Team
A knowledgeable group of committed and seasoned professionals from Canada and South Africa form the core of Platinum Group's team. Both on the ground in South Africa and managing the public company in North America, this group has been assembled to drive Platinum Group to its goal of being a platinum producer.
With experience in mine exploration, development, and operations, each member is responsible for key deliverables that fit into the overall mine development plan.
In addition to the senior team members, Platinum Group has completed the exploration and deposit modeling tasks with a carefully selected team of geologists, geostatisticians and technologists. As an important asset of the company, PTM has encouraged and recruited historically disadvantaged South Africans to participate at all levels of the project, including management, as set out in the Mining Charter.
- R. Michael Jones, B.A.SC., P.Eng
Director, President & CEO
- Frank Hallam, B.B.A., C.A.
Director, CFO & Corporate Secretary
- Peter C. Busse, P.Eng.
Chief Operating Officer,
- Mlibo Mgudlwa, B.juris, LLB
Advisor
- Willie Visser, B.Sc. (Hons), Pr.Sci.Nat.
Technical Manager
Platinum Group Metals RSA (Pty) Ltd.
- Barry W. Smee, Ph.D., P.Geo
Director & Advisory Board Member
- Eric Carlson
Director
- Iain McLean, B.Sc. Eng. (ARSM), M.B.A., MIMM. C.Eng.
Director
- Mathys Johannes Botha, Diploma Geology
Senior Geologist
Platinum Group Metals RSA (Pty) Ltd.
- Michael Wasserfall, B.A,. LLB,
Corporate Counsel
Platinum Group Metals RSA (Pty) Ltd.
- Len Backhouse
Mine Designer
Platinum Group Metals RSA (Pty) Ltd.
- Enoch Mawasha
Accounting Manager
Platinum Group Metals RSA (Pty) Ltd.
- Lesley Ann Morrow
GIS/Draughting
Platinum Group Metals RSA (Pty) Ltd.
R. Michael Jones, B.A.SC., P.Eng
Director, President & CEO
Michael Jones brings 25 years of experience as a professional geological engineer and has been involved with raising over $300 million for exploration, mining development and production. He was a founder of Glimmer Resources Inc. and was responsible for the discovery of the Glimmer Gold mine, now Blackfox, in Ontario. During a six-year tenure as President of Cathedral Gold, Mr. Jones ran a producing mining company and was involved in the review of a feasibility study and financing for a $1 billion mining project during two years as Vice President with Aber Resources. He is also a co-founder of West Timmins Mining that was purchased by Lakeshore Gold in 2009 and is a director and co-founder of MAG Silver. Mr. Jones served on the Securities Policy Advisory Committee of the British Columbia Securities Commission for six years and holds a B.A.Sc. in geological engineering from the University of Toronto.
Frank Hallam, B.B.A., C.A.
Director, CFO & Corporate Secretary
Frank Hallam was the original founder of New Millennium. He was previously an auditor in the mining practice with Coopers and Lybrand. Mr. Hallam has extensive operating and financial experience at the senior management level with several publicly listed resource companies and has over ten years of experience working in East and South Africa, including his role as CFO and Director with Tan Range Exploration. In addition to his involvement raising over $75 million for exploration, mining development and production, he has set up and administered exploration offices in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Eritrea, among others and has been involved in negotiating and managing exploration deals with Barrick Gold Corporation, Johannesburg Consolidated Investments and Newmont Mining Corporation. He is a chartered accountant and has a degree in business administration from Simon Fraser University.
Peter C. Busse, P.Eng.
Chief Operating Officer,
Platinum Group Metals Ltd
Peter is a mining engineer with 35 years of experience in the mining industry including extensive knowledge of mine management, mine engineering and mine design. He has been manager and leader at eight operations throughout North American and
He has been involved in feasibility studies, increased capacities at mines, turnaround situations and introduction of new technologies. Peter’s experience also includes community relations, public relations, government relationships and joint ventures. He has successfully instituted procedures for reduction of loss and improvements in safety.
Prior to joining Platinum Group Metals Ltd., Peter was General Manager, Projects for Procon Mining and Tunneling, a contractor developing access declines and underground infrastructure for the start of two Canadian diamond mines.
Mlibo Mgudlwa, B.Juris, LLB
Advisor
Mr. Mgudlwa acted as a Senior State Advocate for the High Court of Johannesburg for a period of six years. He was a founder of Africa Wide Investment Holding (Pty) Ltd, a mining and financial services company founded on Black Economic Empowerment principles. Mr. Mgudlwa has demonstrated skills in forging relationships between Black Communities, the State and commercial interests. Mr. Mgudlwa now serves as a liaison between these parties and PTM.
Willie Visser, B.Sc. (Hons), Pr.Sci.Nat.
Technical Manager
Following an extensive mineral exploration career which spanned South Africa from coast to coast, Mr. Visser spent 6 years as ore reserve manager at JCI / Harmony Gold's 1m Oz/yr Randfontein Estates gold mine. Immediately prior to joining Platinum Group, Mr. Visser helped found Harmony's Major Capital Projects division, which was responsible for the recognition and development of 1B Rand+ mine projects in South Africa. Mr. Visser's skill set spans all stages of exploration and development including resource definition, mining method design and implementation, and ore extraction.
Barry W. Smee, Ph.D., P.Geo
Director & Advisory Board Member
Dr. Barry Smee is a renowned geologist and geochemist with more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry. He is a founder of Smee and Associates, an international geology and geochemistry consulting firm. He has been an advocate of standards for exploration sampling and quality control for Canadian stock exchanges and regulatory bodies. Dr. Smee is also a member of the technical Advisory Board for Platinum Group. He holds a B.Sc. in chemistry and geology from the University of Alberta and a Ph.D. in geochemistry from the University of New Brunswick.
Mr. Carlson has over 17 years of real estate investment, development, and management experience. Mr. Carlson has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Anthem Properties Corp. since July 1994. Anthem is an investment group that specializes in the acquisition and management of Class B retail, multi-family residential and office properties in high growth markets in Canada and the United States. Mr. Carlson has also been President and a director of Kruger Capital Corp. since December 1992. Mr. Carlson is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia.
Iain McLean, B.Sc. Eng. (ARSM), M.B.A., MIMM. C.Eng.
Director
Iain McLean has business experience in mine operations and senior management positions in technology companies. Currently, Mr. McLean is CEO of Municipal Software, based in Victoria, BC. Past roles include Vice President and General Manager of Total Care Technologies, a subsidiary of Ad Opt Technologies Inc, VP Operations of Ballard Power Systems, CEO of Automed and COO of Inforetech Wireless Systems. Mr. McLean has tremendous business and technical experience combined with an appreciation of the growing end uses of platinum. Mr. McLean holds a degree in mining engineering from the Royal School of Mines and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Mathys Johannes Botha, Diploma Geology
Senior Geologist
Mr. Botha has more than 12 years’ experience in the South African mining industry. His career began as a geophysical and geological field assistant with Goldfields Mining and development. Mr. Botha received underground mining experience on Harmony Gold Mining’s Number 4 Shaft as well as Harmony’s Doornkop shaft. In 2002 he joined Cluff Platinum PLC where he was involved in exploration and the in-house XRF laboratory. More recently Mr. Botha worked as Project Geologist with Global Geo Services where he was involved with resource calculation and Geostatistics.
Michael Wasserfall, B.A, LLB
Corporate Counsel
A senior attorney with over 24 years experience working for mining companies in South Africa including Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company Limited and Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited, Michael's duties will include responsibility for maintaining and converting mineral rights and co-ordinating future mining authorization applications, social development plans, environmental planning and mine, health and safety legal requirements.
Mr. Backhouse has 26 years’ experience in mining, including the roles of chief statistician, mine designer and G2 project leader at Johannesburg Consolidated Investments and shaft planning coordinator and Organic Growth Capital Project team member at Harmony Gold Mining.
Enoch Mawasha
Accounting Manager, South Africa
Mr. Mawasha has 20 years of experience in the mining industry, of which the last 8 were spent with Anglo Platinum in their Financial Accounting Department. Previous experience included exposure to gold mines in Johannesburg Consolidated Investments and Harmony Gold.
Lesley Ann Morrow
GIS/Draughting, South Africa
Les Morrow joined Nuclear Fuels Corporation of
