Board of Directors

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

Desmond Sacco

Chairman
BSc (Hons) (Geology) (Wits) (Unisa)

Des qualified as a geologist and joined the Assore group in 1968. He was appointed to the Assore board in 1974 and, on retirement of his father in 1992, he was appointed Chairman and Managing Director. In that year, he was also appointed Deputy Chairman of Assmang Limited and in 1999, he became Chairman of Assmang. He is a fellow of the Institute of Directors (IOD) and of the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA).

C J Cory

Chief Executive Officer
BA, CA(SA), MBA (Wits)

Chris completed articles with Alex.Aiken & Carter (now KPMG) and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1982. In 1989, he joined the Assore group as Group Accountant. In 1992, he was appointed Group Financial Director and made Chief Executive Officer in June 2004 when the roles of Chairman and Managing Director were split. He was appointed to the Assmang board as a non-executive director in 1993 and currently chairs the Assmang Audit Committee. He is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA).

R J Carpenter

Deputy Chairman
BA, ACIS

Bob joined the Ore and Metal Company Limited in 1964 and was appointed Managing Director in 1991. Ore and Metal is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Assore group and acts as selling and shipping agent for all products produced by Assore and Assmang group companies. He was appointed to the Assore board in 1987, to the Assmang board in 1989 and was made Deputy Chairman of Assore in 1993.

P C Crous

Group Technical Director
BSc Eng, BComm, MBA

Phil trained as a mining engineer, obtaining a BSc (Eng) at Pretoria University in 1975.Thereafter he joined Iscor, and in 1977 he took up a position with Assmang where he advanced to Mine Manager. In 1982, he joined Sasol as General Mine Manager and was subsequently promoted to Operations Manager at Secunda Collieries, responsible for four mechanised mines. In 1988, he joined manufacturing company Sandock-Austral as Managing Director. In 1991, he was invited to join Assore in his current position as Group Technical Director and was appointed to the Assmang board in 1992. He is a member of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) and the Institute of Directors (IOD).

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

E M Southey

Independent non-executive director
BA, LLB

Ed was admitted as an attorney, notary and conveyancer in 1968 and practised as a partner of Webber Wentzel until his retirement as senior partner of that firm in 2006. He remains an executive consultant to the firm. He is a former president of the Law Society of the Northern provinces and of the Law Society of South Africa. He is a director of a number of companies. He joined the Assore board as a non-executive director in January 2009 and serves on the group’s Audit and Remuneration Committees.

M C Ramaphosa

Non-executive director
BProc

Cyril is executive chairman and a significant shareholder of Shanduka Group (Proprietary) Limited. He is also non-executive chairman of the MTN Group Limited, the Bidvest Group and SASRIA Limited and a non-executive director of SAB Miller plc, Macsteel Holdings (Proprietary) Limited,Alexander Forbes Limited and Standard Bank Group Limited. He was the first deputy chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council. He sits on the United Nations secretary general’s advisory panel on International Support to Nepad and is a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. Cyril has received several honorary doctorates. He joined the Assore board as a non-executive director in July 2006.

B M Hawksworth

Independent non-executive director
CA(SA)

Brian qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Durban and relocated to Johannesburg in 1973 as a partner of Ernst & Young. Since withdrawing as a partner of Ernst & Young, he holds several non-executive directorships, including the Financial Services Board (the FSB). He was appointed to the Assore board as an independent non-executive director in 1996 and currently chairs the Assore Audit and Remuneration Committees. He is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and was a past member of its Council and Executive Committee and is also a fellow of the Institute of Directors which he chaired in the early 1990s.

Dr J C van der Horst

Independent non-executive director
BA, LLD

Johannes studied at the Universities of Stellenbosch and Hamburg (Germany) and the Harvard Business School. He held various positions in Old Mutual from 1971 to 2002 where he was General Manager (Investments) from 1985 to 1997. In September 1997, he was appointed to head up Old Mutual’s demutualisation project which culminated in the listing of Old Mutual on the London Stock Exchange and the JSE Limited in July 1999. He served on the Assore board between 1989 and 1997, and again since January 2003 when he was appointed as an independent non-executive director and serves on the group’s Audit and Remuneration Committees. He is also on the boards of Reunert Limited and Wooltru Limited.