Mark Cutifani
Bachelor of Engineering - Mining (First Class Honours) (1982)
 UOW Mining Engineering graduate Mark Cutifani has taken over as Chief Executive Officer of one of the world’s largest gold miners. Mark’s appointment as CEO of the South African-based Anglogold Ashanti Ltd in September continues his highly successful career in the global mining industry, that started when he joined Coal Cliff colliery straight from high school in 1976. Mark enrolled at UOW in 1977 but continued to work at Coal Cliff as he completed his Mining Engineering degree in a mixture of part-time and full-time study. He remembers his time at UOW as like being part of a big “family” of dedicated young miners combining study with work in the local coal mines - and a little sport and socialising! Mark says the students looked out for one another as they juggled shift work in the mines with their classes and their need for sleep. “The lecturers were always very helpful and tried to accommodate our work schedules as much as possible,” he says. “And they didn’t take it personally if we occasionally fell asleep in class.” He remembers Associate Professors Naj Aziz and Bill Upfold as being particularly inspiring to the group of young miners. And Mark mustn’t have slept through too many classes, because in 1981 he won the Atlas Copco Travelling Bursary – awarded to just one student in Australasia - which provided him with the chance to visit Europe and tour some of its biggest mines. His appointment to head the Johannesburg-based Anglogold Ashanti – a global giant that has 21 mines in 10 countries on four continents and produced 5.6 million tonnes of gold in 2006 - is the latest in a series of senior management roles that began when he was appointed manager at Coal Cliff colliery four years after he graduated from UOW. Other roles since then have included General Manager at Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines, head of Western Mining Corporation’s nickel business based in Perth, Group Executive in charge of Normandy Mining’s global gold operations based in Adelaide and Managing Director of gold and tantalum miner Sons of Gwalia in Perth. In 2003 he moved to Canada to join Brazilian mining giant CVRD INCO, where he was President, North America and Europe before taking over as Chief Operating Officer earlier this year. Mark, who has seven children from two marriages, is a dedicated community worker who last year was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship Award from Rotary in Canada for outstanding service to the City of Sudbury.
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