Mark is a mining engineer by training having started his career in deep underground coal mining in Australia in 1976. In his +46 years of experience, he has had line and support responsibilities across all forms of mining, processing, and product marketing, having worked across 6 continents, 20 countries and with more than 30 minerals and metals.
He is recognized as a major industry leader and innovator with a track record for delivery of improvements across all facets of business performance.
Mark retired from his role as the Chief Executive Officer (CE) of Anglo American (AA) in April 2022 after more than 9 years and delivering the significant restructuring and
revitalisation across all facets of its global mining business. In his period of tenure, AA delivered industry leading capital and shareholder returns underpinned by a doubling of employee productivity, with associated material cost reductions and improvements in capital returns. At the same time AA moved from lagging industry performance in sustainability and innovation to being an acknowledged leader in value creation through new and progressive social, technical, and commercial transformations.
Prior to his AA position, he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for AngloGold Ashanti. Mark was responsible for the recovery and turnaround of the business after successfully dealing with the industry’s most significant “out of the money” gold hedge book. Mark has also held senior executive positions with the Inco and Vale, the Normandy Group, Sons of Gwalia, Western Mining Corporation, Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines and CRA (Rio Tinto). Mark was also a past President of the International Council for Mining and Metals (ICMM) and the South African Chamber of Mines (now Minerals Council). Consistent with his business transformational reputation, Mark has been honoured by both the Australian and South African mining industries, receiving the AusIMM Industry Award and the SAIMM Brigadier Stokes Awards, the peak industry awards for service to the industry in both countries. He has been recognised by Mines and Metals as the leading Industry CEO in 2019 and in 2022 was awarded their Lifetime Achievement Award. In the areas of sustainability and responsible social, he has been recognised by the Thomas Edison Global Innovation Awards for Collaborative Change through the Development Partner Institute, he was the “Technoserve 50th Anniversary Honouree” – in honour of “extraordinary leadership in creating sustainable business solutions to end poverty around the world” and more recently as Europe’s most sustainable mining leader.
Mark is currently a Non-Executive Director of TotalEnergies based in Paris and is the Senior Independent Director for Laing O’Rourke based in the UK. On 1 July 2023 he was appointed Chair of Vale Base Metals. He is also involved with numerous NGOs covering global nutrition for women and children, ethical and sustainable business practices, and development of young and emerging business executives.
Our Next Gen Leader programme in 2022 attracted over 100 students and graduates to the event. We targeted not universities offering mining degrees (Imperial, Camborne, Dundee) but tangential degrees (geology, business, engineering, health and safety) from the likes of Oxford, Bristol, Leicester, East Anglia, Southampton, St. Andrews and Birkbeck College.
Our mission at Resourcing Tomorrow is to show how mining is an inclusive industry which offers opportunities for everyone. What degree or qualifications you have, whatever your background is, there is a place in the mining industry for you.
This session will be followed by a Speed Connect Graduates meets Employers on the Exhibition Floor
