Stefaans Du Plessis is a Principal Geophysicist in Rio Tinto exploration, based in Johannesburg since January 2023. Stefaans has over thirty years of experience in Mining and Exploration geophysics across a range of companies, commodities, and environments. Besides working on coal, PGE’s and base metal and gold exploration, he has significant experience in nickel exploration from his time at Anglovaal (where he was part of the Nkomati discovery team), Anglo-American and African Nickel; Sedimentary Copper and Porphyries from his time at MMG. Prior to joining Rio Tinto, Stefaans has been leading the Africa and Canada geophysical kimberlite exploration teams for DeBeers.