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Pierre Gouws
Pierre Gouws is an Associate Director at SLR with over two decades of experience in environmental and social safeguarding across Africa’s mining landscape. A seasoned advisor and thought leader, Pierre has worked at the intersection of sustainability, risk management, and social performance, helping financial clients and mining companies, from junior explorers to global mining houses, navigate complex ESG challenges with clarity and integrity. With a specialism in social performance practice, Pierre is passionate about grounding emerging and best practice for social risk and impact management in the African context. His expertise spans environmental and social impact assessment, due diligence, and the development of robust management systems aligned with international financial institution standards and African banking ESG frameworks. Pierre has led multidisciplinary teams across four global consultancies, delivering strategic guidance on social performance, including stakeholder relations, labour management, land acquisition and resettlement, community health and safety, and human rights, ensuring mining operations not only meet compliance but foster long-term social value. Pierre is currently involved in monitoring the environmental and social performance of numerous mining operations in the DRC, Namibia and various against international lender’s requirements, advising on challenges such as stakeholder relationship management, labour risk and decent work, population influx impacts and risks, land acquisition and human rights risks, and how these interrelate with the established and emerging frontier of ESG standards and legislation that are driving industry-wide adoption. Based in Johannesburg, Pierre holds an MA in Research Psychology from the University of Pretoria and is a published academic on key topics such as resettlement and labour risk. He is also a respected educator, serving as a guest lecturer and external examiner at leading universities.
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03-Oct-2025