We are delighted to announce the expansion of the Critical Minerals Association USA (CMA USA) team. We are honoured to welcome industry champions - Dennis Gibson as Chairman, and Thomas Hale as Director of Public Affairs. We bid farewell to Wilfredo A. Reyes who is no longer part of the CMA USA. We wish him well in his future endeavours.
The CMA USA looks forward to a bright yet busy year ahead as we continue to serve our members and industry, focusing on dismantling barriers to made-in-America supply chains. This year CMA USA will focus on:
Building and increasing engagement with USA stakeholders to forge meaningful partnerships and drive collaboration;
Tackling barriers to building sovereign supply chains including investment, approvals and permitting, workforce availability, and public perceptions;
Bringing industry, academia, and policymakers together to find pragmatic solutions and protect the USA from market manipulations.
We are excited about the year ahead and look forward to seeing our members and supporters at events to come.
Dennis Gibson, Chairman
Dennis Gibson has over 40 years of international mining experience. He started his career at Rand Mines in South Africa and then joined Rio Tinto, a global mining company, where he held various senior operational and strategic positions for more than two decades. He also served on the Executive Committee of Energy Resources of Australia, a company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. He has led and executed projects and studies across Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, with a strong emphasis on technology, infrastructure, sustainability, water and tailings management and mine closure. He was the Chief Technical Officer Mining at Black & Veatch, a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company.
He is now the President of Snowline Group, where he provides strategic market entry advice to clients, leveraging his vast industry knowledge and networks. He is also the Chief Technical Officer of Future Element, a company that aims to re-process mine tailings to recover critical minerals and metals. Dennis holds a BSc and MSc in civil engineering from Natal University in South Africa and an executive MBA from Henley Management College in the UK.
Thomas Hale, Director of Public Affiars
Thomas is dedicated to driving change within the critical minerals industry. He is the founder and executive director of Minerals in Context, a new grassroots non-profit dedicated to raising public awareness and investing in education about minerals and their importance to society. He is especially passionate about science communication and what he coins “mineral diplomacy,” or the use of minerals and materials as a tool for engaging global communities about the importance of mining to achieve shared energy futures. He has served as an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies focusing on the nexus between the mining industry and national, environmental, and human security. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Delaware in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences.
Thomas received his master’s degree at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University in Security Policy Studies and his bachelor’s degree at Virginia Polytechnic and State University in Political Science, focusing on natural resource issues. His research on critical minerals includes Central Africa, South Asia, and current research in the Arctic, specifically Greenland, Finland, and Sweden. Thomas has extensive experience in community engagement and education, two necessary skills for establishing social license and making policymakers aware of these critical challenges that lie ahead.