Board of Directors & Officers
Canadian company with South African platinum group metals assets
Management
Diana Hu
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Ms. Hu was appointed CEO and Director in July 2016 and has over 25 years of leadership and operational experience in the global mining and metals industry. She has negotiated high value sales contracts and managed and led all elements of the supply chain from “mine to market”. Under Ms. Hu’s leadership, Eastplats began re-mining the tailings storage facility at the Crocodile River Mine initially for chrome and recently for PGM. She continues to focus on optimization of the chrome and PGM circuits and processes, thereby generating revenue growth and improving profitability at the company while underground operations at the Crocodile River Mine are re-started.
Ms. Hu started her career at CITIC Development Inc. in Beijing, China and became a Concentrates Trader at Glencore (Beijing office). Prior to joining Eastplats, Ms. Hu was the General Manager at Nyrstar Hong Kong Co. Ltd., responsible for setting up the overall commercial strategies in the greater China region, development of key customer relationships, and execution of transactions in certain non-ferrous metals including zinc, lead, copper, and minor metals.
Wylie Hui, CPA, CA, FEA
Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary
Mr. Hui is passionate about helping businesses flourish in this dynamic business environment. He brings over 25 years of financial and operational experience to his role with Eastplats, with a majority of his experience in the mining and metals industry. He has improved financial reporting, risk management, and administration processes and functions at many mining companies and brings these experiences to Eastplats as the Crocodile River Mine re-starts underground operations. Mr. Hui also manages and oversees the financial planning and analysis, treasury management, risk management, corporate finance and investor relations functions of the company.
He previously served as the CFO of several publicly listed mining companies including Tintina Resources Inc. (now Sandfire Resources America Inc.) developing the Black Butte Copper Project; and provided CFO, controllership, and consulting services to numerous public and private companies including BQE Water Inc., and most recently Universal Mineral Services Limited, Sombrero Resources Inc., Tier One Silver Inc., Fury Gold Mines Limited, and Torq Resources Inc. Mr. Hui also worked for two international accounting firms, Ernst & Young LLP and BDO LLP.
Andrea Zhang
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Zhang has over 15 years of cross-cultural business experience in Asia, Africa, North America, and Australia; specializing in commodity trading, investment, strategic corporate development in mining and agriculture industries. He has good investment knowledge with superior team-building skills to generate significant bottom-line contributions and successful track records in combining commodity trading businesses. He brings to Eastplats over 10 years of experience in mining and mineral project development, mergers and acquisitions, and business unit/operational restructuring.
Mr. Zhang started his career as an International Trading Manager for COFCO Limited, the largest food, cereal, and grain company in China. Prior to joining Eastplats as Chief Operating Officer in 2016, Mr. Zhang was the General Manager Assistant and Manager of Business Development at China Arts Fareast Ltd., a Chinese mining and trading company based in Beijing, China. During his tenure at China Arts, he managed approximately 800,000 tons of chrome trading business annually, imported mainly from South Africa, making China Arts the top chrome trader in China. Further, Mr. Zhang helped to manage the investment business of China Arts and successfully developed several projects valued at more than US$100M in South Africa.
Hannelie Hanson, MEng (Mining Engineering), MBA
General Manager, South Africa Operations
Ms. Hanson brings over 24 years of experience in mining as a technical specialist as well as a strategic leader. Hannelie heads up the operations and projects in South Africa and drives proper planning, accountability, optimization & innovation, communication, and development of people to ensure a successful and well-run business while executing the expansion plans at Eastplats.
Her career in mining started on Lorraine Gold Mine in the Free State, after graduating from Stellenbosch University with a BSc (Hons) in Geology in 1998. Hannelie also holds an MEng degree in Mining Engineering from Wits and an MBA at UCT. She was the custodian of Mine Technical Services departments at two mines. Prior to joining Eastplats in 2012, Ms. Hanson held the position of Senior Manager (Technical Services) for 6 years in Lonmin, having started there as a graduate geologist in 1999 and being promoted into projects and planning before heading up the Technical Services department.
Directors
George Dorin, FCSI, CPA, CA, CF
Director, Board Chair, and Corporate Governance and Compensation Committee Chair
Mr. Dorin has over 40 years of broad-based financial experience, including over 25 years as a corporate director or CFO for several private and public companies. He holds undergraduate degrees in both Science and Accounting from the University of British Columbia, a Master’s Degree in Finance from the London School of Economics in England, and the Diploma FCSI (Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute).
As a Chartered Professional Accountant, he was also granted a CF (Corporate Finance) specialist designation from CPA Canada in 2008. He has worked in the financial services sector with Ernst & Whinney (now KPMG), Price Waterhouse, Royal Bank of Canada, and Pemberton Securities (now RBC Dominion Securities). In 2007 and 2008 he was a Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance with Wolrige Mahon (now Baker Tilly WM), a BC-based CPA Firm. Most recently, he has been providing corporate finance, senior financial management, and corporate director (including Chairman and Audit Committee Chairman) services to several public companies through his personal financial services company CANUS Capital Corporation.
Mike Cosic, MBA, CFA
Director and Audit Committee Chair
Mr. Cosic brings over 25 years of financial experience to Eastplats, including corporate finance and corporate development involving several mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. He currently is the CEO and Director of Benchmark Botanics Inc. He was previously the CFO of three early-stage, high-growth companies in the cannabis, blockchain, and lithium industries being Meta Growth Corp., DLT Labs Inc., and Lithium Americas Corp, respectively. Mr. Cosic holds an MBA degree from the University of Windsor and is a CFA charter holder since 1999.
Dr. Bielin Shi
Director and Corporate and Social Responsibility, Safety, Health, and Environmental Risk Committee Chair
Dr. Shi is a professional geologist with over 30 years of experience in exploration, mineral resources management, applied geostatistics, resource estimation and mining geology. He has worldwide operational experience in exploration and mining projects, and expertise with independent technical reviews, due diligence audits and expert technical reporting in compliance with the JORC Code, NI43-101 and HKEx Standards. Dr Shi is a Competent Person under the JORC Code, a Qualified Person under NI43-101, and holds equivalent credentials with respect to relative mineral resources and reserves reporting standards. Recent work has included investment risk assessment, audits and reviews of resources for multiple commodity projects, verification of reported estimates for mineral resources and/or ore reserves prepared in accordance with current regulatory requirements. Dr. Shi’s technical expertise ensures the development and maintenance of effective systems and procedures that meet the needs of operations at the Crocodile River Mine. Dr. Shi continues to develop and maintain effective collaborative partnerships and strategic alliances with all key stakeholders. He holds an PhD from the University of Melbourne since 1995 and is a AusIMM Chartered Professional since 2018.
Alex (Xin) Guan, MBA
Director
Mr. Guan has over 30 years of experience in the metallurgical and mining industry and brings his significant experience and knowledge in metals manufacturing and trading, especially in South Africa, to Eastplats. He is the director of White Compass Pty Ltd. since 2014, a trading and consulting company in commodity and art, based in Australia. Prior to 2014, Mr. Guan was the Chief Representative in China for Metalmin, a supplier of quality ferroalloys, minerals, and reclaimed products to the steel, chemical and foundry industry. Prior to his role at Metalmin, Mr. Guan was the Deputy General Manager of Sinosteel Raw Materials Company, part of the state-owned Sinosteel Corporation, in charge of commodity trading, and General Manager of Sinosteel Ferroalloy Company, in charge of the ferroalloy business of Sinosteel Corp.
Mr. Guan was educated in China, obtaining his Bachelor of Management and International Trade from Northeast University and his MBA from Tsinghua University.
