Mining industry consultancy CSA Global – a subsidiary of multinational consultancy ERM Group – last month announced the appointment of Africa manager Sifiso Siwela, who joined its regional team based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

CSA Global partner and Africa director Brendan Clarke stated: “I am excited to have [Siwela] join our team. He has a strong consulting pedigree and a demonstrable track record of adding value to his client’s projects. His appointment provides an opportunity to contribute to a growing global company, adding additional capacity and specialist capability locally.”

Clarke added that Siwela’s technical and management consulting experience, as well as his knowledge of digital trends, enable the identification of value-creation and growth opportunities for clients, supplemented by the technical expertise to deliver on them.

Prior to joining CSA Global, Siwela was Deloitte Technical Mining Advisory senior manager and was responsible for managing global multidisciplinary projects across the mine value chain, including strategic exploration planning, target generation, life of mine audits and strategy design.

Having seen significant growth opportunities from new clients and existing clients within the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, the company has decided to capitalise on these opportunities. The appointment of Siwela, who possesses a solid local and regional network, high business development acumen and a solid track record in the South African consulting market, is paramount to the continued success of CSA Global in the region, said Clarke.

During his tenure at Deloitte, Siwela conducted several major assignments, including the mineral asset and equity valuation of chromite and coal projects in Turkey and South Africa, the digitalisation strategy and operating model for a Ministry of Mines in the Middle East, and several Mineral Resource and Reserve reviews on projects throughout Africa, Brazil, and the US.

Siwela’s appointment came at an exciting time for CSA Global as current EMEA partner Galen White – a geologist with more than 25 years of experience in the international exploration and mining arena – started a transition into a newly created role of CSA Global growth and delivery partner, which is effective from May 1.

White started his current role in 2017, during a restructure of the global executive team, prior to its acquisition by parent company ERM. In his new role, he will focus on growth strategy, strategic client relationships, technical project execution and delivery, and enhancing the delivery of integrated technical and sustainability consulting to clients.

The strategic move for White provides an enormous opportunity for Clarke to transition into the role of EMEA partner. This promotion will see Clarke manage operations for the EMEA region.

Clarke started at CSA Global in 2018 and has 22 years of industry experience covering exploration, project evaluation, development studies and expert reporting across a broad range of mineral commodities.

“It has been a privilege to have led the CSA Global team in EMEA for the past five years, delivering growth and expansion of integrated technical service offerings from our UK, Ireland, and South Africa teams. I am confident that under [Clarke’s] leadership, we will see continued growth in the region, underpinned by the delivery to clients of quality technical outcomes and solution-driven consulting from our passionate regional and global team,” said White.

He added that he looks forward to working with the EMEA team, and with Clarke and Siwela in particular.

Commenting on his promotion, Clarke added: “I am looking forward to the challenge of leading a bigger team in the EMEA region, developing our client base and service offerings further, and enhancing the powerful legacy [White] has cemented for CSA Global in the region.”

Siwela added that he was keen to progress with aligning the combined offerings of CSA Global and ERM to the emerging green economy, as it would allow the group to capitalise on new opportunities and untapped potential across Africa.

Siwela will join CSA Global’s South African team at the upcoming Investing in African Mining Indaba conference held between May 9 and 12, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.