South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy president and SRK Consulting partner William Joughin
Full Name: William Joughin
Position: South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) president, and SRK Consulting partner
Main Activity of the Company: The SAIMM’s mission is to render professional services to its members and to continually improve these services by keeping abreast of technological developments, while SRK is a firm of consulting engineers and scientists
Date and Place of Birth: 1967, Johannesburg
Schools and Tertiary Education: BSc Eng (Mining), University of the Witwatersrand (Wits); MSc Eng (Engineering Management), Wits; Graduate Diploma in Engineering (Rock Engineering), Wits
First Job: Mining graduate in Anglo American’s Gold Division
Career History Prior to Current Position: I moved from mining operations to consulting in 1998, joining SRK Consulting as a senior mining engineer
Size of First Pay Packet: R3 000 a month
First Job with Present Group: Senior mining engineer
Value of Assets under Your Control: Our assets consist entirely of our people, their skills and our historical knowledge of our clients and their operations
Number of People under Your Leadership: 25
Management Style: Technical leadership – which entails delivering highly technical good-quality work, empowering people to develop solutions on their own, and providing guidance
Personal Best Achievement: Receiving a gold medal for a paper at the SAIMM and co-writing two chapters on risk-based design in the book Ground Support in Underground Mines (Potvin and Hadjigeorgiou, 2020) produced by the Australian Centre for Geomechanics
Professional Best Achievement: Being elected the chairperson of SRK Consulting
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My father, Noel Joughin
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Dick Stacey, former chairperson for SRK Consulting and professor emeritus at the Wits School of Mining Engineering
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Nelson Mandela
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Roger Dixon, former chairperson of SRK Consulting
Philosophy of Life: You never stop learning; there’s always something new to learn
Biggest Ever Opportunity: Being on the seismic review boards of El Teniente and LKAB
Biggest Ever Disappointment: I don’t think I have ever been terribly disappointed; there is no point in dwelling in the past – you can only learn from it
Hope for the Future: To keep growing technically, and that the mining industry grows – I am quite excited about technology in the industry and future developments
Favourite Reading: Fantasy novels
Favourite TV Programme: Tour de France
Favourite Food/Drink: Sashimi and beer
Favourite Music: Easily listening to classic rock, like Cat Stevens
Favourite Sport: Cycling
Favourite Website: Too many to choose from
Hobbies: Listening to podcasts and audiobooks, cycling, hiking, kayaking and birding
Car: Toyota Fortuner
Pets: A mad Jack Russell named Inky
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Arrogant people
Favourite Other South African Company: The Institute of Mine Seismology
Favourite Foreign Company: The Australian Centre of Geomechanics
Married: To Sharon, since 1999
Children: Michael, 22; Brandon, 20
Clubs: None