JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Aim- and ASX-listed Beacon Hill Resources has appointed John Daly as its COO and Mac van der Merwe as its rail operations manager with effect March 1.
Daly has been the mining and technical services director at AMCI Africa for its Mozambican and South African operations. Prior to this, he worked as GM at BHP Billiton’s Savmore colliery and its Emaswati coal operations. He also worked as operations manager at Middleburg mine, Witbank Coalfields, and Zululand Anthracite Colliery.
Van der Merwe brings a wealth of rail and port experience to complement the emerging Minas Moatize rail operation. He is a civil engineer with coal trading qualifications from Oxford University and an honours degree in civil engineering from the University of Pretoria.
Van der Merwe has held various positions in rail and port, most recently as a consultant in rail and port at BHP Billiton. Prior to this, he was rail and port project manager for the 1 400 km Trans-Kalahari railway project linking Botswana with the Port of Walvis Bay, where he completed conceptual and prefeasibility studies.
He previously worked for COALlink/Orex as a business and commercial manager and as project leader for the Eskom Majuba power station rail projects. In addition, he has also held various senior positions at Transnet Freight Rail.
"I am delighted to have secured both John and Mac to join the Beacon Hill senior management team. Both bring the benefit of over 40 years of cumulative experience in the sector and are highly respected in their fields of expertise. The new additions strengthen the company's executive committee at a critical time and will play a key role in ramping up the Minas Moatize coking coal mine into full production," CEO Rowan Karstel commented.