Meet Benny – He joined Datamine over 10 years ago as a Resource Geologist and is now the General Manager at Datamine Africa! Get to know him a little better through the interview below:
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a geologist at heart, Zambian born; educated there and in South Africa. I started out as a Resource Geologist at Datamine but these days I manage the Datamine business in Africa. I have been with Datamine for 10 years, having joined from Snowden. Snowden is close to my heart because it was while I was there that they sent me and a couple of other colleagues to Datamine to get trained in Studio 3. These days Snowden is part of Datamine and it is fun to work with some familiar faces.
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What is it like to work at Datamine?
It might sound cliche, but Datamine is the place where I have grown the most. When I started out as a technical professional little did I know that I would end up on the business side. In my previous life in Academia, I would regularly use jargon such as petrography, metallogenesis and Paleoproterozoic mineralization. At Snowden and Datamine, as a Resource geologist, I regularly dined on variography, Sequential Gaussian Simulation, Resource Modelling and Evaluation. These days, I am more comfortable with a different set of jargon – P & L, Organic Growth, EBITA and IRR. This is what I like about Datamine, the opportunity to do and learn different parts of the business.
What inspired your career in this industry?
I am an accidental geologist. I grew up on the Copperbelt Province in Zambia, and found Mining attractive from a young age. I wanted to do Mining Engineering. Only later in life did I find that I wasn’t cut out for the precision of Engineering. Since I am a big-picture kind of person, Geology was a good fit for me, and I haven’t looked back ever since. Even though I do not practice that aspect of geology, like most geologists I look at a rock with more than a passing interest. And I hate it when people call it a “stone”
What are some of the challenges you help your clients navigate during consulting sessions?
/ What are some of the challenges in your role?
I have found that managing people and a business is different from managing materials. It is not a passive exercise but an exciting one with an equal measure of challenges and joys.
What is the most satisfying aspect of your role / the work you do?
I enjoy seeing people succeed. I enjoy seeing good results, especially from team efforts. I enjoy making time to speak to the team and frequently knock off from work with a smile on my face because we delivered to a client, or we completed a project on time. Sometimes things don’t always go well, but I get comfort in knowing we did our best. All I want is incremental progress, not perfection.
What are your best memories from your career?
I have enjoyed being a geologist. Especially the bit where someone comes to you and asks the name of this “stone”! Because all geologists know all stones, right? When I worked at the Geological Survey in Zambia, it was always fun to tell people that we do not have stones in geology; go and ask the Gemologists in Room 4 about stones!
What’s a fun fact about you?
I am an extroverted introvert. I like to tell stories, often humorous but with some practical life lessons. When I was younger I preferred reading to sports. These days I look for opportunities to be active and have taken to hiking with my family. I play recreational chess and make the best pizza in my family!
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Connect with Benny on LinkedIn here. For more information or to connect with our team, make sure to send us an enquiry.