Global Coal Forum: Coal and The Future of Energy

Mhairidh Evans

Head of CCUS Research​

Wood Mackenzie

Mhairidh leads Wood Mackenzie’s global research on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). ​ ​ Mhairidh and her team provide insight and strategic analysis on the CCUS landscape to project developers, technology providers, investors and governments. Her work includes cost assessments, economic modelling, market and policy tracking.​ ​ Mhairidh previously spent seven years as a lead analyst in Wood Mackenzie’s upstream oil and gas division, focusing on the offshore supply chain and the North Sea region. Before joining Wood Mackenzie in 2014, she spent six years in commercial and project management roles in the subsea oil and gas sector.​ ​ Mhairidh is an alumni of Scotland’s Future Industry Leaders Programme and enjoys engaging with the wider industry.​ ​ Mhairidh holds a BEng(Hons) in Biochemical Engineering from University College London and an MSc from the University of Strathclyde Business School. ​ ​

Rory Simington

Principal Analyst APAC Thermal Coal Research​

Wood Mackenzie

Rory Simington is a research analyst with more than 20 years of experience in the Australian mining industry. He is currently based in Sydney with primary responsibility for Wood Mackenzie’s Asia Pacific thermal coal research. ​ He analyses the coal market, with a focus on supply, demand, and price. He also analyses mining assets, collecting physical, logistical, and financial information and building models to produce valuations. His analyses are delivered in reports and presentations to clients and prospective clients to help them understand the coal market and inform their decision-making.​ Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie in 2014, Rory worked with major multinational mining corporations and consulting companies providing supply and demand analysis, cost analysis, price forecasting, and product marketability assessments. ​ He also has more than ten years of experience in operational management and technical roles in the coal industry, including longwall operations and mine planning. He is an experienced project manager with expertise in design, manufacture, and delivery of longwall systems.​ Rory’s expertise in the coal industry is evident in the frequency with which he’s quoted in the media regarding the coal market.​ Rory Simington holds an MBA and a BEng in mining, both from the University of Wollongong. ​

Malan Wu

Director, Head of Steel & Raw Materials Markets

Wood Mackenzie

Flor Lucia De la Cruz

Senior Research Analyst, Hydrogen and Emerging Technologies

Wood Mackenzie

Flor is a subject matter expert in hydrogen and emerging technologies for Wood Mackenzie's Energy Transition Practice. She works on modelling hydrogen markets, tracking deployments, policy, investments, technology trends, and analyzing the adoption of hydrogen in industrial processes including ammonia, methanol, heating, blending, midstream logistics and the power and storage sector.​ ​ Before joining Wood Mackenzie, Flor led the innovation team at IDOM working on developing low carbon and circular economy projects for green/blue hydrogen, advanced biofuels, hydrotreated vegetable oils, plastic recycling, and carbon capture. At IDOM she also worked as a process engineer on LNG projects in Brazil, Colombia and Poland and a natural gas processing facility in Morocco. Before IDOM, Flor worked as a Health Safety & Environment engineer at Tecnicas Reunidas (TR). At TR she worked on the Al-Zour Refinery for Kuwait and a Nitric Acid plant for Yara in Norway.​ ​ Flor holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While at MIT she worked as a researcher at the Metabolic Engineering Laboratory on a project for Novogy Inc (now Total) to investigate yeast’s ability to convert low-cost feed stocks into lipids to produce inexpensive biodiesel.​

Robin Griffin

Vice President, Metals and Mining Research

Wood Mackenzie

Robin joined Wood Mackenzie in 2003 and has spent considerable time in both consulting and research roles. Consulting assignments included project due diligence, market assessments, price forecasting and coal procurement. An integral part of the research team since 2007, Robin has undertaken global mine cost estimation and supply analysis for both coal and base metals. Robin joined the coal markets team in 2012 and until 2021 was responsible for metallurgical coal markets analysis. ​ Robin has now broadened his role to act as subject matter expert across metals and mining markets. The role include undertaking cross-commodity analysis across base metals, battery raw materials, bulk commodities, and steel alloys.​ Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie Robin spent 7 years in the power and coal industries in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Australia undertaking coal procurement, coal exploration, project development geological and engineering roles. Robin also worked as a coal marketer selling thermal coal in Asia.​ Robin holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology and an MSc in Mining Engineering, from Camborne School of Mines, UK​

Viktor Tanevski

Principal Analyst - Coal Research​

Wood Mackenzie

Viktor Tanevski joined Wood Mackenzie in 2011 as an analyst in the coal research team focusing on Australia, South-East Asia and Southern Africa. He is currently based in Sydney. Viktor undertakes detailed analysis of coal mining assets, including production modelling, cost estimation and valuations.​ Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Viktor worked in RBC’s Sydney Mining & Metals investment banking team undertaking Australian and cross-border M&A advisory and corporate financing transactions and valuations for projects and companies.​ Viktor has a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Accounting) and a Bachelor of Laws (honours) from the University of Sydney.

Derryn Maade

Head of Metals and Mining Markets

Wood Mackenzie

Derryn joined Wood Mackenzie in November 2019 and is currently the Global Head of Metals and Mining Markets, based in Singapore. ​ ​ Prior to this role, he spent eight years leading HSBC’s Metals and Mining research team while covering the major miners and key commodity views. Derryn also worked for Anglo American in a variety of corporate and operational roles for nine years. ​ ​ Derryn holds an MBA (Imperial College) and a BSc in Mining Engineering (Wits).

Mihir Vora

Senior Commodity Analyst, Steel and Iron Ore Markets

Wood Mackenzie

Shirley Zhang

Principal Analyst – APAC Thermal Coal Market​

Wood Mackenzie

Shirley has over 10 years of metals and mining corporate and industry research experiences. She joined Wood Mackenzie in 2012 and is currently responsible for the Asia Pacific thermal coal markets analysis based in Singapore. ​ ​ Her primary focus is market and price analysis for thermal coal, as well as assessing various decarbonization pathways for Asia Pacific countries. She is a frequent speaker at regional mining conferences and has presented strategic analysis at clients’ board meetings. ​ ​ Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Shirley was an equity analyst covering metals and mining stocks in Hong Kong. She also worked for a financial consulting firm based in London. Shirley holds an Mphil degree from Cambridge University and a Bsc degree in Accounting and Finance from Warwick Business School, UK.​

Brent Spalding

Principal Analyst - Coal Research

Wood Mackenzie

Brent joined Wood Mackenzie in 2007, following the acquisition of Barlow Jonker. He has been an integral part of the coal research team covering cost estimation and supply analysis for APAC and Southern Africa. He is based in Brisbane with primary responsibility for APAC metallurgical coal research. ​ Brent has been involved in coal research and publications since 1994. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, he was the editor of the South African Coal Report.​ Brent has a Masters degree in Energy Studies, which he obtained from the University of Johannesburg in 2000.

Tony Knutson

Principal Analyst, Coal

Wood Mackenzie