New leadership for post-mining tasks: Michael Kalthoff and Joachim Löchte will figure as the future management team of RAG Aktiengesellschaft
RAG Aktiengesellschaft, Essen/Germany, has reorganised its management team: on 1st July 2025, Michael Kalthoff took over as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Labour Relations, and Joachim Löchte took over as Chief Technology Officer. With their experience and vision, they intend to continue driving forward the transformation of the company and sustainably master the challenges of post-mining.
“With the new management team, we are focusing on future-oriented leadership that places innovation and sustainability at the centre. The experience and commitment of Michael Kalthoff and Joachim Löchte are crucial to continuing the successful transformation of RAG as a post-mining company and setting the course for a sustainable future,” emphasised Bernd Tönjes, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RAG.
As Chairman of the Executive Board, Michael Kalthoff will continue to be responsible for RAG’s financial affairs and will also take on the role of Director of Labour Relations. An economist by training, Kalthoff has known RAG since its days as an active hard coal producer. He started his career with a traineeship at Ruhrkohle Bergbau AG, Herne/Germany, which laid the foundation for his career at what was then Deutsche Steinkohle AG. When he moved to the RAG-Stiftung, his financial responsibilities were later expanded to include issues relating to the promotion of education, science and culture. In 2019, Kalthoff was appointed to the RAG Executive Board as Chief Financial Officer. Since then, he has been shaping the change in RAG’s organisational structure in the post-mining era and is particularly committed to RAG’s digitalisation strategy.
“RAG has evolved from an active mining company into a company that addresses the consequences of mining – in an ecologically, technically and socially sustainable manner. For us, post-mining means much more than dismantling shafts or renaturating and revitalising land. For us, post-mining means thinking about the future, breaking new ground, taking responsibility – for our employees, but also for the society in which we live. We want to actively shape this change and build a bridge – between yesterday and tomorrow, between responsibility and a new beginning. Because RAG’s work in the context of post-mining is of fundamental importance for the former mining regions. I am very pleased to now be shaping these tasks as Chairman of the Executive Board,” said Kalthoff.
RAG bears long-term responsibility for water management in the former mining regions in the Ruhr area, Saarland and Ibbenbüren. This includes the controlled drainage of mine water from disused mines to ensure safe water management in the affected regions. In addition, the management of surface water in areas affected by subsidence is one of the central tasks in order to prevent possible flooding and maintain the ecological balance. All so-called perpetual tasks are financed by RAG-Stiftung in Essen.
As Chief Technology Officer, Joachim Löchte will be responsible for technical operational issues in his department. The engineer has been with the Group since 2014. Prior to that, he was responsible for environmental and energy issues with a focus on corporate responsibility at RWE AG. He began his career at RAG in active hard coal mining as Head of Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Protection. With a focus on occupational health and safety and environmental protection issues, he shaped the transition to post-mining as well as the development of a sustainability strategy. The aim of this strategy is to make RAG CO2-neutral by 2030 in terms of supplying its own sites with electricity and handling perpetual obligations. As Chief Technology Officer, Löchte will also focus particularly on RAG’s sustainability strategy.
“We have a clear corporate mission to deal responsibly with the consequences of mining. I am committed to securing the old mining sites and the technical implementation of this mission, with a particular focus on mine water management to protect drinking water and groundwater. Our declared goal is to make these processes sustainable in the long term. To this end, we use renewable energies on our own land and heat from the mine water. In order to successfully carry out our tasks, strong partnerships are just as important for RAG as the acceptance of the local people,” says Löchte.
Michael Kalthoff took over as Chairman of the Executive Board and the duties of Labour Director from Peter Schrimpf, who retired after more than 40 years with the RAG Group, 21 of them on the Executive Board and seven as Chairman of the Executive Board. Schrimpf is considered one of the key architects of the socially acceptable phase-out of German hard coal mining. In addition to his consistent focus on occupational safety and new forms of organisational development, one of his main tasks was the restructuring of the group following the phase-out of hard coal mining. (RAG/Si.)
