Mrs Anna Nguno
President, Geoscience Council of Namibia
Councillor for Southern Africa, Geological Society of Africa
Past President- Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS)

Deputy Director
Head of the Regional Geoscience Division
Geological Survey of Namibia
Ministry of Mines and Energy
6 Aviation Road
Private bag 13297, Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: (+264)(61)2848111 / 8398, Fax:+264-(0)61-249144
E-mail address:Anna.Nguno@mme.gov.na http://www.mme.gov.na

Mrs Anna Nguno is a Deputy Director at the Geological Survey of Namibia (GSN), Ministry of Mines and Energy. For the past 21 years, she have been working as geologist in various posts at GSN. Her work experience includes but is not limited to coordinating geological mapping and research in collaboration with local and international research institutions and researchers, and compilation of Geological maps; GIS and Remote Sensing and Geoscience data and information management.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES DURING THE PAST DECADE TO PRESENT:

She is currently a;

• Geological Society of Africa, Councillor for Southern Africa,
• Geoscience Council of Namibia, Councillor,
• member of the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) Advisory Committee for the Bachelor of Geoinformation Technology programme,
• Namibia Planning Advisory Board (NAMPAB) member,

In the past, Mrs Nguno served in various committee and technical working groups that include:

• Committee member of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) of Namibia
• Africa Union Commission (AUC) Geological and Mineral Information System (GMIS) Strategy -Technical Working Group (TWG);
• AU- African Mineral and Energy Resources Classification and Management System (AMREC / UNFC- AMREC) Technical Working Group;
• Executive committee member of the Geoscience Information Consortium (GIC);
• Organisation of African Geological Surveys (OAGS) executive committee member,
• Committee member of the Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI), which is a Commission of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS)
• Member, OneGeology (Global) Technical Working Group;
• Member, Faculty of Science Advisory Board, University of Namibia;
• Member, Regional Agricultural and Environment Innovations Network-Africa (RAEIN-Africa), which is a Southern African Network organisation promoting participatory development of appropriate science and technology for sustainable management of environmental and agricultural production systems;
• eGY-Africa secretary (eGY-Africa is a bottom-up initiative by African scientists and collaborators to address the digital divide problem);

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Geological Society of Africa
• Geological Society of Namibia
• Geoscience Council of Namibia
• African Association of Women in Geosciences (AAGW)
• Southern African Society for Quaternary Research (SASQUA) / NQUA-SACCOM
• GIRAF-Geoscience Information in Africa
• Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information (CGI), which is a Commission of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).

PROFILE FOR GABI SCHNEIDER

Gabi Schneider is the Executive Director of the Namibian Uranium Institute. She holds an MSc and a PhD in Economic Geology. She joined the Namibian Geological Survey in 1985 and served as its Director from 1996 to 2016. Her professional experience covers economic, exploration, and environmental geology, and management. She is an honorary life member of the Geological Society of Namibia, an honorary fellow of the Geological Society of London, and is registered with the Namibian Geoscience Council and the South African Council for Natural Science Professionals.

Dr Schneider serves on a number of working groups of the World Nuclear Association and the International Atomic Energy Agency, on the scientific committee of UNESCO's International Geoscience Programme, on Namibia's Geoscience Council, on UNESCO's Global Geoparks Council, on the Commission for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention in Namibia, and as trustee of the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology. She played a leading role in the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Namibian Uranium Province.

PROFILE FOR MICHELLE HAILONGA

Michelle Hailonga holds a BSc (Hon) in Geology from the University of Namibia and an MSc an Applied Environmental Geology from Cardiff University in Wales (UK).

She joined the Namibian Geological Survey in 2013 and is serving as a Senior Geoscientist for the Division of Environmental and Engineering Geology/Department of the Geological Survey. She has over 6 years’ experience in environmental monitoring of active mines and risk assessment of abandoned mines in Namibia.

Michelle has skills in Project Planning Design and Management, Geotechnical Engineering, Engineering Behaviour of Soils, Contaminated Land, Environmental Assessment and Regulation, Remote Sensing and Applied Geophysics, Water in the Environment.

PROFILE FOR Kombada Mhopjeni

Kombada Mhopjeni is the National Programme Officer for Natural Sciences at the UNESCO Windhoek office. She leads the delivery of UNESCO's science programs in Namibia and coordination of the geoscience program in Southern Africa drawing on over 18 years of scientific experience in the government, including various roles in geosciences and management.

She served as the national representative for the International Union of Geological Sciences and the Co-Secretary General of the IUGS Commission for the Management and Application of Geoscience Information. Kombada is an Executive Member of the Geological Society of Namibia and founding National Representative of the Young Earth Scientists Network Namibia chapter. She holds a MSc in Geology from the University of Western Australia.

PROFILE FOR ALFEUS MOSES

Alfeus Moses holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) degree in Geology from the University of Namibia, where his exceptional academic performance earned him multiple awards. He has over 10 years of experience in various geological disciplines in Namibia, Mr. Moses has made significant contributions to mineral exploration, mining environmental sustainability, and integrated water resources management in Namibia. Throughout his career, he has held key positions in both the public and private sectors. Mr. Moses began his career as a field exploration Geologist with Teck Namibia, later serving as a Project Geologist at Debmarine Namibia and as a Senior Geoscientist at the Geological Survey of Namibia. Currently, he holds the position of Chief Hydrologist in the Department of Water Affair, within the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform.

Interest(s): Economic Geology, Environmental Geology and Water Resources Management

PROFILE FOR EMILIA NDAKUMWA SHIWEDA

Ms. Emilia Ndakumwa Shiweda holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the University of Namibia and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in environmental engineering at Namibia University of Science and Technology. She is a seasoned Mine Geologist with 9 years of extensive experience in mining geology, specializing in grade control and resource estimation.

Ms. Shiweda spent eight years as a Grade Control Geologist in the Technical Service Department of B2Gold Namibia and has served for one year as a Mine Geologist at Andrada Uis Tin Mining Company, where she continues to excel in her role. Her expertise spans grade control sampling, production geology, geological mapping, stockpile management, modelling and reconciliation, evaluation geology, and metal accounting.

Emilia's academic achievements are noteworthy, having been recognized as the top third-year geology student at Unam in 2013, and she has received numerous academic awards for her outstanding performance.

She is a registered Geoscientist with the Geoscience Council of Namibia, as well as a member of the Geological Society of Namibia and the Geological Society of Africa. Ms. Shiweda is also a Competent Assessor registered with the Namibian National Training Authority, having completed various industry-related training programs including leadership and safety.

PROFILE FOR Willem Kotzé

Willem Kotzé is a Professional Geoscientist with over 50 years of industry experience, mainly in Southern Africa. He has initially worked for mainstream mining houses (GENCOR, Gold Fields, SOEKOR) but lately as a Geosciences Consultant. He has exploration and mining experience in various commodities: coal, uranium, base metals, gold, diamonds, hydrocarbons, industrial minerals and cement materials.

Mr. Kotzé graduated with a B.Sc Honours in Geology from the University of Stellenbosch in 1973, a B.Sc. Honours in Computer Science and Information Systems from the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 1985, a Graduate Diploma in Engineering (GDE) from the University of Witwatersrand in 2002 and an M.Eng (Mineral Resources) from the University of Witwatersrand in 2004. He is registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), the Geosciences Council of Namibia and is a member of the Geological Society of Namibia, the Geostatistical Association of South Africa and the Geological Society of Africa.

His current professional interest is the application of remote sensing in mineral exploration. Relaxation used to involve in cycling and flying hang-gliders, but active exploration field work is nowadays sufficiently relaxing.

PROFILE FOR NDAWEDAPO SHAANIKA

Ms. Ndawedapo Shaanika is a qualified Geostatistician employed as a Senior Project Geologist at DebMarine Namibia with a focus on resource evaluation. She has 17 years of experience in the mining sector specifically in the metal extractive industry (Uranium, Zinc, Lead, Gold, Rare Earth Elements) and her strengths are rooted in mineral resource exploration and modelling, resource estimation and risk analysis.

Starting her career at Rossing Uranium Namibia, Ltd, she garnered extensive knowledge in exploration and exploitation of uranium resources in hard rock open pit mining systems. Further development of her geology and management skills occurred at Rosh Pinah Zinc Mine as the head of the resource evaluation section. A gap year from active mining saw her working as an independent geological consultant, providing geological and exploration project management services to junior exploration companies. She was further part of the team at that saw the start-up of mining at B2Gold Namibia.

Ndawedapo holds an Advanced Diploma (Géostatistique) from the renowned Ecolé Nationale Supérieure Des Mines De Paris (Paris School of Mines), Fontainbleu, France, a Masters in Engineering (Mining) from the Witwatersrand University, South Africa and an Honours Geology degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Ndawedapo is passionate about mentorship in the mining industry and in providing professional support to young geoscientists, she heads a mentorship program.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
• Geoscience Council of Namibia (GCN)
• South African Council for Natural Scientific Professionals (SACNASP)
• Geological Society of Namibia
• Namibian Institute of Corporate Governance (NICG)

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS:
• Certificate in Project Management
• Data Analytics using Excel (University of Cape Town)
• Data Science with Python (University of Cape Town)

PROFILE FOR Rob Bowell

Rob Bowell obtained BSc from Manchester and PhD from Southampton universities in the UK. Background in mining industry first in coal in the UK, then base metals and gold in Namibia, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania and USA and tin-tungsten in Portugal. Has worked for SRK Consulting as a geochemist for 29 years applying mineralogy and geochemistry to solving engineering problems in mining and processing. Currently holds an adjunct professorship at Queens University, Ontario, Canada. Research interests in supergene oxidation of sulfide deposits, solution mining and hydrogeochemistry. When he is not working, he enjoys DIY, gardening and mineral collecting.

PROFILE FOR COLLEN-ISSIA UAHENGO

Collen-Issia is an accomplished professional in geosciences, currently serving as a lecturer at the Geosciences Department of the University of Namibia. With over 15 years of experience in both mining and academia, Collen has cultivated a profound understanding of geological processes and historical contexts. His academic credentials include a Ph.D. in Stratigraphy & Palaeontology, a Master’s in Petroleum Geosciences with a specialized focus on Basin Analysis, and a Master’s in Economic Evaluation of Mining Projects.

As a non-voting member of the Geoscience Council of Namibia, Collen actively contributes to advancing industry standards, reflecting his commitment to sustainability and ethical conduct. He is widely respected in academia and the mining industry for his dedication to these principles, evident in both his teaching and professional endeavors. Collen's expertise in geosciences is underscored by his significant contributions to research initiatives aimed at unraveling the intricate geological processes that underpin successful resource management strategies.

Collen's work focuses on advancing the understanding of geological phenomena through meticulous analysis and fieldwork, informing sustainable practices in the utilization of Earth's natural resources. Beyond his research, he is deeply involved in mentoring and guiding students, nurturing their skills and knowledge in geosciences. Collen's passion for the subject and commitment to education make him a valuable asset to both his colleagues and the students he mentors.

PROFILE FOR WILKA EMBULA

Ms. Wilka Embula holds an MSc Degree in Oil & Gas Chemistry from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (UK), a BSc (Honours) in Geology from the Witwatersrand University, South Africa and a BSc in Geology and Chemistry from the University of Namibia, Namibia. She joined the Ministry of Mines & Energy in 2013 as a Senior Geoscientist in the Department of Geological Survey, Geochemistry and Laboratory Division. Prior to that, Ms. Embula worked for Rio Tinto Mining & Exploration (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd and Reptile Mineral Resources & Exploration (Pty) Ltd, both exploring for Uranium. She has over 10 years’ experience in geochemical sampling and data management, and has skills in Survey Planning and Management, Geochemical Data Interpretation and Reporting, Geochemical Map Production, Mapping, Sample Collection, Logging, pXRF Analysis, and Petrochemistry.

Ms. Embula is registered with the Geoscience Council of Namibia and is an ordinary member of the Geological Society of Namibia and Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). She also served as the Marketing and Media Executive for the Young Earth Scientist (YES) Network Nambian Chapter, and treasurer for both the Ministry of Mines & Energy Sports Club and Unam Kings & Queens Volleyball Club.