Guillaume Kurek
Chief Executive Officer GCO, Eramet Group
Guillaume Kurek, 47, is a geologist graduated from the National Geology’s School of Nancy, option valorization of subsoil resources and holds a diploma of Expert in exploration and valorization of mineral resources.
He spent his career with the ERAMET mining group, working on the efficient and responsible development of manganese in Gabon, nickel in New Caledonia and, since 2021, mineralized sands in Senegal.
CEO of Grande Côte Opération – GCO, flagship mining project of the Senegal Plan Emerging among the main private investments (800 MUSD) made in Senegal over the last decade, Guillaume Kurek mobilizes his 2000 employees, 98% Senegalese, to make the company a recognized world reference in responsible mining.
4th world producer of titaniferous raw materials, intended for the pigments market, and 4th world producer of Zircon, mainly intended for the ceramics market, the company led by Guillaume Kurek has also become in recent years a reference in terms of governance with more than 13 million hours worked without accident, a double ISO 14 001 and ISO 50 001 certification, the deployment of an unprecedented process of restitution to the State of land fully rehabilitated only 6 years after its mining development or the pursuit of growth investments (new €30M production unit delivered at the end of 2022) and decarbonization (21MWp solar power plant that will come on stream in early 2025).
Beyond these achievements, the ambition of the GCO Steering Committee is to always strengthen its inclusive work with communities. Since the company's inception, this has resulted in a heightened focus on local content, a permanent commitment to turning any impact into an opportunity for stakeholders and even more so through a CSR approach that is part of GCO's DNA.
Today, this ambition is reflected in the Eramet Group's commitment to the independent evaluation of its subsidiary GCO against the requirements of the IRMA (Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) standard, which defines best practices in terms of responsible mining. Through this independent evaluation process, the Senegalese company GCO will have the opportunity to be recognized as one of the very first mining companies in the world to achieve such a high standard.