At Open Mineral, we advance the trade of base metal raw materials and secondary products using technology and analytics. Our clients benefit from reaching sellers and buyers of base metals commodity on a global scale.
Open Mineral is based in Switzerland but operates worldwide. We have offices in Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
1
2018
Open Mineral is "the" industry innovation. Finalist of 2018 #DisruptMining competition
2
2019
Open Mineral was selected by World Economic Forum (WEF) as 2019 Technology Pioneer
3
2020
Open Mineral wins Rising Star Company award at S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards
4
2021
Open Mineral is a finalist in the New Technologyfor the Metals and Mining Industry award at S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards
OPEN MINERAL IN INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
"The marketplace is the latest attempt to bring the world of commodities into the digital age and lower the transaction costs of physical trading, which is still mostly done using paper documents."
"Former Glencore traders launch an eBay-style marketplace for metals, the latest attempt to shake up the way commodities are bought and sold."
"When this disruption becomes a reality in the metals market, this industry will finally take its great step towards the 21st century."
"A group of former Glencore traders have set their sights on disrupting the often opaque world of metal concentrates trading with a new platform, aiming to digitize tenders and procurement."
"The concentrate market is traditionally a very closed environment, in the hands of large trade houses who have undisclosed methods of pricing."
"Smelters and miners could potentially boost returns by millions of dollars by dealing directly in the concentrate market, which is inefficient and opaque."
Boris Eykher is co-founder and CEO of Open Mineral, the sovereign and venture-backed technology marketplace geared to increase the profitability and efficiency of copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver raw material trading. The Company has already been recognized for innovation as 2019 #WEF Technology Pioneer and 2020 Rising Star Company by S&P Global Platts Global Metals - for its achievements and potential to transform the trade of minerals and improve society for years to come. Prior to this, he was with Glencore for eight years in various functions including trader, asset manager for the mines and smelters, and CFO of Kazzinc - Glencore's largest asset. Boris started his private equity career as an associate at Pacific Corporate Group. Boris holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley.
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Chairman & Co-Founder
Ilya Chernilovskiy
Ilya has more than 16 years experience in metals & mining and commodities trading in addition to experience in finance. Prior to founding Open Mineral, Ilya was with Glencore as an Asset Manager in their base and precious metals and concentrates department working in Switzerland, USA and Kazakhstan. His experience also extends to executive positions in the mining service industry with AV Group in addition to working as an investment-banking associate with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Ilya holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MSc in Chemical Technology from Mendeleev University.
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Senior Advisor
Nico Paraskevas
Nico Paraskevas, is a senior advisor to Open Mineral and an investor. Nico's scope and main responsibilities include lead spot market creations, opening up the relationships with major producers and smelters; and advisory services on OM's growth and development. Previously, Nico was the Head of Copper Marketing at Glencore Plc and Chief Financial Officer for Katanga Mining Ltd. (a subsidiary of Glencore Plc). Nico holds an undergraduate degree from the University of the Witwatersrand.
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Head of Legal & Compliance
Alejandro Skidelsky
Alex is an English and Israeli-qualified lawyer with 30 years' experience, the last 10 of which have been as the General Counsel for Gerald Metal. He was their first legal hire outside of the US and was responsible for all their legal & compliance matters across EMEA. Prior to this Alex has held a variety of positions both within international law firms and in-house.
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Head of Traffic
Roger Steiner
Roger brings over 30 years of experience in commodity trading with a deep knowledge of products such as steel, chrome ore, ferroalloys, zinc, and lead concentrates/metals. Prior to joining Open Mineral, Roger held several leadership positions at Glencore, Switzerland: Senior Traffic for lead and zinc concentrates and, subsequently, Traffic Manager and Regulation Specialist for IMO and REACH. In addition to that, Roger was responsible for the worldwide warehouse security and stock control for the zinc/copper department.
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Head of Origination - Africa
Edouard Pénot
Edouard has more than 10 years of experience in physical commodity trading and finance. Before joining Open Mineral, Edouard was with Transamine, trading base metal concentrates; and prior to that, he worked as a senior associate for Morgan Stanley in Fixed Income. Edouard holds Masters in Metals and Energy Finance from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London
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Head of Chile
Patrick Cussen
Patrick is Open Mineral's head of product. Formerly Managing Director of Chile Copper Ltd, Patrick has also spent time as Chairman of the board for CESCO, and Li3 Energy Inc and since 2016 has been a member of the Board of Bearing Lithium Group. A career spanning over 4 decades, Patrick is highly experienced in commodities, hedging, operations, shipping, and finance.
He holds a Master of Economics and Industrial Civil Engineer Certification from the Universidad de Chile.
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Head of Research
Ryan Cochrane
Ryan Cochrane has over twelve years of experience as a metals analyst and geologist having worked on gold and polymetallic projects in South Africa, Western China, Armenia and the Northern Andes. Prior to joining Open Mineral, he led CRUs base metals supply and cost research, worked on copper mine costs and later led the gold mining research team at Wood Mackenzie. In earlier roles, he covered precious metals at Thomson Reuters GFMS. He has strong expertise of zinc, lead and copper markets along with precious metals. Ryan holds a PhD in geochemistry, geochronology and thermochronology from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
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Head of Operations South America
David Gomez
David has over 8 years of experience in commercial and management roles. His experience includes working at Glencore (Perú) in the role of zinc/lead trader, traffic manager, where he was also in charge of zinc blending and logistics operations. Prior to Glencore, he worked at Hochschild Mining in the department of commerce and finance. David is an experienced consultant, specializing in risk management and cost optimization. David obtained his MBA at I.E. Business School and his B.A in Business at Universidad del Pacífico in Lima.
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Head Of Commercial
Kareem Barbir
Kareem has more than 15 years experience in the commodity trading industry. Prior to joining Open Mineral, he was at Concord Resources where he was Head of Zinc/Copper/Lead concentrates trading as well as a Senior Strategist. He has worked both for physical trading companies as well as producers in various roles gaining expertise in physical trading, market analysis, LME risk management, offtake financing, logistics in addition to mine and smelter optimisation. Kareem holds a BSc in Government from the London School of Economics and an MSc in Energy, Trade and Finance from Cass Business School.
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Chief of Staff
Simon Morris
Simon brings 20 years' industry experience, including 16 years with Rio Tinto and Shell in international roles encapsulating corporate strategy, business development (M&A), post-acquisition integration, investment analysis, government affairs and lean-six sigma business transformation/ improvement. Prior to joining Open Mineral Simon lead a global team of commodity analysts as Wood Mackenzie's Vice President of Metals.
Simon holds an MSc in International Strategy & Diplomacy from London School of Economics and a .
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Chief of Staff
Simon Morris
Simon brings 20 years' industry experience, including 16 years with Rio Tinto and Shell in international roles encapsulating corporate strategy, business development (M&A), post-acquisition integration, investment analysis, government affairs and lean-six sigma business transformation/ improvement. Prior to joining Open Mineral Simon lead a global team of commodity analysts as Wood Mackenzie's Vice President of Metals.
Simon holds an MSc in International Strategy & Diplomacy from London School of Economics and a .
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Customer Success Lead
Celeste de Biedma
Celeste has over 9 years of experience in the Customer Success area. She managed the implementation of several CRMs in big companies such as Ford Motor Company and Ernst & Young. Before joining Open Mineral, Celeste was with Exxon Mobil and took part of the leadership team implementing the worldwide migrations working from Houston and Buenos Aires.
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Business Development China
Vinnie Yu
Vinnie Yu was head of trading of 20-man team, by leading the purchase and sales of Non-Ferrous raw materials for more than 5 years, he has built wide and in-depth relationship with Chinese smelters and non-ferrous trading companies. He has abundant experience in promoting business with Chinese companies, both in import and export, specializing in Copper, Gold, Lead, and Zinc materials.
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Business Development Australia
Vijay Philip
Vijay has over 10 years experience in the metals and mining industry and commodities trading. Prior to leading the business development for Open Mineral in Australia & Asia-Pacific regions he held the role of Vice President - Commercial at the Philippine Associated Copper Smelter and Refinery (PASAR) Corporation and held various base metal trading roles with Glencore in Switzerland and Australia.
Vijay holds a BCom (Honours) in Finance from the University of New South Wales and BCom in Finance and Accounting from the University of Auckland.
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Derivatives Trader
David Chlebecek
David has almost 10 years of experience in the commodity trading industry from various roles and projects. Starting in the oil trading department in Singapore for Glencore then moving to the head office in Switzerland where he gained experience in concentrates and metal markets. He also worked in Glencore's Canadian copper assets focusing on smelter feed and logistics. Over the years David has been involved in the design of internal processes, ERP systems, optimization of logistics, LME/LBMA hedging, market analysis, he managed copper and cobalt logistics teams and most recently precious metals derivatives in Glencore.
David holds MSc in Applied Finance from Singapore Management University and a BSc in International Trade from the University of Economics in Prague.
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Strategic Projects
Trevor Skidmore
Trevor has spent his entire career in the base metals industry. He held commercial roles for Rio Tinto in Shanghai and Singapore marketing copper concentrates. He then managed Marketing Operations for Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia during the production ramp-up, before moving to Rio Tinto headquarters in London where he worked on corporate transactions and strategy projects.
Before joining Open Mineral in 2022 he led the Concentrates division of Henry Bath where he managed logistics, blending and storage facilities. His experience includes concentrate supply chains as well as industry analysis, business strategy and M&A.
He graduated from Durham University in 2007.
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Chairman, Advisory Board
Winston Ma
Winston Ma is an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global digital economy. He is one of a small number of native Chinese who have worked as investment professionals and practicing capital markets attorneys in both the United States and China. Most recently for 10 years, he was Managing Director and Head of North America Office for China Investment Corporation (CIC), China's sovereign wealth fund.
Winston is now also an adjunct professor at New York University's School of Law. Author of China's Mobile Economy (2016) and The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds Are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy (2020). He was a CIC - appointed board member at the Noble Group, in connection with the 2017 restructuring of the commodities-trading and logistics company.
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Senior Traffic
Angelina Yuzhen Zhang
Over 15 years operational experience in international commodity trading Industry (both minerals and chemical products). Deep knowledge of logistics transportation/ freight forward, global inventory planning, contract negotiation, trading strategies and marketing analysis, risk and insurance, trade finance, hedging in futures markets , project management and SAP (MM) skills. Prior to Open Mineral she held the traffic roles in Cliveden Trading, Nyrstar, and MRI.
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Business Development Colombia
Juan Fernando Sanchez
International Business Professional, Holds an MBA degree of the European Business School in Madrid/Spain, International work experience (Colombia,France,Spain) in trading of commodities, Logistics and Capital markets . "Trading of Commodities is my Passion but my experience is not limited to that, I have been involved in different areas such as business intelligence, marketing, operations, logistics in the mentioned industries . I love working in daily changing markets, multicultural environments and multi-task management. I don't meet prospects but future clients, I don't sign contracts but build long-term relationships"
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Head of Trade Finance & Treasury
Axel Krueger
Axel has over 25 years of experience and proven track record with various global trading houses and large financial institutions as a corporate specialist in the fields of: Physical Supply Chain & Shipping and Operations, Structured & Project Finance, Merger & Acquisition, Corporate Finance & Treasury, Compliance & Risk Management, Corporate Strategy & Business Development, Executive managerial function of handling teams to achieve targets in line with shareholders' budget expectations. Before joining Open Mineral AG, Axel had his own independent consultancy firm and prior to that was at MRI Trading AG.
Axel holds a BA (Hons) European Business Administration with a major in Economics from Regent's University, London, UK.
Senior Trader
Sergei Plakida
Sergei has more than ten years of experience in physical commodity trading and finance. Prior to joining Open Mineral, he was a metal trader with Bluequest Resources focusing on clients in Russia and CIS. In his earlier role, Sergei was a trader with Trafigura. Through his work Sergei understands the complexities and challenges of the local markets. Sergei holds MBA from INSEAD and a BA with a major in Economics from Columbia University.
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Principal, Research and Analytics
Hugo Bravery
Hugo has over ten years of experience in mining as a metals analyst and geologist. Prior to joining Open Mineral, he worked as a mining equity and commodities analyst at UBS investment bank. In earlier roles, he covered base metal smelting costs at WoodMac and worked as a mine geologist in underground nickel operations in Western Australia.
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Chief of Staff
Christina Augustyns
Christina brings over 15 years of experience in commodity trading with a deep knowledge of Iron ore, carbon steel, zinc/copper and precious metals concentrates. Prior to joining Open Mineral Christina was the traffic manager for iron ore at Glencore in addition to being responsible for physical shipments globally, and sourcing of materials in CIS countries. Christina is skilled in contract negotiations, business development and project management. Her previous roles include trading and logistics positions at Biogen Idec and Steelforce nv. Christina is fluent in English, Russian, Dutch, German.
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Senior Business Lead, ESG
Johan Knapp
Johan joined Open Mineral during its recent, highly successful Series-C round of funding. He leads ESG business and product development initiatives for the company. Johan started his career as a geological engineer in Zambia's gemstone mining industry, moving on to China to create two software companies with a team of talented Chinese and Western individuals before returning to London as a mining equities analyst prior to joining Open Mineral. Johan graduated from the University of Cape Town's School of Environmental Science, holds an MSc in Engineering Geology. He is fluent in Mandarin.
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Head of Ferrous and Refined Metal
Maxim Smarus
Maxim has 24 years banking and commodities experience, most recently as MD of Beringfield AG where he led the company's primary aluminium and long steel product flows. He has also worked in senior Trade Finance Risk and Product roles at Standard Chartered Bank and Sberbank amongst others.
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Head of M&A
Natig Ganiyev
Natig brings over 15 years of experience in Investment and advisory services.
Prior to joining Open Mineral, Natig has garnered industry experience in markets including Finance, Energy, Food & Agriculture, Renewables, Real Estate, and Hospitality.
Natig holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a BA from the University of Maine.
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Chief Product Officer
James Rilett
James is a commodities and FinTech specialist with 16 years in the markets and a proven track record creating and growing innovative businesses with technical edge. Led the sale of Munich based tech startup MVS, achieving full exit to Platts in 2015.
He speaks at commodities conferences presenting macro and fundamental market analyses of market evolution. James led the Platts Innovation centre which specialises in deploying applied blockchain, machine learning and big data.
James holds a BA in International History from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and is ACCA qualified.
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Head of Base Metals Research
Vivienne Lloyd
Vivienne has spent almost two decades in the base metals market research and analysis fields, with experience in consulting, sell-side research and the provision of strategic intelligence for physical trading.
Prior to joining Open Mineral, Vivienne started her commodities career at CRU where she spent most of her time in the Copper analysis team, before joining Macquarie Bank's Commodities Research team as the lead base metals analyst. Most recently she was Head of Zinc and Lead Research at Trafigura, before joining the Open Mineral team.
Vivienne holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Manchester.
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Senior Trader - Global
Dimitri Lemos
Dimitri brings a wealth of experience, having spent 7 years working as a Copper Concentrates Trader with Glencore in Switzerland. He joined Glencore in 2011 after completing his studies, working for a couple of years in the zinc metal traffic team as an operator and also spent a year on the ground at refinery Britannia Refined Metals.
Dimitri holds a BA from Oxford University.
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Business Manager - UAE
Sabah Zekhnini
Prior to joining Open Mineral, Sabah was an Operations Manager with over 10 years' experience in the financial services industry, and with a very good knowledge and work experience in the Asset Management universe, and in particular Alternative Investments. She was previously Operations Manager of Frontera Capital Group Limited in ADGM, Abu Dhabi, and before that of Prime Capital AG in Luxembourg and Germany.
Prior to that, Sabah worked in PwC Luxembourg as a Senior External Auditor of banks, Asset Management companies and financial services providers.
Sabah holds a MSc in Financial Engineering from Institut de Gestion de Rennes, France and a Bachelor of Commerce and Business Administration from ISCAE Business School, Casablanca.
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Head of Trade Finance & Treasury
Alaa Ahmad
Alaa' brings 20+ years of experience in increasingly responsible roles with several international and regional banks including: BCP, Sumitomo Mitsui, Credit Europe, Citi Bank, Emirates NBD & Arab Bank. Generally in Corporate Finance & FI, and specifically in Structured Commodity Trade Finance covering major commodities: Oil & Gas, Steel & Metals, Fertilizers and Soft Commodities. .
Prior to joining Open Mineral, Alaa' was the General Manager - Trade Finance & Investments with Taleveras Petroleum Trading Group where he led a global team of Oil & Gas physical commodity trade finance plus investments in upstream, midstream & downstream.
Alaa' holds a BSc in Banking & Finance followed by specialized certifications like: CDCS, CITF, International Forfaiting Association certification, Commodities trading certification at University of Colorado -Commodities Lap center, Certified Manager Program with Harvard Manager Mentor and most recently being a CFA candidate.
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Head of Chile
Alvaro Cuadra
Alvaro is a Chilean Civil Engineer with an extensive and solid experience in the marketing of mining products, working for more than 27 years for large international mining companies like Codelco, Mantos Blancos, Antofagasta Minerals, Freeport, Barrick, specifically in commercial management and in the procurement of strategic supplies; and working more than 7 years for several leading trading companies.
Alvaro leads Open Mineral's expanding presence in base and battery raw materials in Chile. Based in our Santiago office, he will lead the team in assisting producers with marketing, logistics and trading services.
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Battery Metals Trader
Elizaveta Yakubets
Elizaveta specializes in battery raw materials, working closely with market participants and end users.
Prior to joining Open Mineral, she worked at a manufacturer of lithium chemicals where she developed strategic projects in the lithium-ion battery market.
Elizaveta hols a BA degree in Economic Sociology from the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation, and a Master's degree in Information Systems Management from Grenoble IAE.
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Head of Mining & ESG Solutions
Benjamin Cox
Benjamin brings 20-plus years industry experience, including time with Outotec as Head of Structured Services and DE Shaw on the buy side.
Benjamin is also the Program Director for the Executive Micro-certificate in Economic Leadership for Mining with BRIMM at the University of British Columbia.
Benjamin is a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia, holds an MBA from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University.
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Global HR Manager
Sara El Ali
Sara brings over 9 years of HR experience, with the last 5 years spent leading the creation of an end-to-end global HR function for Farzana Trading. Her expertise spans Organizational Structuring, Labour Law, Compensation and Benefits, Performance Management and Recruitment within the commodities and FMCG industry.
Sara holds Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Amity University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She is also a CIPD level 7 candidate.
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Head of Operations
David Alacid
David brings 30 years of international experience in commodity trading as operations manager in Oil & Gas and Minerals & Metals. He joined Cargill where he held various leadership positions in the Energy, Transportation & Metals division.
Prior to joining Open Mineral, he worked in physical trading, Mining & Metallurgical companies ArrowMetals, Nizi and Metal Trade Overseas where he developed and led global trading & shipping operations.
David graduated from Ecole Superieure de Commerce Genève and has certificates in international communication and project management from UC Hayward and GW School of Business.
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Managing Director - Turkey
Tonguc Coscun
Tonguc has 20 years of well rounded professional experience in international commodity trading, commodity financing, sales & marketing of above & below markets and corporate / government relations.
For the last 12 years and prior to joining Open Mineral, Tonguc worked in FMCG sector in a global company covering Turkey, Caucasus and North Africa as Senior Regional Sales Director. Recently he has been General Manager in an international trade and consultancy company.
Tonguc graduated from Koc University in Istanbul, one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey, where he received a degree in Business Administration.