Board & Management

Directors

Mr. Michael Jardine – Managing Director

Mr. Jardine has a strong background in Corporate & Project Finance, Strategy Development and Minerals Marketing and his previous experience includes Board & Executive roles at a number of junior ASX listed resource Companies. Mr. Jardine has previously served as a Director of Atrum Coal Limited (ASX:ATU) and Pegasus Metals Limited (ASX:PUN, now Scorpion Minerals Limited). Mr. Jardine also served as the General Manager, Corporate Development for formerly listed General Mining Corporation (ASX:GMM) from 2013-2016, and Eastern Goldfields (now Ora Banda Mining, ASX:OBM) during the same period.

Dr. Frederick Hess – Non-Executive Chairman

Dr. Hess was most recently the Managing Director of PanAust Limited which was acquired by Chinese SOE, Guangdong Rising Assets Management. Dr. Hess’s diverse background includes various roles where he managed the construction, ramp up and operation of major mines in challenging environments.

Mr. Alexander Downer AC – Non-Executive Director

Mr. Downer is Executive Chair of the International School for Government at King’s College London.

From 2014 to 2018, Mr. Downer was Australian High Commissioner to the UK. Prior to this, he was Australia’s longest-serving Minister for Foreign Affairs, a role he held from 1996 to 2007. Mr. Downer also served as Opposition Leader and leader of the Australian Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995 and was Member of the Australian Parliament for Mayo for over 20 years.

In addition to a range of other political and diplomatic roles, he was Executive Director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, in which he worked on peace talks between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. He is currently Chairman of the UK think tank Policy Exchange and a trustee of the International Crisis Group.

Mr. Paul Cahill – Non-Executive Director

Mr. Cahill has over 30 years of experience leading the origination, evaluation, negotiation and execution of major complex transactions as both senior adviser and principal, particularly in the natural resources sector.

From 1986-1992, he was an investment banker at Morgan Grenfell & Co where he advised Minorco (Anglo American) on its hostile £3.5Bn bid for Consolidated Gold Fields. In 1992, he joined Minorco and was involved in a wide range of transactions. In 1996 he became Minorco’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific & Australia, based in Singapore, where he led the establishment of the Group’s presence in the region through a number of copper and gold joint ventures in Australia, Indonesia, PNG and the Philippines.

Mr. Cahill left Anglo American in 2001 to co-lead the establishment, strategic direction and management of Gazelle Corporate Finance, a boutique investment banking business providing corporate finance, M&A and debt restructuring advice to the Boards of FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, including Anglo American, British Aerospace, Babcock and United Technologies, and to the Trustees of major UK defined benefit pension schemes, including Thames Water and Cable & Wireless.

Mr. Cahill returned to Anglo American in 2008 where he became Group Head of Business Development and Head of Strategic Relationships Management. He was a key member of Anglo American’s senior leadership team, accountable for the Group’s growth agenda and the development and management of the Group’s business and relationships in China, India, Japan, Mozambique, Mongolia, Russia and the DRC. His key achievements included leading the origination and execution of Anglo American’s defensive $5.4Bn sale of a 24.5% interest in certain Chilean copper assets, including Los Bronces, to Mitsubishi Corporation and negotiating the settlement of Anglo American’s subsequent dispute with Codelco and Mitsui through transactions valued in excess of $2.1Bn, and preserving $2Bn of shareholder value. Paul also initiated and led a re-evaluation of Anglo American’s strategic approach to partnering and its management of key business relationships.

In 2017, Mr. Cahill became a co-Founder and Managing Director of Bacchus Capital Advisers, an independent investment and merchant banking platform focussed on metals and mining and with particular expertise in public market takeover and defence, complex cross-border M&A, equity and debt financing and corporate restructuring. He remains Chairman of the Bacchus Capital Advisory Board. Mr. Cahill is an independent Non-Executive Director of LSE-listed CQS Natural Resources Growth and Income PLC.

​Mr. Cahill is a Senior Adviser – Mineral Resources Investment for Mitsubishi Corporation. Paul holds an MA in Modern History from New College, Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.

 

Officers

Jonathan Whyte  – Company Secretary
Mr Whyte is a Chartered Accountant with extensive corporate, company secretarial and finanical accounting expereince, predominantly for listed resource companies.