologists of Ireland and of the European Federation of Geologists, a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and of the Institution of Materials, Minerals and Mining, and an UK-registered Chartered Engineer.

Roger is a graduate in Mining engineering from the Royal School of Mines with over 34 years experience in deep level gold mine management, project development, mine valuation, safety and health. Based in South Africa he has worked for Anglo American, Avgold and Metrex and as a Director of Turgis Consulting before becoming a corporate consultant with SRK in 2004.

Roger has undertaken industry research and was both a founder member of, and subsequently chaired the Gold and Platinum committee in the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee (SIMRAC) system for eight years. He participated in the tri-partite compilation of the Mine Health and Safety Act in 1996 and led the committee that compiled the South African Code for the reporting of Mineral Resources and Reserves. He chairs the South African Mineral Resource Committee (SAMREC), which he has done since its inception, and has been instrumental in the development of the SAMREC Code. He currently monitors compliance for JSE Ltd the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.

He is an Honourable Life Fellow of SAIMM and a member of AMMSA. He has authored several papers and made a presidential address to the SAIMM annual general meeting in September 1998.

Deborah has over 30 years of domestic and international mineral exploration and mine development project experience. Recently, as Chief Mining Consultant at the Ontario Securities Commission; she was actively involved in the development and implementation of Canadian Disclosure Standards for Mineral Projects, before joining Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates as Executive Vice President and Geological Consultant in May 2007. She was previously President of an international geological and engineering firm, Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited. During her career, Deborah has focused on due diligence reviews, exploration projects, reserve estimates, feasibility studies and valuations in connections with mergers and acquisitions.

Deborah is co-chair of the Canadian Securities Commissions’ (CSA) Mining Technical Advisory and Monitoring Committee, co-chair of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM)-CSA Advisory Committee and has conducted workshops and made presentations on NI43-101 throughout Canada and in Australia, Chile, Peru, China and Sweden.

Deborah is actively involved in industry associations as Chair of the CIM Annual General Meeting, Mining Rocks! in Toronto (2005), Past Chair of the Toronto Branch of CIM; a director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and a member of the PDAC Governance, Strategic Planning and International Affairs Committees; a member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario Discipline Committee, a director of Mining Innovation, Rehabilitation and Applied Research Corporation (MIRARCO), and was a CIM Distinguished Lecturer on National Instrument 43-101 (2001-2002).

John is a Consulting Mining Engineer with degrees from the University of British Columbia, and Stanford University. Formerly a Principal and a founding partner of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc, he provides mining consulting services, including valuations of mineral projects, review of feasibility studies, monitoring of mine construction, reviews of ore reserves, estimation and confirmation of operating and capital costs, conceptual mine design, and cash flow modelling. He worked for several years for two major mining companies at a number of open pit and underground operations in both operating and planning capacities.

He is a Past Chairman of the Mineral Economics Committee of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), and was appointed a Distinguished Lecturer of the CIM in 1991. In 1997, he was awarded the CIM Robert Elver Mineral Economics Award. He is currently Chairman of a CIM Standing Committee on Ore Reserve Definitions. John is a Member of several professional associations, and has published articles and addressed professional groups.

Jean-Michel (J-M) is an independent consultant to the international mining industry specialising in deposit modelling, mine engineering, estimation and reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. He graduated from Ecole-des-Mines-de-Saint-Etienne in 1966 and received degrees in mining engineering from the Krumb School of Mines, Columbia University. He retired from Newmont Mining Corporation in 2001 having served as Vice President, Resources and Mine Planning with worldwide responsibility for estimation and reporting of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, and for mine planning and ore control. Before joining Newmont, he was an Associate with Golder Associates in Denver, Colorado, a professor in mining engineering at the University of Wisconsin, and Head of Operations Research with Anglovaal, Johannesburg.

He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a Director of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration Inc. (SME), and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM). He received the SME President’s Citation and the SME Daniel C Jackling Award. He represents the SME on CRIRSCO. He is the author of more than forty publications, including a text book, on the use of computers and geostatistics in the mining industry.

Peter T Stoker (JORC, Australia)

Peter is a geologist with over 30 years experience in mine geology, mineral resource and ore reserve estimation, feasibility studies, project evaluation and mineral exploration. Prior to joining AMC Consultants Pty Ltd in April 2003 he ran his own business as an independent consultant. From 1992 to 1996 he was a General Manager in MIM Exploration with responsibility for technical services and Mineral Resource and Ore Reserves reporting for the MIM Holdings group of companies. Formerly Chief Geologist at Mount Isa Mines Limited he was also director of a junior exploration and mineral treatment technology company.

Peter is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Chartered Professional - Geology. He is past Chair of the AusIMM’s Geoscience Taskforce and a past Councillor, branch chairman and secretary. He is the current Chairman of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee and was Secretary from late 1999 to 2005. He was a member of the Steering Committee and a contributor for Monograph 23 “Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves Estimation – The AusIMM Guide to Good Practice” and has authored or co-authored a number of papers on Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation, classification, exploration research and practice.

Ian Goddard (JORC, Australia)

Ian graduated from The University of Queensland with a first class degree in Mining Engineering and an Economics degree. He also has a Master of Science with Distinction from the University of London (RSM). Currently he is an Adjunct Professor of Mining at the Sustainable Minerals Institute of the University of Queensland, Chairman of India Gold Limited and a Director of Indian Minerals Plc.

Most of Ian's career has been with MIM Holdings Limited, where his last position was Managing Director of the listed subsidiary Highlands Gold Limited for nine years. Since that time, he has filled board roles in a variety of organisations and provided consultancy services to companies, mainly in the mining sector. He has wide experience in joint ventures, raising capital and the management of exploration.

In 2002 and 2003, he was elected President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the society for professionals in the minerals industry. Altogether, he was on the Council and Board of The AusIMM for 14 years. He is a Fellow of that Institute, a Chartered Professional and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a member of JORC.

Edmundo Tulcanaza (IIMCh, Chile)

Edmundo is a Mining Engineer with extensive experience in a variety of minerals and alternate fuels evaluation projects. After graduation from the Universidad de Chile (1964), he studied Geostatistics and Minerals Evaluation at the School of Mines of Paris. His present position is Principal Consultant – Corporate Vice Presidency of Development for Codelco where he has held different roles since 1994. Before CODELCO, he worked for 14 years in the USA (Cities Service and Davy International) and 3 years in Peru as consultant to the main mine companies (Centromin-Peru, Minero-Peru, Minas Buenaventura).

Edmundo is the current President of the Mineral Resources Committee of the Institution of Mining Engineers of Chile which is responsible, under the sponsorship of the Chilean Ministry of Mines, for establishing a regulatory Code for Mineral Resources to be used by the capital market industries in Chile. He is a Member of CRIRSCO (“Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards”), the international reference for Mineral Resources and Reserves reporting. He has authored a number of publications on Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve evaluation and addressed several professional groups.

Niall Weatherstone (PERC, United Kingdom)

Niall graduated in Geology from the University of Edinburgh in 1973, and has worked for more than 32 years in the international mining industry in Zambia (1973-77), followed by the UK (1978-80), Ireland (1980-82) and Australia (1982-1992). In 1992 he returned to the UK to take up a consulting position with what was then RTZ Consultants. After 9 years as a consultant he transferred to Rio Tinto’s Technical Evaluation Group, which conducts independent reviews of major capital projects on behalf of the Rio Tinto Investment Committee, and where he currently works as a Chief Adviser.

Niall has helped to develop internal Rio Tinto standards on Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimation and reporting practices and for a number of years was responsible for Annual Report resource and reserve disclosures. External to the company, he has had extensive involvement with the CMMI Reserves Working Group, the forerunner of CRIRSCO, and was a contributor to the development of the first UK and European Reporting Code in 2001. He is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has published a number of papers on the importance of resource and reserve reporting to the wellbeing of the mining industry and its stakeholders. He is currently Co-Chairman of CRIRSCO and a member of the Pan European Reserves Reporting Committee (PERC) which he currently represents on CRIRSCO.

Harry Parker (AMEC, USA)

Harry has multiple degrees from Stanford and Harvard University and has had a long and successful career in mine geology and geostatistics. He is currently Technical Director of AMEC and is responsible for resource modelling, auditing and the provision of Competent Persons’ reports. The breadth of Harry’s activities is illustrated by his extensive range of publications and by his membership of eleven professional organizations, both in the USA and overseas. He is a Registered Geologist in the States of California and Arizona, a Registered Member of the SME and a Fellow or Member of the AusIMM, Society of Economic Geologists, IMMM, AIG, GSA, IAMG, CIM and ФВК.

Harry brings an international perspective to the requirements for resource and reserve reporting under various regulatory regimes and is well versed in the similarities – and differences – of these requirements. As a Competent Person and independent auditor Harry provides CRIRSCO with an extensive knowledge of estimation and reporting issues.

Steve Henley (Pan European Reserves Committee United Kingdom)

Steve graduated with a first-class degree in geology from Nottingham University in 1967, and a PhD in 1970 for exploration studies in south-west England. His career includes 10 years in both public sector (Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources 1970-72, British Geological Survey 1973-1979, and CSIRO, Australia 1995-6) and 28 years in the private sector. He was a founder in 1981 and principal architect of the Datamine mining software system. Since 1993 he has worked as an independent consultant.

Steve has been involved with exploration and mining projects worldwide, but in recent years has concentrated mainly on the former Soviet Union, and currently serves as geological adviser to the Board of Directors of Russia's second largest gold producer, Peter Hambro Mining plc.

He is a Fellow and Aberconway medallist of the Geological Society of London, a Fellow of the IMMM, a Chartered Engineer, past councillor of the former IMM, a charter member and chairman of the Awards Committee of IAMG. Since 2006 he has served in succession as secretary, chairman, and vice-chairman of PERC, and secretary/convenor of the CRIRSCO-GKZ Working Group tasked with defining an alignment of the Russian system with the CRIRSCO template. He has published widely on issues relating to the estimation and reporting of resources and reserves, and was joint author of one of the first books on geostatistics to be published in Russia.