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General Manager: Human Resources
Unathi holds an Honours Degree in Industrial Psychology from UNISA and has also completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management from Nelson Mandela University. She is an experienced HR professional with extensive experience in using Strategic Human Resources to drive value creation. Unathi has worked across a variety of different industries with vast geographical coverage – mainly multinational companies where she has provided HR support to the local South African market and the African continent with some regional responsibilities in EMEA. Her career started in the Uitenhage plant of Volkswagen Group South Africa, she has worked for and occupied generalist and niche HR positions in companies such as Sasol Limited, the JSE, ABB South Africa, BASF and Roche Diagnostics.
Unathi was appointed to the position of General Manager: Human Resources of Rand Refinery with effect from 1 March 2021.
Non-Executive Directors
Pieter is the divisional Chief Financial Officer of Sibanye Gold Limited’s (‘Sibanye’) gold and uranium business and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (South Africa). He started his career at KPMG Inc. after which he joined Western Areas Limited in 2005 as Financial Manager. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Western Areas Limited in January 2007 and, with Gold Fields Limited (‘Gold Fields’) acquiring Western Areas Limited later that year, he joined the Gold Fields financial reporting team. From 2009 to 2013, Pieter was part of the Gold Fields corporate finance division responsible for various capital raisings in the international and local debt markets. With the unbundling of Sibanye in 2013, Pieter was appointed as Vice President: Corporate Finance responsible for finance and the external financial reporting functions of Sibanye.
Pieter was appointed on 21 October 2005 as a non-executive director of Rand Refinery. He serves as a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Remuneration and Nominations Committee.
Chief Executive
Praveen is a Chemical Engineer with more than 30 years’ experience in minerals beneficiation, smelting and refining, and the chemical process industry. He attended University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business Program (PMD) in 1995 and in the year 2000 attained an MBA with distinction from the University of Wales.
Praveen Baijnath was appointed as Chief Executive of Rand Refinery on 1 June 2015. He is also an Executive Director on the Rand Refinery Board. His other board directorships include Prestige Bullion and the Ekurhuleni Jewellery Project.
He was previously (2009-2015) Group CEO of JSE listed Delta EMD and remains on the Board of Delta EMD Limited as independent, non-executive director. He also served as CEO of Gold Reef Speciality Chemicals. His previous roles spanning a period of 20 years was with Huntsman Corporation in process and chemical engineering, plant management and executive management roles in Operations, EHS, Technical and Strategic Development.
He is a member of the South African Institute of Directors, South African Institute of Chemical Engineers and an Associate of The Institution of Chemical Engineer (IChemE).
Chief Financial Officer
Dean Subramanian is a Chartered Accountant and has extensive CFO and Finance Executive experience.
Dean Subramanian held the position of Chief Financial Officer at ArcelorMittal listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Dean also held the position of Finance Director at Aveng Steel, an operating group of Aveng Limited, listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Dean worked both in the construction and manufacturing divisions of Aveng. Prior to that, Dean held various positions in the Banking, Construction, Aviation and Property industry. Dean has extensive experience in Africa and served his articles at EY in Johannesburg where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant; he was seconded by EY to New York where he worked.
Dean joined Rand Refinery in the position of CFO and Executive Director on 1 August 2018.
Independent Chairman
Rams has held senior positions in various international and domestic Non-Governmental organisations which he used as a platform for anti-apartheid activism prior to 1994, culminating in his election as founding President of the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO). Following the democratisation of the South African society, he was appointed Deputy Director-General of the National Department of Labour and later elevated to the position of Director-General (DG) of the Labour Department.
As DG of Labour, he was Government Chief Negotiator and overall Convenor of the government caucus at the National Economic and Labour Council (NEDLAC). He also represented the South African Government at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). As Labour DG, he also presided over the process of amending the Labour Relations Act (LRA) and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), respectively.
Prior to joining government Rams also served on the then Deputy President Mbeki’s Advisory Committee on the National Development Agency (NDA) as Head of its legal task team.
In 2004, Rams was appointed Regional President of BP Africa and Executive Chairman of the Board of BP Southern Africa. In 2011, he became non-executive chairman of BP Southern Africa.
Rams is a practicing advocate of the High Court and member of the Pretoria Society of Advocates.
He is a non-executive director of AECI where he serves on its Risk, Social and Ethics, Remuneration and Nomination Committees, respectively. He is also a non-executive director of Anglo American South Africa, where he chairs its Social and Ethics Committee and also serves on its Risk and Audit Committee. Rams is also a non-executive director of the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC).
Rams also serves as a member of the NDA Ethics Board chaired by former Constitutional Court Judge Yvonne Mokgoro and is a member of the Human Resource Development Council.
Rams was appointed as the Independent Chairman of the Board of Rand Refinery in October 2010 where he also serves as Chairman of its Remuneration and Nominations Committee.
Independent Non-Executive Director
After spending several years in the auditing profession, Fatima went on to lecture in financial accounting and then spent over a decade in various positions in corporate South Africa. Fatima currently serves on several Boards.
Fatima has previously served on the Boards of Telkom, Metropolitan, Woolworths, South African Reserve Bank, SA Mint, SA Banknote, and Impala Platinum Holdings. She is currently a director of the MTN Group (various subsidiaries), Clicks Group, MMI Holdings, Tongaat Hulett, AfriSam Holdings and JSE Ltd Board.
Fatima was appointed as a non-executive director of Rand Refinery in June 2012 and also serves as the Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee.
Non-Executive Directors
Mashego joined Harmony in 2005 and has been responsible for group human resources development, transformation and, most recently, government relations. He has more than 20 years’ experience in human resources, acquired largely in the industrial sector. Mashego was appointed as an executive director at Harmony on 24 February 2010.
Mashego joined the Board of Rand Refinery on 9 August 2017, and is also a member of the Social and Ethics Committee.
Executive Head: SHEQ and Technical Assurance
Terance started his career at Samancor as a graduate metallurgist in January 2000. He later joined Rand Refinery as a plant metallurgist in August 2001, where he held various positions with the department. He was appointed as the Head: Smelter in May 2008 which is the position that he held until January 2016 when he was appointed as the Executive Head: SHEQ and Evaluation.
In 2012, Terance was nominated as the rising star in the minerals and mining category. Since the commencement of his career, he has been involved in the successful completion of several capital projects.
Non-Executive Directors
Ian qualified as a charted accountant in 1993. He spent 20 years at KPMG, 11 years as an external audit partner as part of KPMG’s mining group. During this time he was seconded to Canada and subsequently appointed the KPMG head of mining for Africa. Ian joined AngloGold Ashanti in 2012 as vice- president: finance. He was promoted to senior vice- president: group finance in 2019 and interim chief financial officer from September 2020. Ian has considerable experience in IFRS as well as US GAAP.
Non-executive Director
Mark joined DRDGOLD in 2004 to assist with the evaluation of their ERPM operation and thereafter transferred to Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mining Company as Financial Manager. In 2012, Mark was appointed as Financial Director of DRDGOLD’s Ergo Mining. He is a director of East Rand Proprietary Mines, Crown Consolidated Gold Recoveries, Ergo Business Development Academy and Ergo Mining.
Mark was appointed as an alternate director to Themba Gwebu on 24 May 2012 and currently serves as an alternate director to Charles Symons.
Mark joined the Board of Rand Refinery on 24 May 2012.
Non-executive Director
Mpho is a qualified CA(SA) and completed her tertiary education at the University of the Witwatersrand. She spent 6 years at KPMG South Africa in the Energy and Natural Resources business unit. After completing her articles in 2014 she was seconded to KPMG LLP in Detroit. She was promoted to an audit manager in 2015. During this time, she was responsible for managing JSE and NYSE listed clients within the gold mining industry. On 11 June 2018 she was appointed Group Financial Controller at DRDGOLD Limited and is involved in IFRS and US financial reporting, integrated reporting, sustainability reporting, technical accounting matters and Sarbanes Oxley compliance.
Non-executive Director
Vits was head of asset strategy and reliability at Angle American Corporation and head of engineering at Anglo American Platinum and previously held various operational and head-office roles at De Beers. He is currently senior vice-president of technical at AngloGold Ashanti. During his 27-year career he worked both on operational support and projects.
Vits has both multi-product (diamonds, gold and platinum) and multinational exposure with a deep understanding of all facets of the mining business. Vits joined Rand Refinery in May 2021 as a non-executive director and a permanent member of the Social and Ethics Committee
Non-executive Director – Alternates
Alex has in-depth mining operational African experience gained during her 16 years employment at AngloGold Ashanti focussed on the Continental African operations. She has previously been employed both at mine sites and at regional level in a senior financial management capacity and also led the Continental African regional supply chain function for 3 years. In 2019, Alex was appointed vice-president: group financial reporting.
Alex qualified as a charted accountant in 2009 after completing her articles at KPMG. Alex is an alternate director to Ian Kramer.
Non-executive Director – Alternates
Herman Perry is a Chartered Accountant by profession with over 15 years’ experience within the finance and treasury functions of gold mining Companies. He has been in the finance function at Harmony Gold for the last 9 years, having previously worked in similar functions at AngloGold Ashanti. In addition to directorships of certain Harmony Group Companies, he is a director and member of the Investment Committee at the Rand Mutual Assurance Company and is a member of the Audit Committee at Rand Mutual Assurance Company.
Herman served as an alternate director to Marian van der Walt and is now alternate director to Harry Mashego.
General Manager: Smelter and Engineering Services
Collin is a certified Mechanical Engineer with 28 years’ experience in the manufacturing, minerals beneficiation and the metals industries. He also completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce (BCom) with specialisation in Management, Transport Economics and Logistics from the University of South Africa in 2006 and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business’s in 2009. Collin also holds a government certificate of competency (GCC) for the factories environment.
Collin’s career initially commenced with Bell Equipment (Pty) Ltd, then BHP Billiton’s Aluminium South Africa and later Delta EMD Limited, where he held various technical and senior management positions in Engineering, Capital Projects, Business Improvement, Maintenance, Reliability, Production and Operations Management. Collin also held the senior executive role of Operations Director for JSE listed Delta EMD Limited and served on the Board of Directors.
In May 2016, Collin resigned as Operations Director of Delta EMD Limited to join Rand Refinery on 1 June 2016, as Head: Asset Care and Capital Projects. Since 1 November 2016, Collin has taken on the executive role of General Manager: Smelter and Engineering Services.
General Manager: Refinery and Fabrication
Peter studied electronic engineering at the University of Pretoria and is a trained value systems engineering practitioner. Peter has worked in the fields of electrical and instrumentation engineering, process control systems engineering, business information systems, business intelligence and corporate strategy development before joining Rand Refinery. His business experience spans the coal mining, energy and petro-chemical industries as well as upstream oil and gas industries.
He has worked for a wide range of Companies in the field of strategy development both locally and internationally including governments and NGOs. Peter has conducted strategy-related work in Africa, North America, Europe, India and China.
Peter was appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer of Rand Refinery with effect from 1 December 2014. Prior to his appointment of Chief Operating Officer, Peter served as the Chief Strategy Officer of Rand Refinery with effect from March 2010. The effective date of his appointment as the General Manager: Refinery and Fabrication was 1 November 2016.
Rand Refinery is opposed to activities which, directly or indirectly, finance or benefit armed conflict and the extreme levels of violence which contribute to abuses of human rights. Rand Refinery is also committed to sourcing mined gold from operations which conform to internationally-accepted environmental practices.
Consequently, Rand Refinery commits to refraining from knowingly sourcing gold and silver bearing material from regions and operations which contribute to the financing of conflict or the degradation of the environment and further commits itself to comply with the relevant United Nations sanctions, recommendations and protocols from other appropriate supra-national bodies, in this regard.
In the event that gold and silver bearing material is sourced from conflict-affected and high risk areas, Rand Refinery will neither tolerate nor by any means profit from, contribute to, assist with or facilitate the commission by any party of any forms of inhuman treatment, any form of forced labour, use of child labour, gross human rights violations, war crimes or other crimes against humanity.
Rand Refinery will not tolerate any direct or indirect support to non-state armed groups through the extraction, transport, trade, logistical assistance, handling or export of gold and silver bearing material by such groups or their affiliates. Rand Refinery will apply a robust Know Your Customer (KYC) policy in order to identify upstream suppliers where dealings with such suppliers would be in contravention of this policy, would represent money laundering or other related criminal activity. Rand Refinery will not engage with suppliers identified in this way and will not accept refining or smelting deposits from such suppliers.