Thibedi Ramontja

Dr Thibedi Ramontja was appointed Director-General in the Department of Mineral Resources in November 2011. He holds PhD and MSc (Eng) degrees from the University of the Witswatersrand and a BSc (Hons) in Geology and Soil Science from the then University of the North. His additional qualifications include a certificate in Geology from Madikoti College, Polokwane. Thibedi Ramontja completed the executive development programme at Gordon Business Leadership School, University of Pretoria. Dr Ramontja served as deputy CEO at the Council for Geoscience from 2002 to 2003 and as CEO from 2003 until 2011. Prior to this he served as director: Mineral Economics and chief director: Mineral Promotion at the Department of Minerals and Energy. He was also seconded to the Gold Crisis Committee as head of its secretariat. The committee was established to deal with the impact of low gold prices.

His professional career includes appointments as exploration geologist, mine geologist and senior mine geologist at Gold Fields South Africa from 1986 to 1996 and as director: Earth Science Consultants at RS Geo-services.