Management – Brazilian Nickel

Patrick Boitumelo has a BA (Hons.) Engineering degree from the University of Leeds and holds a Master’s degree in Business Leadership from the University of South Africa. Patrick joins Brazilian Nickel from Lundin Mining Corporation, where he was part of the executive leadership team and held the position of Senior Vice President Technical Services and Growth. In this position, he was responsible for global exploration programs, major projects studies, technical services and information technology. He has previously held various senior positions, including Global Head of Technology & Innovation and Head of Atlantic Operations at Vale Base Metals. Prior to Vale, he held several senior roles with Rio Tinto and DeBeers, including President & COO of Diavik Diamond Mines in Canada and General Manager positions in South Africa and USA.

Laurie has over 25 years’ experience in health, safety, environment (HSE), sustainability and regulatory affairs management in the mining and chemical manufacturing sectors. Her most recent role was with Vale Base Metals as their Global Head of HSE & Risk where she led performance improvement programs and provided strategic direction and technical expertise across all phases of mine development, operations and closure in various jurisdictions, including Brazil. Prior to that she worked for and held progressively senior roles with Teck Resources and Erco Worldwide. She’s been involved in managing the sustainability aspects of both greenfield and brownfield development projects and the implementation of effective HSE risk management systems. Laurie holds a B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Guelph and a Master of Business Administration from Heriot-Watt University. She also participated in the Operations Leadership Executive Development Program at Queen’s University (Kingston).

Laurie brings a well-balanced approach to aligning operational needs with responsible and sustainable practices that ensure worker safety, minimize environmental impacts and create positive economic and social benefits for local communities.

Carla has over 17 years of experience within Human Resources for industry and mining sectors, specialising in talent management, culture change, organisational redesign and HR strategy, with a focus in digital transformation for the HR process. During her career, Carla has won the Great Place to Work international certification for HR processes several times across various companies that she has worked for, and has been recognised as best and innovative practice in talent management three times.

Previously, Carla worked as Head of HR at Brazil-focused BAMIN for five years, where she worked across infrastructure and mining projects in Bahia, implementing HR policies and processes from the ground up and structuring the company for each project phase. During her career, Carla has held global positions for Talent and Performance management for Bracell, and also local positions in Management and Development for pharmaceutical and technology companies.
Carla graduated in Administration with an MBA in Project Management, International Culture Transformation Certification, Extension in People Strategy, and Executive Coaching.

Rob Willetts has over 20 years of experience in project finance, infrastructure, metals and mining as a strategic legal advisor.  Rob joins Brazilian Nickel from Vale Base Metals headquartered in Toronto, Canada, where most recently he was Director, Group Governance & Corporate Secretary.  In this position he led the US$2.6B investment in and carve out of Vale Base Metals from its parent, Vale S.A., established its first Board and advisory committees with independent and investor representation, and redesigned its governance architecture.  Rob has previously held progressively senior roles within Vale, including Head of Legal, Corporate, Head of Legal, Asia Pacific and Africa, and Chief Legal Officer, North Atlantic Operations.  Prior to Vale, Rob spent 7 years in private practice at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto, Canada, and at Gide Loyrette Nouel in Paris, France where he advised domestic and foreign financial institutions, multilaterals and corporates on secured and cross-border financings and the development of large-scale public infrastructure projects.

Rob brings to Brazilian Nickel a wealth of strategic legal experience and cross functional collaboration in enabling cross-border project development, project finance, complex corporate and M&A transactions, regulatory compliance, governance administration, and mining law, as well as international experience from living and working in Canada, the United Kingdom, EMEA and Brazil.

Rob, a barrister and solicitor, was born and raised in Ontario and currently calls Toronto home. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) Degree from the University of Guelph, and a Bachelor of Common Law (LL.B.) Degree from the University of Ottawa. Rob has also lectured at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School Certificate in Mining Law Program.

Jorge Tapia has over 25 years’ experience in managing small and large-scale projects, overseeing engineering, construction, and maintenance programmes. Jorge was previously Project Manager for Antofagasta Minerals’ MLP INCO and Antucoya projects, in Chile, and for Anglogold Ashanti’s La Colosa project in Colombia. His earlier work also included working as Engineering Manager at BHP’s Spence SX-EW project.