Joachim (PhD, MBA) is the founder of the Earth Resource Investment Group and advisor to the Earth Exploration Fund UI and the Earth Gold Fund UI. He is a geologist by training and worked for eleven years in the South African gold and platinum mining industry in operations and applied research. Following his occupation in the mining industry, he worked for six years in investment banking where he was rated best South African gold analyst (2001 and 2002). Before launching the ERIG funds in 2006, he co-founded the funds boutique, Craton Capital in 2003 and has since been in fund management and company analysis. He has a substantial network of high level contacts in the international mining and investment industries. He is a guest lecturer at the mining school in Freiberg/Germany and at the University of Münster/Germany where he teaches project valuation in the natural resources sector and economic geology.