Meet our dedicated leadership team, driving innovation, inspiring growth and guiding the way to mining excellence

Des, a qualified geologist, joined the Assore Group in 1968 and became a board member in 1974. In 1992, upon his father Guido’s retirement, Des assumed the dual role of Chairman and Managing Director. He took on the role of Deputy Chairman at Assmang Limited in the same year, later becoming Chairman in 1999. Des is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA).

Pat joined Assore Group in 2003 after earning a master’s degree from the University of Colorado (USA). He became a director of Ore & Metal, the group’s selling and marketing agent, in 2007. He was promoted to Managing Director of Ore & Metal on March 1, 2016. Pat was appointed as a director of Assmang in 2008.

In 2015, he joined the International Manganese Institute (IMnI) as a director. On January 1, 2019, he assumed the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Assore Group and in May 2019, became Chairman of Assmang.

Most recently, on July 1, 2023, Pat Sacco was promoted to the position of Executive Chairman of the Assore Group, marking a significant leadership transition to the next generation of the Sacco family.

Charles assumed the role of CEO at Assore in 2017. Charles holds a B.Sc. (Mech) Eng Cum Laude from the University of Cape Town (1989), a B.Com from the University of South Africa (1992), and completed the Programme for Management Development at Harvard Business School (2001).

His career began in 1991 as a Graduate Engineer at Anglo American, followed by roles at Mondi, including Managing Director of Mondi Sales International in Dublin, Ireland. Returning to South Africa in 2006, he became the Managing Director of Bearing Man Group (BMG), a division of the Invicta Group. In 2013 he was appointed deputy CEO and CEO in 2015. Charles officially joined the Assore Group as CEO in 2017, succeeding Chris Cory.

Charles represents the company on the board of the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA).

Tiaan joined the Assore Group in 2003 as Consulting Metallurgist. In 2012 he was appointed Group Technical and Operations Director of Assore and a director of Assmang. In July 2023, Tiaan was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

He obtained a BEng (Metallurgy) from the University of Pretoria (UP) in 1982 and later obtained BCom (Unisa) and MEng (UP) degrees. Prior to Assore, he worked for Iscor and Samancor, where he had various operational roles including General manager of Palmiet Ferrochrome Operation (Mogale) in 1999.

Sandra holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Accounting and Tax. In addition, she completed her LLB and LLM (both cum laude). She practiced law for 7 years before joining Standard Bank as an Executive in the Corporate Finance team. She spent 12 years with Standard Bank and held the position of Head of Metals and Mining for most of this time. Following this, she moved to Ernst & Young (“EY”) where she took up a partnership position heading up the Energy & Natural Resources market segment as well as the Corporate Finance function for EY in Africa. Sandra joined the Assore Group in March 2024 from Partners in Performance where she was Director of Energy Transition for Africa.

Kieran joined Assore in 2018 having spent more than 10 years in investment banking at UBS, Macquarie and Investec. Prior to that he spent 15 years at Anglo American plc’s Coal Division (Anglo Coal) in a number of operational and commercial roles. On 1 July 2023, in addition to his role as Executive: Growth & Strategic Development, Kieran Daly was appointed as Managing Director of Assore International Holdings.

Kieran represents the company on the board of Atlantic Lithium.

Bongani joined Assore in 2018 as the Executive of Human Resources and Public Affairs. Prior to that, Bongani was at Barclays Africa Group/ABSA, where he spent 4 years, initially as Executive Manager for Retail Business Banking and then as HR Director for Technology, Data and Security.

Before ABSA, Bongani spent 6 years as the Head of HR at Growthpoint Properties. Bongani has also worked for Arcelor Mittal, the Human Sciences Research Council and South African Breweries.

Mandla, admitted as an attorney in 2000 and as a notary public and conveyancer in 2002, has been with the Assore Group since 2015. Starting as Group Manager: Legal, he progressed to Executive: Legal in 2019. With nearly 15 years of experience in the mining sector, Mandla previously held positions at African Rainbow Minerals and Lonmin.

Ed was admitted as an attorney, notary and conveyancer in 1967 and practiced 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 province 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 was appointed as Deputy Chairman and lead independent director in November 2010. He is the chairman of the group’s Audit and Risk, and Remuneration committees.

Eric is a Chartered Accountant and registered auditor with 30 years as a partner at PWC. Eric has extensive experience working with JSE listed companies, in mergers, a trustee, audit committees, risk committees, risk and investment committees and various partner roles culminating in Partner in Charge at PWC Johannesburg for 12 years.

Eric was appointed to the Assore board in 2021.

Sydney qualified as a chartered accountant in 1998 following the completion of his articles at Ernst & Young in 1997. He co-founded Tamela Holdings Proprietary Limited (Tamela) in 2008, which holds investments in various industries. Sydney has held various senior positions in the investment banking sector, including those of divisional director at Standard Bank and Chief Investment Officer of Makalani Holdings Limited, a mezzanine financier which listed on the JSE in 2005.

Sydney was appointed to the board on 15 October 2012 and serves on the group’s Audit and Risk Committee. He has been appointed as a member of the Remuneration Committee.

Henk obtained his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Pretoria, followed by a MDP at Unisa and a BSc Mining (Hons) at the University of Pretoria. He started his career at Kumba Iron Ore and during his first 10 years in the industry, held various specialist and operational roles at Sishen Iron Mine and Iscor Consulting Services in Pretoria. This was followed by a six-year stint in the gold and uranium industry in the North-West at Uranium One, prior to joining Assore in 2009. Since then, he has taken on various roles in the management of Assore’s chrome and pyrophyllite mines. He was appointed as the Managing Director of Assore South Africa on 1 October 2023.

Herman joined Assore as a consulting Metallurgist in April 2011 after 5 years at ASA Metals & Dilokong Chrome Mine where he was Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that, he was employed in various positions over a period of 10 years at Assmang’s ferrochrome smelter in Machadodorp. Herman was appointed Executive: Technical Services on 1 October 2023.

Ross qualified as a chartered accountant in 1994, following the completion of his articles at KPMG Aiken and Peat in 1992. He then worked at Sappi Limited, holding various financial positions over 14 years, including managing the accounting functions in Europe (Brussels) for two years and in South Africa for 8 years. In 2008, he joined the Assore Group as Group Accountant in 2008 and was appointed to the Assore board as Finance Director on 20 February 2018.

Rorie started his career in Investment Banking, joining the Standard Bank Group as part of the Investment Banking and Investment Banking Coverage teams focusing on Telecoms and Media across African and other emerging markets, with a focus on M&A, debt and financing options in various jurisdictions. In 2010 Rorie spent a year in London with Standard Bank Plc in Investment Banking Coverage.

In 2011 Rorie joined the Assore Group as part of the Iron Ore team.

Rorie was appointed a Managing Director for the marketing business in 2018, predominantly looking after Manganese Ore and Alloys. He was then appointed as Managing Director of Ore & Metal International.

Jaco joined Ore and Metal Company Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Assore Holding) in 2001. In 2003 he was appointed a Director of Ore & Metal in 2003. Prior to Assore, Jaco worked for Arcelor Mittal South Africa in various commercial roles. In July 2023 he was appointed as Managing Director of Ore and Metal South Africa.