I recently learned that Karl Simich, Sandfire’s CEO & Managing Director, was stepping down after, as he put it, “15 incredible years”.
He’s right. Karl has been at the helm of what has proved to be a great copper company and a member of the International Copper Association Australia nearly from the start of his leadership.
I’ve watched Sandfire grow from a relatively junior Australian resources company over a decade ago developing the Degrussa copper mine to one that now has mining interests in the USA, Europe and Southern Africa……a global business that epitomises strategic thinking, inventiveness and far sighted market knowledge.
Sandfire has, as he rightly says, “been transformed” under his watch, as “the business has moved from a rapid growth phase to an operational consolidation and optimisation phase” spanning the world.
It takes a rare entrepreneurial quality to build such a great team to develop a copper exploration company into a global, tier 1 miner over just 15 years.
Karl has also been a great partner and supporter of the ICAA, and has taken part in a number of projects with us, most recently in the Zero Emission Copper Mine of the Future project (www.copper.com.au)
Karl leaves behind a very talented team to take the company forward into its next exciting stage. I wish Karl, and the Sandfire team, all the best for the future.
Cheers, John Fennell