Toronto, 25 May 2016 – Global engineering and project delivery company, DRA, announced two new appointments to its team in the Americas. This follows the recent acquisition of Met-Chem, a consulting engineering company headquartered in Montreal, and marks yet another notable step forward in the company’s growth strategy.
Mr. Phildi Scholtz, BEng Mech (Hons), has been appointed the Executive Vice President of Projects and Mr. Daniel M. Gagnon, P.Eng, is the Senior Vice President: Mining and Geology and Met-Chem Operations. DRA has been actively growing its operations in North and South America and these appointments further support the Company’s objective of expanding its services in the region.
Mr. Phildi Scholtz joins the DRA Americas team from the Group’s South African office and brings significant project experience to the team. Phildi was instrumental in a number of large scale projects including Asanko Gold’s 3 Mtpa gold mine in Ghana, Xstrata-Glencore’s 15 Mtpa Tweefontein coal optimization project in South Africa and Randgold’s 7.2 Mtpa Kibali gold project in the DRC. Phildi is a graduate of the University of Pretoria, in South Africa; he joined DRA in 1998.
Subsequent to the acquisition of Met-Chem, from UEC Technologies LLC (part of United States Steel Corporation), earlier this year Mr. Daniel Gagnon has been appointed as Senior Vice President of DRA’s Mining and Geology division and heads up DRA’s Met-Chem business in Montreal. Daniel previously held the title of General Manager for Met-Chem’s Mining and Geology team, with over 18 years’ service to the organization. Daniel is also the President of the Canadian Institute of Mining (CIM) Foundation and has been the CIM’s co-Vice President for West Africa since 2012. He served as the CIM’s VP for Eastern Canada from 2010 to 2015. Daniel received a CIM Fellowship Award for 2016, one of the youngest ever members to receive this award. He is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique in Mining Engineering.
“We are pleased to welcome both Phildi and Daniel to our team in the Americas. They both bring a wealth of experience to the region, knowledge which will not only benefit our business but also our clients. The Met-Chem Mining and Geology team, which Daniel heads up, is recognized for in-depth, quality skills in geology and mining and this team supplements DRA’s specialist capability in mineral processing and EPCM project delivery. It is in project management and delivery that Phildi brings exceptional capabilities and together these two engineers further increase the capabilities of our team in the Americas,” said Wray Carvelas, CEO of DRA Americas Inc.
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About DRA
DRA is a multi-disciplinary global engineering group that originated in South Africa and delivers mining, mineral processing, energy, water treatment and infrastructure services from concept to commissioning, as well as comprehensive operations and maintenance services for the mineral resources and energy sectors. DRA has offices in Africa, Australia, Canada, China, India and the United States.
About Met-Chem
Met-Chem, a DRA Group Company, was established in 1969 as a consulting engineering company, headquartered in Montreal, and provides a wide range of technical and engineering services. Met-Chem is well-recognized for its capabilities in mining, geology and mineral processing and has a talented team of engineering, technical and project management personnel with experience in North America, Latin America, Europe, West Africa and India.
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