IMnI News Archives

Dr. Doreen McGough has been recruited by IMnI as the new OHES Manager, in replacement of Dr. Louise Assem who left IMnI earlier this year. Doreen has a PhD in climate change and its effects on crop production from Nottingham University (UK). Before joining IMnI, Doreen, an environmental scientist, was a lecturer across a wide range of scientific subjects at Nottingham Trent University for 3 years. During her time there, she was also responsible for organising various research projects related to environmental issues and from this had two peer-review papers published in the scientific press. After acquiring substantial scientific knowledge in academia, Doreen moved to a Contracted Research Organisation in the UK, where she worked for over two years in the regulatory department assisting in the notification/registration of chemicals under the old EU scheme as well as under REACH and worldwide.

Doreens time will be split between REACH (75%), where she will be assisting Dr. Keven Harlow with the REACH Consortium, with particular focus on helping to oversee the testing programme and providing input on scientific aspects, and OHES (25%), where she will monitor and report on new developments in OHES issues and regulations and take forward and manage current and new OHES projects.

Doreen McGoughs e-mail: doreen.mcgough@manganese.org

The OHES Committee has enlisted Hatch Consultancy to help build a Manganese Sustainability Strategy for the International Manganese Institute. Hatch have been asked to benchmark the IMnIs previous and current achievements in addressing health, safety, environment and community issues against other commodity organisations to identify areas where we are active, where action is needed and to enable us to identify leading commodity organisations and best practices to help IMnI improve. Hatch is also identifying opportunity and growth areas for manganese and up-coming global legislative developments which may impact the industry in the future.

The Manganese Sustainability Strategy provides a first step towards meeting the objectives laid out in the IMnIs 5 year plan and will provide a framework for the industry to move towards sustainable development.

A strategy workshop has been held in Paris on Monday 16th February 2009, where Hatch fedback their findings.

The REACH Mn consortium, a voluntary industry initiative, came into effect on 1 January 2008. The objective of the consortium is to collectively work to fulfil Members, or their EU-based representatives, obligations under the EUs REACH Regulation. The consortium now has 40 Members, covering a wide industry profile and some 15 Mn-based substances.

Pre-registration, the first milestone of REACH, has now closed (as of 1 December 2008) with around 5,200 individual pre-registrations being submitted to ECHA for the various Mn substances. The Mn consortium has prepared master specifications to assist with substance sameness discussions and is in a position to propose Lead Registrants to the various SIEFs for agreement. A comprehensive review of existing data was completed during 2008 and data gaps have been highlighted. Exposure scenario information gathering will start in early 2009.

All SIEF participants who are interested in joint registration are encouraged to contact the Mn consortium as soon as possible for more information and also to provide details of any relevant data that they may hold.

For further information on the REACH Mn consortium as well as help with the pre-SIEF and SIEF stages, please see www.mn-consortium.org or contact the Consortium Manager, Dr Keven Harlow, at mailto:reach@manganese.org.

After almost three years with the IMnI, Market Analyst Damien Francaviglia has decided to return to the United States and pursue his career there. December 15th will be his last day at the Institute. Thanks to his concerted efforts, IMnIs market research is considered today to be the best available on the Mn industry. IMnIs Board, Statistics Committee and staff wish Damien and his family all the best in their new pursuits.

Mark Camaj has joined IMnI as Market Analyst, replacing Damien Francaviglia. A US citizen married to a French woman, Mark holds degrees in Accounting, Finance and Economics, and is finishing an MBA in International Finance by correspondence. Before moving to Paris, he worked as a compensation analyst and, before that, as an accountant/auditor. He also spent a year working in Taipei. His wide skill set and outgoing personality make him ideal for the job.

You can write him at mark@manganese.org