Board of Directors and Management Team
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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STEPHEN HARRISON
Non-Executive Chairman
Stephen Harrison is a non-executive Director of Castings plc, a leading iron casting and machining group based in the UK, supplying both the domestic and export heavy truck, wind power, agriculture, rail and material handling markets. He was Chair of Epwin Group plc, the leading UK manufacturer of PVC, glass reinforced plastic and aluminium building products, until October 2025 when Epwin was acquired by a German family business.
Stephen served as Chief Executive of Forterra plc, a leading UK manufacturer of essential clay and concrete building products, from April 2016 until May 2023. Having led the business since 2012, he successfully steered the Company through a divestment process from former owner Heidelberg Materials into private equity ownership in 2015 and led the IPO onto the London Stock Exchange in 2016.
Prior to this role, Stephen held a variety of senior management roles within the construction materials industry for a decade, supplying the infrastructure, commercial and residential construction markets. He has served as a Director of several key construction sector trade associations.
Stephen has a degree in Economics and a Masters in Business Administration from Cranfield School of Management.
DAVID CONNAL CATHER
Non-Executive Director
David joined Tungsten West in September 2021 as a Non-Executive Director and went onto become Chairman in November 2022.
He is an experienced mining engineer with over 40 years of mining experience. He has held CEO roles in Avocet Mining, the Abu Dhabi Capital Group Mining Division and was Chief Operating Officer for European Goldfields. He was a member of a London-based boutique fund management team and held various positions with Anglo American plc. Mr. Cather has participated in numerous acquisitions and IPOs of mining companies on various stock exchanges and has significant expertise in mine development. He is currently Independent Director of AK Altynalmas JSC, a Kazakhstan mid-tier gold producer and formerly Chairman of Metals Exploration PLC, a London-listed Philippines gold producer where he remains a NED. He is also a NED for Galantas Gold Corporation with copper/gold assets in Chile and the UK.
Richard joined the Company as a Non-Executive director in December 2020 and informally represents the Company’s shareholders, Henry Maxey and Eden Rock.
Richard started his career as an Associate Consultant in the Transaction Services Group at PricewaterhouseCoopers Strategy Group, specialising in European commercial due diligence and strategy consulting. Having worked on several corporate and private equity transactions, Richard moved to Earlcrown Ltd, a private equity and property group with a range of portfolio investments, primarily in the consumer goods sector. Richard then worked for a South African family office, Vasari Global Ltd, as a principal, running the specialised private resources fund gaining extensive knowledge of, and experience in, the natural resources sector investing in public and private mining businesses worldwide. Richard currently works as a consultant investment advisor to an investment advisory firm, Eden Rock Group, that invests its proprietary capital with a focus on venture and early-stage private equity across a range of sectors. Richard holds a B.A. in Economics and Management from the University of Oxford and is a CFA charterholder.
Richard acts as a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director.
RICHARD (Rick) WILLIAM MACFARLANE MAXEY
Non-Executive Director
MARTIN WOOD
Senior Independent
Non-Executive Director
Martin is the founder and Managing Director of Vicarage Capital, an FCA registered, full service brokerage house which provides assistance to junior and mid-cap resources companies. Martin established Vicarage Capital in 2003 and has advised many companies on their AIM listings and long-term mining strategies.
Martin was the CEO of ASX listed, Kogi Iron Limited between 2017 and 2019, where he secured a community development agreement with key stakeholders, arranged indicative offers for full bank debt-based project financing, as well as completing various on-going milestones, including a Scoping Study and metallurgical test work, as part of the definitive feasibility study.
Between 1993 and 2003, Martin worked in corporate finance at NM Rothchild & Sons, Standard Bank, London and Benfield Advisory, providing services to resources companies. Martin has an MBA from Exeter University which he gained in 1993.
Martin is Chair of the Remuneration Committee.
GUY EDWARDS
Non-Executive Director
Guy joined Tungsten West in September 2023 as a Non-Executive Director, formerly CEO of Aggregate Industries UK and prior to that CEO of Aggregate Industries USA, with turnovers in excess of £1billion respectively.
Guy’s previous roles include Managing Director of Midland Quarry Products and twenty five years of senior management experience with Hanson PLC. He has participated in numerous acquisitions both in the UK and USA and has significant expertise in aggregates and business development.
He is currently Integration Director of SigmaRoc PLC(AIM listed).
Guy is a fellow of the Institute of Quarrying and has a Degree in Quarry Engineering from Leeds University.
ADRIAN BOUGOURD
Non-Executive Director
Adrian is part of the Developed Markets team at Lansdowne Partners (UK) LLP.
Adrian joined Lansdowne Partners in November 2010, having previously worked as a European equity, credit & event driven analyst at Perry Capital.
Adrian is a seasoned and highly experienced senior financial analyst who has spent most of the last 20 years analysing and advising companies in the industrial and cyclical space across the globe. At Perry, Adrian was responsible for sourcing and analysing Public & Private European Investment opportunities and the capital structure. Prior to joining Perry Capital in May 2006, Adrian worked at Merrill Lynch, as an Assistant Vice President on the European Transport and Leisure and Capital Goods Teams.
KEVIN JOHN ROSS
Non-Executive Director
Mr. Ross is a European Engineer (Eur Ing) with an honours degree in Mining Engineering from the Royal School of Mines.
Across the last 25 years, he has held numerous COO roles for operating and development companies in Greece, Australia and Canada.
He has been part of the senior management teams of two acquired companies, Red Back Mining, which was acquired by Kinross, and Orca Gold, which was acquired by Perseus Mining. Until mid 2024, he was COO of Montage Gold Corp, which is now constructing a large-scale gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM - EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS
JEFFERY COURT
Chief Executive Officer
Jeff is an experienced international mining executive, having worked in the mineral resource sector for over 30 years, covering numerous roles from project feasibility and start-up, major EPC/EPCM and product mineral processing plant projects, mining operations and contract mining services, operational and business management.
Having started his career at Rio Tinto, during which time he was heavily involved in mine feasibility and long-term planning, Jeff spent 15 years at Orica where he held multiple senior business executive roles
and led a structural and strategic review to improve business performance. Jeff subsequently worked at FLSmidth, where he oversaw the industrial capital equipment division of over US$500 million annually, and Perenti Limited (formerly Ausdrill Ltd), where he was responsible for the operational and business management of the African Mining Service division, which reported US$350 million annual turn-over across seven major mining sites in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.
More recently, as the Chief Executive Officer - Mining & Chief Development Officer - Mining of Capital's drilling and mining services business, Jeff has managed the provision of its services to the industry, ranging from exploration, grade control and production drilling to load and haul contract mining. Collectively, these roles have spanned across Australia, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America.
BOARD COMMITTEES
Audit and Risk Management Committee
The Audit and Risk Management Committee comprises Rick Maxey, who will act as chair, David Cather and Adrian Bougourd.
Remuneration Committee
The Remuneration Committee comprises Martin Wood, who will act as chair, David Cather and Richard Maxey.
Technical Committee
The Technical Committee comprises Kevin Ross, who will act as chair, David Cather and Guy Edwards.