Board members

Marc Allen

CEEC Chair

PERTH, AUSTRALIA

Marc is an energy and emissions expert who joined the CEEC Board as a Director in 2019. He is the Technical Director at Engeco, a Singapore-based consultancy providing advisory services primarily in energy and greenhouse gas management and strategy, as well as broader sustainability, across Australasia.

Marc has over 20 years’ experience in a variety of operational and consulting roles with INPEX, Energetics, Simulus and BOC. His experience has focused on sustainability, process engineering, carbon management and energy efficiency to enable the transition to a low-carbon economy through development and implementation of robust strategies for greenhouse gas and energy management.

He has published a number of papers on renewable energy, energy efficiency and carbon pricing. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) degree from the Curtin University of Technology and is a Certified Energy Manager. He is also a mentor for the Curtin Next Step mentoring program.

Janine Herzig

CEEC Executive President and Director

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

Janine is a Director of MetVal Consulting Pty Ltd, Convenor of the MetPlant Conference Series, former Non-Executive Director of Base Resources Ltd and former Director and Immediate Past President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). She has over 30 years’ experience in the resources sector, across multiple commodities; starting her professional career as a graduate metallurgist in Mount Isa and later working in various operational and project roles across on numerous sites, including 10 years with Iluka Resources. As General Manager - Minerals and Industrial, with Amdel she then led a major expansion and transformation of the company which then became Bureau Veritas.

A Fellow and Chartered Professional (Metallurgy) of the AusIMM, Janine is currently the Chair of the AusIMM ESG Board Advisory Group, Chair of the AusIMM International Advisory Forum, and Chair of the AusIMM Awards Committee Highest Honour Panel. She is also Co-Chair of the Global Mineral Professionals Alliance (GMPA) and its Global Action on Tailings (GAT) initiative.

She is also a member of the Steering Committee for the NExUS program, the Advisory Board for the ARC Training Centre for Integrated Operations for Complex Resources, presenter for the AusIMM Professional Certificate in ESG and Social Responsibility and is on the Advisory Board of the Australian Society for Off-Earth Construction (ASOC) which operates out of the Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources.

Joe Pease

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Joe served as CEEC Chair from 2013 to 2018, and is an active CEEC Director and immediate past Chair.

Joe has 40 years’ experience in the minerals industry, in research, operations management, technology commercialisation and consulting. He worked in operations management for 21 years, where he was involved with the development of several technologies and methods to enable processing of complex ore. For 12 years he was Chief Executive of Xstrata Technology, which further developed and globally marketed these technologies to improve the efficiency of minerals processing, smelting, refining and leaching.

Joe has served on several University and industry collaborative Boards and bodies, including AMIRA International, JKMRC, the Ian Wark Institute, and the Minerals Tertiary Education Council.  He is currently an independent Director of CRC ORE, which seeks a step change in efficiency by better integrating all steps in production from drill core to final product.

Joe works as a specialist consultant to the minerals industry.

Bryan Rairdan

CEEC DIRECTOR

ALBERTA, CANADA

Bryan Rairdan joined the CEEC Board in 2020 and has been involved in CEEC through the CMIC-CEEC Global Water Curves workshop held in Vancouver in 2019. Bryan holds a degree in metallurgical engineering from the University of Alberta and a Masters of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University. He has held operational management, project development, and technical services roles through his 25 year career, with the majority of this work focused on base metal mineral processing. 

Bryan is passionate in his efforts to help the mining industry produce the commodities society needs in the least resource-intense manner practical. His current role is Technical Director, Processing with Teck Resources Ltd headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

Alex Bertram

CEEC DIRECTOR

PERTH, AUSTRALIA

Alex Bertram is a proud father of two and husband to a chemical engineering wife and successful intrapreneur turned industry advisor & entrepreneur.

Alex is passionate about getting emerging technology into the hands of frontline workers, with a focus on making a tangible difference in sustainability outcomes across the energy and resources industry – particularly carbon emissions and frontline safety.

Since starting his career as a management consultant in Deloitte in 2006, he worked for BHP for 14 years across a diverse range of areas from investment evaluation to construction, prefeasibility studies to equipment autonomation, technology development to portfolio management, from project delivery to product management and a stint at the world largest company Microsoft as secondee Industry Advisor.

Today, Alex focusses his efforts on accelerating development of emerging technologies in Australia through his role as Industry Lead for the Australian Automation & Robotics Precinct. He is also making a tangible difference to the sustainability of the energy and resources industry through his role working with miners on zero emission power systems in heavy industry with FirstMode and is the founder of Carbon30.ai.

A highlight from his 16 year career in energy and resources was developing and scaling BHP's awarded Dash Tools platform, which puts sensors in harms way so people don't have to be on heavy mobile mining equipment (dash.bhp.com).

Eric Wasmund

CEEC DIRECTOR

VANCOUVER, CANADA

Eric Wasmund, PhD, P.Eng is a mining executive, based in Vancouver Canada, who currently manages the global business of Eriez Flotation, a proprietary equipment and consulting business with offices in nine countries and staff of approximately 100, serving every major mining jurisdiction in the world. He has 30+ years of experience in the sector including roles in process development, R&D, studies, engineering management, capital projects, sales, marketing and business growth. 

Eric is passionate about improving the sustainability of the resource extraction industries.  A key strategic objective for the Eriez Flotation business is the commercialization of the StackCell and HydroFloat product lines, two revolutionary new products that reduce energy and water intensity in mineral processing. 

Grant Ballantyne

CEEC DIRECTOR

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Grant has 15 years of mineral processing engineering experience in design, optimisation, operation, research, and development. He was previously involved in successful applied industry research over twelve years covering five continents and eight commodities. He has been involved with CEEC since its inception, attending the first workshop in Noosa in 2012 where the idea for the Energy Curves was born and developed into a project he led while working at the JKMRC.  

At Ausenco, Grant coordinates the development, innovation and assessment of new technologies and flowsheet strategies for the international comminution group.  He also provides critical input at the front-end of engineering design projects, consults with operations, and assesses the economics of enhanced process technologies such as coarse particle flotation and bulk ore sorting. He is also a leader in assessing and improving ESG outcomes for projects. 

In 2019 he won the CEEC medal and in 2017 he was awarded the Minerals Engineering Young person of the year award. He has published 33 refereed publications and 18 non-refereed publications.  He has presented at 40+ conferences, conducted 450+ hours of industry courses, workshops, and webinars, and 150+ hours of undergraduate lecturing.  

Philip Bangerter

CEEC DIRECTOR

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA

Philip Bangerter graduated from the Otago School of Mines (NZ) in 1981, with an honours degree in mineral processing. He worked as a metallurgist between 1982 & 1986 in Tin and Mineral Sands operations. In 1987 he embarked on a commercialisation career, which has encompassed process equipment sales, sales management, technology commercialisation, IP management and R&D.

Between 2001 to 2016 Philip worked for Hatch, one of the world’s leading engineering companies in the mining and metals industries. His roles encompassed commercialisation, project management and primarily as Global Director for Sustainability.

In early 2016, Philip left Hatch to start his independent consultancy providing facilitation and commercialisation services in the circular economy. His primary clients in this period have been Whittle Consulting, Energy Resources of Australia, CEEC International and Anglo American. He is also an Industry Fellow with the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland.

Since Aug 2016, Philip has been a shareholder and consultant to Whittle Consulting, acting as Regional Manager for Australasia, based in Brisbane. His speciality in this role is Sustainable Development and ESG.

Alex Blood

CEEC DIRECTOR

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA 

Alex Blood is a globally experienced private and public sector executive with international mining and infrastructure experience within Africa, PNG, Asia-Pacific and Australia. Alex has interfaced with lenders, governments, communities and a wide range of stakeholders, held sustrainability management roles and has lead government mining regulation, policy and geological divisions. She has held global and national corporate and technical leadership and advisory roles, and provided global environmental and social risk advise. 

Alex brings unparalleled expertise in environmental sustainability, social governance, and technological innovation, with deep understanding of mining regulation, fortified by hands-on experience with multi-commodity metals - ranging from copper to gold, iron ore, nickel and uranium in renowned organisations such as Newcrest, Newmont, OZ Minerals, and Sumtomo Metals, across Australia, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Leveraging this wealth of experience, Alex is committed to contributing to forward-thinking ventures that value resilience, innovation, and sustainability. 

She is a member of the advisory board to the Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Resources at the University of Adelaide, former Chair and current Board member of the Australian New Zealand Certified Enivornmental Practitioners scheme, Alex has received a number of project technical awards and was the first woman to be awarded the Australian New Zealand Environmental Practitioner of the Year. 

Ingrid Oyarzun

CEEC DIRECTOR

PARIS, FRANCE

Global senior executive leader with 22 years of combined experience in the resource sector across Americas, Australia, and currently France. Proven track record managing different roles from operations, driving major capital projects & studies, and leading research and development programs at global scale. She has worked across a large set of commodities as copper, nickel, iron ore and coal, and managed innovation portfolios across the value chain including decarbonization, sustainable processing extraction, water and tailing management. She contributed in leading sustainability & innovation strategies, and building partnership across the mining ecosystem, with industry peers, emergent technology companies, universities and research centres around the world. Mrs Oyarzun first joined BHP in 2003, performing different roles within Escondida Operations, Studies and Major Project Management, Global Tailings Management and Global Sustainability Innovation – zero emissions & eliminate tailings as a material risk. She also led the development of the BHP Long Term Tailings Strategy as part of the BHP Tailings Taskforce team, based in Australia. Recently, Mrs Oyarzun joined Eramet group as President Eramet Ideas and VP Innovation. She leads an innovation department across the group’s strategic priorities for improving operational and environmental performance and unlocking value of critical minerals resources as Nickel, Manganese, Rare Earth, Lithium among others. Mrs Oyarzun has also an active engagement with local universities and communities to promote and increase female participation in STEM and mining career pathways, as well as to support inclusion and diversity initiatives.

Mario Drapeau

CEEC DIRECTOR

QUEBEC, CANADA

Mario Drapeau supervises and works with technicians and metallurgists on projects related to the cyanidation, water treatment, destruction of cyanide and on some problems about reagents. As well he collaborates with other discipline colleagues for evaluating internal and external mining projects (Recovery, Opex and Capex assessment) on a broad range or mineral processing flowsheets. Before joining the Technical Services team, he spent at the beginning of his career four years in the ore extraction sector and blasting accessories technical sales and support. Thereafter, through mine suppliers, particularly in ore processing, he accumulated more than nineteen years of experience in several types of mine water and utilities water treatments, as well sodium cyanide and hydrogen peroxide handling and logistic.

Priscila Esteves

CEEC DIRECTOR

MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

Priscila Esteves is currently the Head of the Lab and Applications Specialist at Steinert Latinoamericana. She was responsible for establishing the Steinert Test Center in Brazil in 2019 and is currently involved on applications development for SBS and magnetic separation projects in South America. 

She is the author of several papers on SBS applications, involving iron ore, gold, copper, chromite, polymetallic and lithium. 

She holds a PhD on Mineral Processing, a MSc on Systems Modelling and Control and a degree on Electrical Engineer. For the last 10 years she has focused her career on developing research and solutions for the mining industry, with an extensive experience at simulations, laboratory and pilot plants. She is well experienced with characterization, test development and modelling.