Aubrey Chauke is the Co-founder and the Chief Operating Officer of Lurco Group, with over 16 years’ experience in the financial management of complex integrated coal projects. Prior to founding Lurco, Aubrey formed his own consulting firm, Lenani Consulting, which supported government institutions with financial consulting services that included energy supply and planning. He previously worked at Gobodo Incorporated as an audit manager, focusing largely on government briefs and at PKF as an accounts clerk. Aubrey is an advocate of the strategic role mining can play in the development of inclusive economies and sustainable and empowered communities. Aubrey is a registered member of the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA).

Morne du Plessis is a chartered accountant with an MBA from Heriott Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has extensive experience in the mining industry having been Chief Financial Officer of several groups, including contract mining and beneficiation service provider Genet SA, junior coal miner Umcebo Mining Group and Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed junior coal miner Wescoal Holdings. Morne was appointed to the Board of Directors of Minergy in January 2017 and as its Chief Financial Officer in February 2017. On 1 August 2018 Morne became Chief Executive Officer of Minergy, a coal mining and trading company committed to becoming the supplier of choice to industrial customers and power utilities across southern Africa, with a mission to leverage the significant product and logistics cost advantage over other producers supplying the target market to secure short and longer-term coal sales.

Professor Rosemary Falcon recently retired as DST NRF SARChI Chair of Clean Coal Technology and is now Professor Emeritus at Wits in the Engineering Faculty. 

She has been involved in coal for over 40 years, in corporate, consulting, academic and research positions.  She graduated with a PhD from Wits followed by advanced training in coal science and technology for trade and utilisation at the Berbau Forschung in Germany and the National Coal Board in the UK.  She established a coal research group in Wits in the late 1970s followed by her own consulting and research company where she working with industry for the following 20 years.

After a brief spell as Programme Manager at the CSIR (Enertek) and three years in the Eskom Research Facility in Rosherville, she joined Wits once again in the late 1990s.  From that time she has  led fundamental and applied coal research in the Faculty of Engineering, supervised over 80 doctoral and Masters students and taught coal science and technology to over 2 000 industrial personnel and postgraduate students for application in a broad spectrum of industries.  

She has received a number of national and international awards, has written over 80 publications, co-authored two books, contributed to a number of other books and produced more than 2000 technical reports on applied industrial investigations, research and development.  

She attended meetings in the UN-ECE Coal Working Groups in Geneva as the South African technical representative for several years, was Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage of South Africa for a period and is currently Director of the Fossil Fuel Foundation of SA.  She now consults to industry, is an expert witness in various coal-related legal matters and is promoting clean coal technologies and policies specifically applicable to Southern African coals and conditions.

Puneet Gupta has a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from I.I.T. Delhi. He has more than 10 years of experience in domestic and international commodity trade. He has been associated with several global events in his capacity as an international expert in coal and petcoke. He has been quoted several times by international media for his views on Indian policy decisions and price movements in the energy sector. Puneet is the founder of CoalShastra.com, a pioneering B2B marketplace for coal trade where buyers and sellers deal in a secure environment. With around 2,500 member companies across India, CoalShastra is successfully used by end users to exploit cost and fuel type arbitrages and by suppliers for easy liquidation of cargoes.

Divyesh has been involved in the logistics Industry for more than 20 years in various professional, consulting and leadership roles. His operational and commercial experience and knowledge spans across production, warehousing, road distribution, rail, ports and inland terminals. Divyesh spent nearly nine years as the Commercial General Manager at Transnet where he was responsible for the negotiations and conclusion of long-term Take or Pay contracts with potential customers for port and rail, price determination and negotiations, capacity allocation frameworks and governance across all channels, strategies and implementation for enabling emerging miners.
Commodity strategies and solutions and responsibilities across most commodities, including the major bulk commodities, namely coal, iron ore and manganese. Divyesh was recently appointed as the Executive Head of Makoya Advisory Services to lead the business in the areas of logistics and supply chain advisory services to the public and private sector.

Lucky Kgatle obtained a BSc in Engineering: Industrial from Wits University in 2001.  He also has an MBA from GIBS which he received in 2009. He has held a number of positions at Sasol, including Vice President, Strategy and Business Development; Executive Manager, Operations Excellence; General Manager, Syferfontein Colliery; General Manager, Coal Handling Plant; Manager, Manufacturing and Site Work, Central Workshop; Section Engineer, Central Workshop; Reliability Engineer; Technical Advisor. He is currently Senior Vice President, a position he has held since January 2016. He is responsible for initiating the design and development of systems and processes and services to ensure a sustainable coal delivery and shaping the organisation within the external socio-economic environment as a responsible player in the coal mining industry.  He is also required to maintain the organisation’s image/relationship with all stakeholders, but specifically the DMR, the local government and the local communities.  He is also responsible for the development and execution of the organisation’s long-term strategy (10 to 40 years). In addition to being a director at Sasol Mining and Sasol Mining Holdings, he is also a director of Ixia Coal, Ixia Coal Funding and the Sasol Rehabilitation Trust. He is a member of the Engineering Council of South Africa.

Tycho Möncks is a Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group, Johannesburg office. Since joining BCG in 2007, Tycho has supported mining clients across a broad range of topics including strategy, operations, and organization.

Tycho has many years of on-site, hands-on mining experience. He brings deep insights into global commodity markets and understands the intersect of global developments with South Africa specific dynamics. Tycho has extensively worked with clients, and written about, opportunities derived from commodity strategy with a specific focus on coal.

Xavier has a MSc in Engineering Geology UMSA; Diploma in Mining and Exploration from the Montan University, Leoben, Austria, Graduate Diploma in Engineering and M. Eng. degree from Wits.
He has been in coal since 1977, established the Geological Survey’s National Coal Database (NCDB); was Genmin IT Exploration Manager and joined the Minerals Bureau, DME in 1995, as Chief Mineral Economist; Coal and Hydrocarbons. He was appointed Coal Senior Analyst, Wood Mackenzie, Southern Africa and since 2009 is consulting privately with XMP Consulting. He promotes South Africa’s coal mining industry within government and industry groups, lectures at Universities as well as companies on coal science, i.e. coal reserves, economics, quality control, marketing and clean coal technologies. He has extensive experience in reserves and resources. His main tasks are optimisation of coal utilisation and marketing, economic empowerment in coal, evaluation of coal reserves, implementation of clean coal technologies (CCTs) and impact of the use of fossil fuels. Xavier belongs to several local and international coal committees and groups involved in coal science and technology.

A qualified Mining Engineer with 24+ years’ experience in mine development, mining finance and mining operations in energy minerals, base metals, precious metals and industrial minerals. He started his career with Iscor Mining in coal, iron ore and titanium mining operations and mine development. He was part of the part of the team that developed the mining portfolio of Iscor Heavy Minerals, now owned by Tronox. He consulted to major mining companies in Africa, South America, North America and Europe in mine turnaround and optimisation including Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, Kaiser Aluminium, Outokumpu and RAG Coal. He co-founded a mining contracting company that mined 1.5 million tons of coal per annum for Anglo Coal for 6 years and was a co-founder of ASX listed Universal Coal, where he developed the Kangala Coal Mine and coal project portfolio. He is a Director of MX Mining Capital Advisors, which advises mine developers, mine owners and mining investors on financing of mining projects. He is a board member of Maatla Energy, which is developing the Mmamabula coal mine and coal-to-liquids project in Botswana. Mike is currently working on the financing of mining projects for clients in energy minerals, base metals, precious metals and industrial minerals in Africa, Asia, America and Europe.

From his beginnings in education to his career in Human Resources, Mike has gained extensive experience in people and business management in BHP and Impala, as well as CEO of Optimum Coal Holdings (prior to it being taken over by Glencore). Mike is the Chairperson and controlling shareholder of the Masimong Group and serves as Chair/Non-Executive Director at the Anchor Group, Rofles Holdings and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal. He is also a past president of the Chamber of Mines and serves on the Council of the Chamber. In keeping with his passion to leave a legacy for the next generation, Mike serves on the board of the University of Johannesburg.