Dave van der Spuy

Manager of the Conventional Resources Evaluation Department

Petroleum Agency SA

Biography

David has been involved in the South African oil and gas industry for over 30 years. He started his career as a geochemist with SOEKOR and has worked for Halliburton, and as an independent consultant.  Since 1990, he has been with Petroleum Agency SA where he has worked as a geochemist and general exploration geologist, and now holds the position of Manager of the Conventional Resources Evaluation Department in the Operations Division.  He manages a team responsible for appraising South Africa’s resources, as well as promoting South Africa’s offshore to local and international oil and gas explorers. He holds degrees in geology and geochemistry, and a post-graduate diploma in management and has published widely, mostly on the petroleum geology of offshore South Africa. In 2014 he was awarded the PetroAfricanus Excellence in Africa award, in recognition of his efforts in attracting international explorers to South Africa.

Dr Nobuhle Pamela Nkabane

Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy

Biography

Dr Nkabane was gripped by politics at a young age wherein she began her affiliation with the African National Congress (ANC). Post joining the ANC, she served in various positions of leadership within the ANC and ANC Leagues – in Branch and Regional level. Nkabane was amongst the Leaders of the ANCYL in the then Sisonke Region who advocated for the renaming of Sisonke District Municipality to Harry Gwala District Municipality, in honour of struggle stalwart Harry Gwala. She served in the Provincial Executive of the ANCYL in Kwa Zulu Natal for three terms. In 2005, before joining Harry Gwala District Municipality she served as a Secretary in the office of the Speaker of Umzimkhulu Local Municipality. Thereafter, she held various positions at Harry Gwala District Municipality, including Youth Development Coordinator, Shop Steward of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), Manager Customer Care, and Director Water Governance and Customer Care. Dr Nobuhle Pamela Nkabane was appointed Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and
sworn in on the 6th of August 2021

Prof. Susan Webb

Associate Professor

School of Geosciences | Wits University 

Biography

Susan Webb started working as a geophysicist for Gold Field’s Diamond Unit in 1990. She joined Wits University in 1994 and is currently an Associate Professor. She worked on the well-known international Kaapvaal Project “The Anatomy of an Archean Craton.” Currently she is a co-PI on the Bushveld Complex Drilling Project (BVDP) of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) and PI on the NRF funded Blue Skies project “Understanding the nature of Deep Processes on the Ancient Evolving Earth.” She is author or co-author of over 100 papers, conference proceedings, and book chapters investigating a wide variety of geophysical topics. She is a fellow of the GSSA and a two-time recipient of their Jubilee medal. She has twice been awarded the “Meritorious Geophysical Service Award” from SAGA and her presentation won the best paper award at the 2011 Geosynthesis conference. She has served SAGA in many roles including as president and running the exciting 2001 “Exploration Challenge: Find the Platinum” competition. Recently, she was a member of the Wits Geoscience team that won the 2021 NSTF-South 32 “Data for Research Award.” She was selected as the 2010 SEG Honorary Lecturer for Africa and the Middle East and was the inaugural recipient of the SEG’s Outstanding Educator award in 2014 for the international geophysical field school she developed and her untiring support of student opportunities. She was an original committee member that developed the SEG’s Geoscientist’s without Borders program. She is a member of the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA), South African Geophysical Association (SAGA), the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE), American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), and currently serves on the board of the SEG Foundation.

Manish Kumar

Regional Geophysicist

Rio Tinto Africa Eurasia

Biography

 Manish is a registered Professional Natural Geoscientist with 18 years of experience in mineral Exploration in a spectrum of commodities Iron Ore, Uranium, Coal, Base and Battery metals, Titanium, and Diamonds from grassroots to discovery.

He started his career with De Beers India in 2004; moved to South Africa to work for De Beers in 2007. During his stay with De Beers, Manish worked extensively in central and southern Africa and Russia and was involved in developing the SQUID magnetic tensor system.

In 2011 Manish joined Rio Tinto generative team in Africa-Eurasia region and was involved in the delivery of new opportunities through Target generation and technical reviews with a focus on Battery metals and Copper. Manish has a keen interest in applying and developing new technologies for mineral exploration, since 2019, has been working on developing a UAVE magnetic gradiometer system. He is currently Africa Eurasia regional geophysicist.

Manish has also been an active member of SAGA and served as the vice president in 2018-19. 

Dan Hollis

Director – Business Development (Americas)

Sisprobe SAS

Biography

Dan Hollis graduated from CSULB (Long Beach, California) with a BSc in Earth Science.

Dan’s early career focused on active-source seismic services with several companies.  Dan’s work with early nodal seismic recorders led to an interest in use of continuous passive seismic recording for subsurface imaging and monitoring.  Dan was one of the founders of Sisprobe that provides passive seismic imaging and monitoring services.  Dan is a member of SExG and is a member of SExG’s Mining and Passive Seismic committees.

Mr. Mosa Mabuza

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) 

Council for Geoscience

Biography

Mr Mosa Mabuza qualified as geologist with a BSc (Hons) and with a PDA in Business. He has extensive exploration experience in multiple regional jurisdictions that span SADC, West Africa and Canada, amongst others. He assumed his official duties in 2006 as Director of Mineral Economics in the erstwhile Department of Minerals and Energy and later became Deputy Director-General of the Mineral Policy and (Investment Promotion) in 2012. During his tenure as an official; he was assigned with the duties of leading the preliminary strategy for sustainable development and meaningful transformation of South Africa’s mining industry with emphasis on competitive growth and transformation as a symbolistic reinforcing concepts, the development of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill and the assessment of the progress impact on the implementation of the Mining Charter in 2009 and 2015, which respectively based the evidence value proposition for the amendments of the 2010 and 2017 Mining Charter. Mr Mabuza was represented the Department of Mineral Resources in the boards of number of science councils and State Owned Entities, including, albeit not limited to the Council for Geosience, Mintek, and the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator.

In November 2016, Mr Mabuza was deployed to the Council for Geoscience and now serves as CEO of the CGS (since July 2017). He is currently working with his colleagues to champion the refocused geo-scientific programme that seeks to optimise the development impact, aligned with the national developmental priorities.

Greg Turner

General Manager Technical Solutions

HiSeis

Biography

Greg Turner is currently Principal Geophysicist at HiSeis and is currently focussed on developing geological products that make the great benefits of seismic more accessible to a broad range of minerals geoscientists. He has a BSC (Hons) and PhD in Earth Science and his previous roles include being Geoscience Manager for WMC’s Technology Group and a co-founder of the Geoforce geophysical service company which was sold to GroundProbe in 2008.

Dr. Per Gisselø

Senior Project Manager

SkyTEM Surveys ApS

Biography

Per Gisselø holds a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Aarhus (Denmark) obtained in 2001 and is Senior Project Manager at SkyTEM Surveys ApS. He is engaged as a team leader as well as a professional specialist in an organisation focused in airborne surveys and the processing of airborne electromagnetic and magnetic data. As a geophysical service provider SkyTEM assists with decision-making for the private and government sector within mineral exploration, water resource mapping, and geotechnical investigations.

Dr. Andi Pfaffhuber

CEO

EMerald Geomodelling

Biography

Dr. Andi Pfaffhuber is the CEO of Oslo-based EMerald Geomodelling and the visionary behind airborne geoscanning. Before founding EMerald in 2019, he spent 12 years at the Norwegian Geotechnical Insititute where he introduced airborne geophysics to NGI in 2007 initially for resource exploration and later for the unique application in geotechnical projects.

Pfaffhuber established the NGI Geosurveys section in 2012 to develop, adapt and implement geophysical, remote sensing and GIS methods in NGIs advanced geotechnical projects. 10 years of research in the field of geotechnical geophysics led then to the strategic technology spinn of from NGI to EMerald.

Pfaffhuber holds a PhD in Applied Geophysics from Bremen University (2006) and an MSc in Applied Geoscience from Technical University Berlin (2001). His field of expertise spans from research, innovation, project management, business development and scientific consulting primarily with a focus on the infrastructure industry.

Dr. Stephanie Enslin

Lecturer

 School of Geoscience at Wits University

Biography

Stephanie has focused on volcanic and magmatic activity throughout her career, first investigating Icelandic volcanoes using campaign GPS for her MSc (Wits, 2009); and then sills and dykes of the Karoo LIP using aeromagnetic and historic seismic data for her PhD (Wits, 2015). For her PhD she also created a 3D model of the Karoo Basin, constrained by potential field, seismic, borehole, petrophysical and teleseismic data. She has also conducted investigations into the western and southern lobes of the Bushveld Complex using 2D and 3D seismic data and aeromagnetic data. She has recently branched into using satellite data and machine learning to understand groundwater potential across South Africa. She is currently lecturing at the School of Geoscience at Wits University.

Itumeleng Mogatusi-Sekgota

Sustainability Integration and Impact Specialist

Anglo American

Biography

Itumeleng holds a master’s degree from the Groundwater Institute at the University of the Free State. She completed her undergraduate studies in Geology and Hydrogeology at the University of the Witwatersrand. By technical training, Itumeleng is a Projects Hydrogeologist focused on the mining sector with expertise in Mine Dewatering for open pit and underground operations. She has over six years of experience managing hydrogeology projects across the globe. Her work experience involved designing and implementing Slope Depressurization and Dewatering Programs, Site-specific Hydrogeological Characterization, Groundwater Exploration and Modelling and holistic mine water management. Hydrogeology provided her with the opportunity to work in different commodities for both open pit and underground mines. She worked on projects in the Platinum Bushveld Complex, South Africa, to the Supergene Iron Belt in Northern Cape, South Africa and the Porphyry Copper Belt deposits on the Andes Mountain Range in Central Chile. There she spent two years living in Santiago Chile and learnt to speak Spanish.

Itumeleng has always believed in using the sciences, particularly geosciences to contribute to solving the problems society is facing. From sound environment management to timely assessment of natural hazards such as floods to sound data on water resources. Geoscientists have a role to play in contributing to a sustainable society.

Although she enjoys being challenged by complex groundwater issues, which she still consults for.  She always wanted to contribute to society beyond the mine fence. Thus, her work as a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 ambassador. She is currently a part of Anglo American’s Group Sustainability Team. She holds the position of Sustainability Integration and Impact Specialist. Her focus is advising the business on integrating sustainability into core business practices-from biodiversity-Geoheritage to Health and Wellbeing-medical geology.  With a special focus on 10-year planning towards 2030, water stewardship and setting science-based targets to develop pathways to value.

Itumeleng serves on the Young Water Professional Committee and Newly formed ESG committee of the Geological Society of South Africa. When not working Itumeleng enjoys watching her son grow and daydreams of working with President Ramaphosa on accelerating action for the National Development Plan.

Chris Wijns

Group Geophysicist 

First Quantum Minerals Ltd

Biography

Chris Wijns has been the Group Geophysicist since 2008 for First Quantum Minerals Ltd, a global base metals miner. He initially studied in Canada, and after a few years in gold exploration in West Africa, he moved to Australia in 1999 and completed a PhD in 2004 at the University of Western Australia. Chris has been a director of Amira Global, a mining industry research body, since 2015, including three years as chair of the board, acting on his belief in collaborative work and a desire to bring research results into industry use. His goal is to promote geophysics in all the domains where it can prove useful throughout the minerals value chain. Chris has enjoyed working inside sizeable mining companies for the opportunity to have constant interaction with geologists, geochemists, and assorted engineers.

Teo Hage

Managing Director

Xcalibur Multiphysics in Australia

Biography

Teo is passionate about Airborne EM, an enthusiasm fuelled after joining Anglo American in 1987 as a scholarship recipient.  Throughout his Anglo career, from graduate geophysicist to manager of SPECTREM AIR Ltd, Teo was intimately involved in the ongoing research and development of Airborne EM systems.

In 2001,  following Fugro’s consolidation of the Airborne Geophysical contractors, Teo was inspired to join its team of people who were focused on technology development as a core part of their business. Teo spearheaded a talented team of engineers and technicians responsible for developing new airborne geophysical systems and instruments, most of which are still in regular use today.

Teo’s intimate involvement with AEM systems development survived a number of transitions, including a move back into general management duties, the sale of Fugro Airborne to CGG in 2013 and a permanent relocation from Johannesburg to Perth in 2014. 

As Managing Director for Xcalibur Multiphysics in Australia and Chief Technology Officer for the group, Teo leads a group of motivated and skilled people who are driven to continuously improve the technology and application of airborne geophysics.

Hielke Jelsma

Principal Geoscientist – Orthomagmatic Systems

AngloAmerican

Biography

To start, a disclaimer: I am not an expert in geophysics, but work with geophysicists on a daily basis. I am Principal Geoscientist at Anglo American, a leading global mining company with a portfolio that includes diamonds (through De Beers), platinum and other precious metals, copper, nickel and manganese, iron ore, metallurgical coal, and fertilizers. I completed my undergraduate training in 1989 and obtained a PhD in geology in 1993 from the Free University of Amsterdam. Between 1993 and 2003 I lectured geosciences subjects at universities in Zimbabwe and South Africa, acted as geological consultant for exploration and mining companies, focusing on precious metals and base metals projects, and then worked as senior researcher within the cross-disciplinary Centre for Interactive Graphical Computing of Earth Systems with the late Prof. Maarten de Wit at University of Cape Town. In 2003 I joined De Beers and in 2014 Anglo American. My industry experience includes the evaluation of conceptual and project areas across all exploration stages, in over 25 countries on six continents. I am currently a member of the Integrated Systems Geoscience Team, seeking generative opportunities and transformative value for the Anglo American group. I am also involved in the execution and management of research projects that support our business decisions. Over the years, I have specialized in field mapping, structural geology, economic geology and tectonics, topics on which I have authored or co-authored >60 papers in peer-reviewed international journals. Ongoing interests are broad and include mineral systems science, metallogenesis, lithosphere geodynamics, supercontinent cyclicity and regional geological assessments, in which geophysics plays an essential role. I am registered as a Professional Natural Scientist; I am an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa and Honorary Life Member of the Geological Society of Zimbabwe.

Dr. Edgar H Stettler

Honorary Professor of Geophysics

Witwatersrand University

Biography

He holds an MSc (Exploration Geophysics) and a PhD (Geophysics) from Pretoria University, was part time lecturer since 1980 and Extraordinary Professor of Geophysics at that University from 2000 to 2009 and is since 2010 an Honorary Professor in Geophysics at the University of Witwatersrand. E. Stettler is a past president (1994) and Meritorious Geophysical Service Award holder of the SA Geophysical Association (2009), a recipient of the prestigious Dr. Rudolf Krahmann Gold Medal award (2013) and an active member of the International Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Tulsa, USA since 1976. He represented the SA earth science community on SACNASP (1994-2004) and represented SA at the Geophysics and Seismology Working Group at the SADC Mining Co-ordination Unit. He is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of SA.  Edgar joined the Geological Survey geophysics unit in 1975 as a student and was the Divisional Manager for Geophysics, Seismology and Geohydrology between 1994 and 2004. He then joined the Thani Group in Dubai (2005-2010) as a geophysical consultant in gold, base metal and oil exploration. Between 2009 and 2018 he was a director of the Hamburg Alternative listed Swiss company, Afrika Gold AG with assets in Ghana and South Africa. He has an extensive refereed publication list dealing mostly with tectonics as revealed by geophysical data. GEONICS of Canada referenced his theoretical work on borehole electromagnetics in a patent. With F. Kamenetsky (University of Muenchen) and G. Trigubovich (Novosibirsk State Technical University) he co-authored the textbook ‘Transient Geo-electromagnetics’, published in 2010. Edgar specializes in base metal, diamond and groundwater exploration with geophysical techniques and his current interest’s cover drone based geophysical surveying where he is involved in magnetic, TEM and MMR surveys.

Prof. Moctar Doucouré

Co-founder & managing director

AEON (Africa Earth Observatory Network)

Associate-professor in geophysics

Nelson Mandela University

Biography

Moctar Doucouré is co-founder and managing director of AEON (Africa Earth Observatory Network) and associate-professor in geophysics at Nelson Mandela University (Feb.2012 to present) where he managed the Karoo shale gas baseline research programme. He previously held the positions of chief operating officer of AEON at the University of Cape Town (UCT; 2008-Dec.2011), and principal specialist geophysicist at De Beers Group Exploration. Prior to these positions, he was senior researcher in geosciences at UCT (Jan.1995-Jan.2001) and postdoctoral Melon fellow at the Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research at Wits University (Nov.1989-Dec.1994).

Moctar Doucouré has an engineering degree in exploration geophysics from the Hydrocarbon Institute of Algiers (1981) and a doctorate in global geophysics from Université Paris VII, France (1986).

Joel Jansen

Lead – Geophysics

Anglo American

Biography

I’ve been a mineral exploration geophysicist for over 25 years, with field experience in 20 countries on six continents, including eight years spent as an expat in Mexico, Chile, and Australia where I was involved in seafloor exploration for massive sulphide deposits, and so I have experience in marine, terrestrial, and airborne geophysics.

In 2015 I moved from Teck Resources Limited, where I was Chief Geophysicist, to Anglo American plc to leverage my experience and broaden my expertise in production- and operation-oriented geophysics in the mining environment, a learning path I am still on today.

I have a B.Sc. in Geological Engineering and an M.Eng. in Geophysics, both from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

I am a registered Professional Engineer in British Columbia, Canada, a Director of Spectrem Air Pty and President of IAGSA, the International Airborne Geophysics Survey Association. I live in Vancouver.

Prof. Raymond Durrheim

Professor 

School of Geosciences

Biography

Raymond Durrheim (PhD, Witwatersrand, 1990) held the South African Research Chair in Exploration, Earthquake and Mining Seismology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg from 2007-2021, and now has a post-retirement appointment as a Professor in the School of Geosciences. He co-directs the AfricaArray research and capacity-building program, leads the DSI-NRF-SAIMI Community of Practice in Knowledge & Skills Development for Oil & Gas Exploration & Production, and is principal investigator of the ICDP project Drilling into Seismogenic Zones of M2.0 – M5.5 Earthquakes in Deep South African Gold Mines (DSeis, 2016-present). Ray is the author or co-author of more than 160 refereed articles published in journals, conference proceedings and books, and co-recipient of the Society of Exploration Geophysics Award for the Best Paper Published in Geophysics in 2012. Ray was chair of the first two SAGA Biennial Conferences (in 1989 and 1991) and SAGA president in 1995/96. He received SAGA’s Meritorious Service Award in 2010 and the Krahmann Medal in 2015. In 2021 Ray received two NSTF-South32 “Science Oscars”: the Lifetime Award for his outstanding contribution to science, engineering and technology (SET) and innovation in South Africa, and was a member of the Wits School of Geosciences team that won the Data for Research Award.

Sean Davids

Geologist

Petroleum Agency SA

Biography

Sean is employed at the Petroleum Agency SA as a Geologist since 2003. He holds a Master degree in Hydrogeology from the University of the Western Cape. Sean has 15 plus years’ experience in petroleum geology and has worked on various offshore basins in South Africa; the West Coast Orange basin, the South Coast Pletmos basin and extensively along the East Coast, Durban & Zululand basins.

Sean is involved with numerous other collaboration projects; he was part of the Working Groups on South Africa’s Pilot Project on Carbon Capture and Storage and a current member of the South African Code for the Reporting of Oil & Gas Resources committee.

Prof. Glen Nwaila 

Director & Professor of the Wits Mining Institute (WMI)

University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)

Biography

Glen Nwaila is the Director of the Wits Mining Institute (WMI) and Visiting Adjunct Professor in the School of Geosciences at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). His main research focuses on increasing the integration of high-dimensional mining and mineral resources data with machine learning for uncertainty reduction and optimal decision-making. Prior to joining Wits, Glen worked in the mining and consulting industries for a period of 13 years, where he led teams of mining professionals and led audits in the mineral resources and extractive metallurgy plants. At Sibanye Stillwater, Glen led the Geology functions in the Driefontein operations. He also served as Manager at Deloitte Technical Mining Advisory (DTMA). He has served as an Erasmus Mundus Scholar at Uppsala University since 2018. Nwaila completed his PhD in Geosciences (Magna Cum Laude) at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in Germany. Glen also holds an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and a BSc (Honours) in Geology from the University of Johannesburg. He was recently appointed to the 35 IGC Legacy Fund’s Board of Directors. He is a Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat.) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP). Glen is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa (FGSSA).

Dr. Bojan Brodic

Senior Scientist

GTK

Biography

Bojan Brodic is a Senior Scientist at Geological Survey of Finland – GTK. He received his B.Sc. (2010) and M.Sc. (2012) in applied geophysics from University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Serbia. In 2018, he obtained his PhD at Uppsala University where he continued his work on active seismic methods, first as a postdoctoral researcher and subsequently as a Researcher. His research interests are in the area of seismic data acquisition, 2D/3D seismic modeling and active and passive seismic imaging in near-surface and hard rock environments. He is an active member of SEG and EAGE and holds an Honorary Lecturer position at University of the Witwatersrand.

Prof. Lindsay Linzer

Corporate Consultant / Associate Partner

SRK Consulting

Biography

Lindsay is a consulting geophysicist to SRK with 26 years’ combined experience in the processing and interpretation of seismic waves ranging from: acoustic emissions recorded in the laboratory; seismic surveys for geotechnical purposes; seismicity induced by shallow and deep level mining; and, seismic reflection data. She was recently appointed as an Honorary Professor: Seismic wavefield simulation at the University of the Witwatersrand. Lindsay has applied state-of-the-art seismic interpretation technology to extract information vital to shaft-sinking, optimal borehole siting and mine-planning. She has specialist skills in determining seismic source mechanisms (laboratory tests in rock and concrete and mining seismology) through moment tensor inversion using her own code and expertise in dynamic numerical modelling (2-D and 3-D) of seismic waves for AE/NDT laboratory tests; mine-seismology problems; geotechnical problems; shaft-sinking, and reflection seismology. She has recently extended her dynamic modelling skills and has developed methods to model complex blast patterns for open pits and underground using Wave3D, a 3D finite difference full waveform modelling code.

Since joining SRK, Lindsay has become involved in seismic hazard assessments for the design of engineering structures. She has also begun to apply seismic and electrical methods to assess the internal structures of tailings dams, with a particular interest in quantifying brittleness.

Lindsay is an expert user and programmer in mXrap, a geotechnical data analysis and monitoring platform within which data analysis tools have been developed under the ACG’s Mine Seismicity and Rockburst Risk Management project.

Dr. Hernan Ugalde

Senior Consulting Geophysicist

DIP Geosciences – Canada

Biography

Hernan started his career in the Geological Survey of Chile (SERNAGEOMIN) in 1995, where he completed his M.Sc. (Geophysics) thesis work under the supervision of Dr. Gonzalo Yañez. In 1997 he moved to the newly created South America office of Paterson, Grant & Watson Limited (PGW) in Santiago, where he stayed until 2001.

In 2001 Hernan moved to Canada to engage in doctoral studies at the University of Toronto. He completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Bernd Milkereit in 2006. In 2006 Hernan started a postdoc with Bill Morris at McMaster University. This triggered the quest for understanding data from a geological point of view. With Bill, Hernan started working in 3D modelling, and developing workflows for the understanding of remanent magnetization and how to model it, geologically. It was an amazing time, and in Hernan’s words “Bill told me everything I know…except for Matlab”. However, by 2011 the MAGGIC lab ran out of funds and Hernan decided to go back to PGW.
In PGW, Hernan moved from small processing and interpretation projects into country scale ones in Ecuador, Nigeria, the DRC and many other places. In 2015 Hernan became Vice-President of PGW. By then he also started teaching geophysics at Brock University. By September 2018, the thirst for teaching and research was strong enough to make Hernan leave PGW to spend more time teaching and working on research with Bill.

DIP Geosciences came to life, and the journey is just beginning…Hernan now teaches Advanced Structural Geology, Field Camp and Exploration Geophysics at Brock University. He has active research projects with Bill on remanence, full tensor magnetics and geological understanding of geophysical data. He collaborates with Intrepid Geophysics and Tensor Research from Australia.
Constantly learning, and always happy to teach and try new ideas.

Gavin Selfe

Director and Consulting Geophysicist at Geofocus

Geofocus (Pty) Ltd

Biography

Gavin has a BSc Honours degree, with dual majors in Geology and Geophysics, from Wits. He has 32 years of field experience in the mineral exploration industry, specialising in geophysics. He has worked mainly across Africa but also globally, and is a partner in a ground geophysics and consulting company, Geofocus (Pty) Ltd, with Bjorn Havemann. They currently have a 3-pronged approach to the geophysics business, being geotechnical geophysical services, minerals exploration surveys, and pure consulting work which often involves minerals targeting and the geological interpretation of large geophysical datasets.

Prof. Laura Valentina Socco

Professor in Applied Geophysics

Department of Engineering of Environment

Biography

Laura Valentina Socco, is presently Full Professor in Applied Geophysics at the Department of Engineering of Environment, Land and Infrastructures (DIATI) of the Politecnico di Torino.

Prof Socco works on developing geophysical techniques for near surface investigation in applications ranging from, seismic hazard and engineering, to hydrocarbon and mineral exploration, environment and cultural heritage. In the last twenty years, she has focused her research work on surveying techniques based on the propagation of seismic surface waves for estimating subsurface velocity models and on geophysical data integration techniques.

In 2013 Prof Socco has been chosen as Honorary Lecturer by the SEG. In 2014 she has received the Conrad Schlumberger Award (EAGE).  In 2019 Prof Socco has received the Outstanding Educator Award from SEG. She has been Editor in Chief of Geophysics from 2017 to 2019.

Prof Socco is author of more than 150 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals and conferences. She has been awarded with a honourable mention in the category best paper in Geophysics in 2012, 2013 and 2016. She has been chair-person of the Near Surface Division Committee of EAGE and member of EAGE Board (2014-16). She has been Associate Editor (2003-2013) Assistant Editor (2013-2017) of Geophysics and she has been Associate Editor (2006-2013) of Near Surface Geophysics. 

She is Chair of the education programs in Environmental Engineering and of Georesources and Geoenergy Engineering (former Petroleum and Mining Engineering) of Politecnico di Torino since 2018.

Dr. David Khoza

Executive Manager

Council for Geoscience

Biography

David Khoza is geophysicist who’s worked in minerals exploration, mining and geoscience research. After completing BSc Honours degree, David joined BHP Billiton’s mineral exploration division, conducting geophysical surveys primarily in Africa. David took a break and then back into academia to complete his PhD, which focussed on understanding the tectonic evolution of the Southern African lithosphere using magnetotelluric data. Following that, he joined Anglo American’s Technical Solutions department supporting several business units in mining, green and brownfield exploration and research efforts within Anglo American. He then joined SPECTREM AIR, primarily focused on airborne data processing, modelling, interpretation and research. David then joined Council for Geoscience’s Executive Management Team. He holds a BSc (Geology and Physics), BSc Honours (Geophysics) and a PhD (Geophysics) from the University of the Witwatersrand

Ken Witherly

President

Condor Consulting, Inc. Canada

Biography

Ken Witherly graduated from UBC (Vancouver Canada) with a BSc in geophysics and physics in 1971.

He then spent 27 years with the Utah/BHP Minerals company during which time as Chief Geophysicist, he championed BHP’s programs in airborne geophysics which resulted in the development of the MegaTEM and Falcon technologies. In 1999, Ken helped form a technology-focused service company that specializes in the application of innovative processing and data analysis to help drive the discovery of new mineral deposits. In 2017, he helped establish the Women Geoscientists of Canada, a group dedicated to support early career women in the minerals industry.

Prof. Alireza Malehmir

Professor of Applied Geophysics

Uppsala University-Sweden

Biography

Alireza Malehmir is Professor of Applied Geophysics at Uppsala University-Sweden. He was the PI of the award-winning Smart Exploration project and a co-PI of FUTURE, a European-South African tech-type mineral exploration collaborative project. He has led several research-industry works in various continents and known for his hardrock seismic expertise and innovative ideas. He has (co)authored +120 peer-reviewed journal publications and serves on the editorial boards of Geophysical Prospecting and Nature Scientific Reports. He is an active member of EAGE and SEG. Occasionally, Alireza acts as a consultant for utilizing innovative seismic imaging solutions for societal applications.

Prof. Gordon Cooper

Professor of  Geophysics

University of the Witwatersrand

Biography

G.R.J. Cooper is a Professor of  Geophysics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. His areas of research include potential fields, image and signal processing, seismic attributes and nuclear physics. He is currently an Associate Editor for the E.A.G.E., the A.S.E.G., the I.A.M.G, and the A.J.G., and constantly reviews papers for all the major journals. He has published more than 120 papers in international journals, and also holds five patents. Algorithms that he has developed have been  implemented by various commercial geophysical companies. He was the President of the S.A. Geophysical Association from 1997-98, editor of its newsletter for more than a decade, and built its first website.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Buske

Professor of “Applied Geophysics / Exploration Geophysics”

Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg (Germany)

Biography

Stefan Buske is a Full Professor of Applied Geophysics / Exploration Geophysics at Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg (Germany). He earned a PhD and a diploma in geophysics at University of Frankfurt (Germany) and has worked in the Depth Imaging Department at Ensign Geophysics Ltd. (UK) and as head of the Seismic Data Laboratory, Department of Geophysics at Freie Universität Berlin (Germany). He received the Louis Cagniard Award from EAGE in 2004 and the outstanding teaching award from the German Geophysical Society in 2019. His research interests include seismic acquisition, processing, modelling and imaging including applications for geothermal and mineral exploration, investigation of fault systems and deep seismic sounding of the lithosphere.

Michelle Pienaar

Programme Manager, Advanced Orebody Knowledge

Mandela Mining Precinct

Biography

Academic Qualifications:
BSc Honours Geology
GDE Mining

Employment History:
Michelle Pienaar obtained a BSc Honours degree in Geology from the University of Johannesburg. She has over 17 years’ experience within the mining industry where she started her career as a mine geologist but later progressed to Geoscience Manager on numerous deep level gold operations. She joined the Mandela Mining Precinct as Programme Manager for the Advanced Orebody Programme, which incorporates subjects such as geology, geophysics, rock engineering and geochemistry among others, aimed at developing technologies to create the ultimate glass rock environment.

Dr. Hayley Cawthra

Chief Scientist at the Council for Geoscience (CGS)

Western Cape regional office

Biography

Hayley Cawthra holds the position of Chief Scientist at the Council for Geoscience (CGS) Western Cape regional office, where she leads the marine geoscience programme, and is a Research Associate in Nelson Mandela University’s African Centre for Coastal Palaeoscience. She has over fifteen years of work experience at the CGS in the acquisition, processing and interpretation of geological and hydroacoustic data and is a qualified commercial diver. Hayley has specific research interests in Pleistocene sea-level change and reconstructing now-submerged terrestrial landscapes on the continental shelf, particularly in a context of ancient human use of coasts. This is done by coastal- and offshore mapping, and studying markers of palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic change over time. Hayley has led or been a co-investigator on several local and international projects, all with a focus on South African records. Most of her work in this regard has been carried out on the Palaeo-Agulhas Plain on the Cape South Coast, and in Mpondoland on the East Coast.

Hayley holds a Ph.D. in geological science from the University of Cape Town (awarded in 2014) and was a visiting post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bremen Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences in 2016. She was a junior fellow of the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg in Germany from 2017-2019, has published 79 papers in peer-reviewed journals of acceptable repute within the last ten years in the field area of marine geology, and her work has received almost 1200 citations to date.

Hayley serves on several professional committees and panels and some examples are holding the position of Chair of the South African Committee for Stratigraphy task group for Post-Karoo stratigraphy and being vice president of the Southern African Society for Quaternary Research. She is a steering committee member of the South African Extended Continental Shelf Claim Project and a technical advisor on the South African delegation to the United Nations’ International Seabed Authority. Hayley is a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa and is an NRF rated scientist. She also has interest in geoheritage and geoscience education and has worked on several initiatives in this regard, including being part of a team that has produced three ‘Science Spaza’ comics for school-level learners.