The Institute

Paul Bateman since 2005 has been President of the International Cyanide Management Institute and Chair of its Board of Directors.  Previously, Mr. Bateman was the chief executive of two international mining industry trade groups, having served as the Executive Director of The Silver Institute and President of The Gold Institute. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bateman held several senior posts in the U.S. federal government, including appointments to two White House staffs, and at the Departments of Commerce and Treasury.  He has a Bachelor’s degree from Whittier College.

Mr. Hynes is the former Executive Director of the Canada Mining Innovation Council.  He has extensive experience in the Canadian mining industry as a government regulator, in industry operations and in research.  Mr. Hynes was Director General of Natural Resources Canada’s Mining and Mineral Sciences Laboratories, the largest mining research laboratory in Canada.  He was previously the Vice President of Environmental Stewardship for the International Council for Metals and the Environment (the forerunner to the International Council on Metals and Mining) and co-led the Secretariat for the stakeholder group that drafted the Cyanide Code.  Mr. Hynes holds a Master of Science degree in environmental biology from the University of Saskatchewan and a Bachelor of Science degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Michael Rae is a consultant, specializing in sustainability and certification policy. For seven years, he was Chief Executive Officer of the Responsible Jewellery Council, a standards initiative for the jewelry supply chain. Earlier, he worked for almost 17 years with WWF (formerly the World Wildlife Fund), leading its international work on mining. Mr. Rae led the WWF Mining Certification Evaluation Project and has been a member of several global mining and minerals initiatives, including the IUCN Working Group on Extractive Industry and Biodiversity and the IUCN/International Council on Mining and Metals Advisory Group and the Working Group for the GRI Mining and Metals Sector Supplement. Mr. Rae was a member of the stakeholder group that developed the Cyanide Code.

Günter Becker is a mining engineer and insurance professional currently working as Head of Mining in a global business unit of Munich Re. He has 30 years of underwriting experience in the Oil & Gas and Mining sectors with companies in Canada and Germany, the last 17 years with Munich Re, based in Munich. Prior to his insurance career he worked as a mining engineer in Germany and in various managerial positions in an iron ore mine in Liberia, West Africa. Mr. Becker is also a past chairman of the Mining Insurance and Risk Association.  Mr. Becker also helped to establish the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management as a member of the Advisory Board. Mr. Becker holds a Degree in Mining Engineering from the Technical University in Aachen.

Philip Klapwijk is the Managing Director of Precious Metals Insights Limited (PMI), a boutique precious metals markets consultancy based in Hong Kong, which provides market analysis and business advisory services to a wide range of clients in the precious metals market in China, the United States and Europe.  His career in the precious metals market began in 1987 with Consolidated Gold Fields where he was Group Economist for the former London-based mining conglomerate.  Thereafter, he spent much of his career working at GFMS (formerly Gold Fields Mineral Services), which was the leading specialist consultancy on the global precious metals markets, where latterly he was the company’s co-owner and Executive Chairman. In 2011, Mr. Klapwijk sold GFMS to the multinational information provider Thomson Reuters, staying on at this company until February 2013 as the group’s Global Head of Metals Analytics. Mr. Klapwijk also serves as Chief Consultant to Metals Focus Limited, which is one of the market’s most important providers of statistics and other information on precious metals.  He holds degrees in economics from the London School of Economics and the College d’Europe, Bruges.

Elisa Tonda is the Head of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Consumption and Production Unit in Paris, France.  Previously, Ms. Tonda was the Regional Officer of the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics for Latin America and the Caribbean, where she focused on UNEP’s initiatives addressing Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption and Production in the region. Prior to UNEP, Ms. Tonda spent seven years with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), where she was responsible for project development and management in the area of cleaner production and sound chemicals management. Earlier in her career, she worked with the private sector in the areas of environmental certification including ISO 14001, the design of environmental service facilities and the design and operation of landfills, environmental impact assessments of landfills and mining sites, and the remediation of contaminated industrial sites. Ms. Tonda is a graduate of the Politecnico di Torino, and holds a Master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the University of London’s Imperial College and Centre for Development, Environment and Policy.

Edward Bickham holds a number of senior advisory roles in the mining, oil and gas sectors including being a Senior Adviser to Critical Resource Ltd.  He is a former Strategic Adviser to the International Council on Mining and Metals, and from 2010-14 he was Senior Adviser to the World Gold Council in which role he advised on the development of the Conflict-Free Gold Standard. He served at the Board level in the development of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative from 2005 until 2013. He is currently a member of the Steering Board for the UK National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises, and since 2014 he has served as Chairman of the Institute of Business Ethics’ Board of Trustees.   Earlier in his career, Mr. Bickham was Executive Vice President, External Affairs for global mining group, Anglo American plc.  Prior to that, he was Managing Director, Public and Corporate Affairs (and later Deputy Chairman), Hill and Knowlton UK from 1993 until 2000. From 1991 to 1993 he was Special Adviser to the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary. Mr. Bickham graduated in Law from St John’s College, Oxford in 1977.

Peter V. O’Connor is a retired mining executive and attorney.  Until 2013, he was employed for 17 years by the North American subsidiary of Anglo Gold Ashanti and held a series of positions with increasing responsibility including Vice President Environment – Americas, and Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel.  Mr. O’Connor actively participated in ICMI’s Industry Advisory Group (IAG), a forum to advance the education, communication, and discussion about the implementation of the Cyanide Code amongst the program’s participating signatory companies, and ultimately was elected the IAG’s chair in 2012.  He began his career as a reclamation specialist, initially for an oil shale company. Thereafter, for six-years, he worked with the State of Colorado’s Division of Minerals & Geology.   A graduate of Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science in Forestry & Natural Resources, Mr. O’Connor holds a Juris Doctorate, Summa Cum Laude, from the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Dirk Van Zyl has more than 30 years’ experience in research, teaching and consulting in tailings, mine waste-rock disposal and heap-leach design, and mined earth structures. From 2010 – 2020, he was a Professor and Chair of Mining and the Environment at the University of British Columbia’s Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining and Engineering. He is now Professor Emeritus Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia. His research has focused on mining’s contribution  to sustainable development as well as the application of life cycle assessment to mined earth structures. Earlier, he was a professor at the University of Nevada’s Mackay School of Mines, where he was Director of its Mining Life-Cycle Center, and Chairman of Mining Engineering. Dr. Van Zyl is a registered professional civil engineer, and the author of more than 90 publications. Dr. Van Zyl is a graduate of the University of Pretoria, and was awarded a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from Purdue University.