Mr Chairman, honourable Ministers, ladies and gentlemen,

I was delighted to be asked to deliver the keynote address at this year’s mining Indaba, which as you know is one of the premier conferences of the mining industry. As chief executive of Anglo American, I head the mining group which for the best part of a century has been the leading mining investor and employer in Africa, and which today provides direct employment for around 150,000 people globally with 110,000 of them here in Africa.

In 1917, –Anglo American was born in Africa, and not only are our roots here but we retain a strong commitment to the continent. More than 40% of our assets are located in Africa. These include all the mining and refining operations of Anglo Platinum, the world’s number 1 platinum producer; many of Anglo Coal’s mines; and the great majority of the mines of our associate De Beers.

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Cynthia Carroll succeeded Tony Trahar as Chief Executive Officer of Anglo-American on March 01, 2007. As President and Chief Executive Officer of the former Alcan’s Primary Metal Group, her responsibilities include all of that company’s primary metal facilities, research and development, technology and power generation with 18,000 employees operating in 20 countries around the world. The then Primary Metal Group accounted for approximately $12 billion in turnover and 75% of Alcan’s earnings.

Cynthia Carroll started her career with Alcan in 1988 in the Rolled Products Group.  In 1991 she became the General Manager of Alcan’s U.S. Foil Products packaging business. She next served in Ireland as the Managing Director of Alcan’s Aughinish Alumina subsidiary. From 1998 to 2002 she was President of Alcan’s Bauxite, Alumina & Speciality Chemicals Group. Since 2002 Cynthia Carroll has worked to substantially reposition Alcan in the aluminium industry while simultaneously reducing costs, resulting in Alcan Primary Metal now achieving the highest profitability and returns in the history of the company.

During this time she led the successful integration of Pechiney’s primary metals business; developed a project pipeline of over $10 billion through the expansion of existing businesses, acquisitions and the development of new facilities in South Africa, China, Canada, Oman, and France; and achieved an over 80% improvement in Lost Time Accidents (LTAs). Prior to joining Alcan, Cynthia Carroll was a Senior Petroleum Geologist for Amoco in North America.

An American citizen, she has a Masters of Science degree from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Harvard University. Last August, according to Forbes Magazine’s one hundred most powerful women in the world list, Cynthia Carroll came in at number seven.

According to a recent Sunday Times profile titled, “Cyclone Cynthia Carroll shakes up Anglo”, she has modernized the company, repaired damaged relations with South Africa and is focusing on increasing value internally as opposed to looking for mergers or takeovers.