Board of Directors and Management Team
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DAVID CONNAL CATHER
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Independent
Non-Executive Chairman
David joined Tungsten West in September 2021 as a Non-Executive Director and went onto become Chairman in November 2022.
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David was formerly CEO (Mining) of Abu Dhabi Capital Group, a private family office based in UAE and immediately prior to that was CEO of Avocet Mining plc, an LSE and Oslo listed gold production company with a 95,000oz per annum operating mine in Burkina Faso and an advanced development project in Guinea. David’s previous roles include Chief Operating Officer of European Goldfields and being a member of a London based fund management team and various positions with Anglo American plc. He has participated in numerous acquisitions and IPOs of mining companies on various stock exchanges and has significant expertise in mine development.
He is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Metals Exploration PLC, an Independent Director of JSC AK Altynalmas, a Kazakhstan listed emerging mid-tier gold producer and of Galantas Gold Corporation, a dual listed (AIM:TSX.V) Northern Irish underground gold developer.
As well as being Chair of the Board, David is also Chair of the Technical Committee.
Neil holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) in Mineral Engineering from the University of Leeds. He has held various roles in the mining industry including Senior Vice President Business Development at Allied Gold, where he was responsible for the due diligence on potential M&A, as well as providing a transitional management function at newly acquired assets.
Neil was heavily involved in the integration of the Sadiola operation, in Mali, and the Bonikro and Agbaou operations in Cote D’Ivoire. Prior to this Neil was part of the executive team at Sierra Rutile that turned the company’s operation from near-collapse to the world’s largest rutile producer, going on to be sold to Iluka Resources for over $400m. Neil has also consulted on various African mining projects across multiple jurisdictions.
NEIL GAWTHORPE
Chief Executive Officer
Richard joined the Company as a Non-Executive director in December 2020 and informally represents the Company’s shareholders, Henry Maxey and Eden Rock.
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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.
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Richard acts as a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director.
RICHARD (Rick) WILLIAM MACFARLANE MAXEY
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Non-Executive Director
MARTIN WOOD
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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.
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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.
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Martin is non executive director of Royal Helium Limited, a Canadian listed critical resource company currently in the process of dual listing in London.
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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.
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Martin is Chair of the Remuneration Committee.
GUY EDWARDS
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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) and co-founder of sustainability startup company XEROC.
Guy is a fellow of the Institute of Quarrying and has a first class honours degree in Quarry Engineering.
ADRIAN BOUGOURD
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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.
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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
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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 24 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, and is currently the COO of Montage Gold Corp, which is developing a large-scale gold project in Cote d’Ivoire.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Nigel was appointed to the board of the Company in July 2021 as Chief Financial Officer. He has over 20 years’ experience as a CFO within SME’s, VC/PE backed and leveraged business across a variety of sectors including natural resources, construction, leisure and technology.
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Nigel began his career as an Auditor in PricewaterhouseCoopers, before becoming a Corporate Finance Manager. On leaving PWC he worked as a Finance Analyst and in Strategy and Business Development in British Telecommunications plc and Cable and Wireless Communication plc respectively. Nigel then worked as CFO of Complinet Group Limited where he oversaw the business from start up through rapid global expansion to eventual sale. He then became CFO of Shoaibi Group, a US$0.5 billion turnover Oil and Gas business based in Saudi Arabia. Most recently Nigel acted as Group CFO for Horatio Investments Limited, a family office investment vehicle, and as Group Finance Director for Burrington Estates, a property developer with approx. £60 million turnover. Nigel holds a BSc. in Physiology and Pharmacology from Southampton University. He has been a member of the ICAEW since 1995.
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His focus as CFO is to oversee all financial aspects as well as internal auditing to ensure continued good management and profitability of the company.
ANTHONY NIGEL WIDDOWSON
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Chief Financial Officer
Lucy joined Tungsten West in December 2021 and is an experienced Human Resources professional with a background in managing learning and development, talent management, operational HR, recruitment and change management for a number of organisations including MS Amlin, Ashfords LLP and FlyBe, as well as running her own successful HR consultancy for a number of years in both public and private sector industry.
Lucy holds a General Diploma in Law from the University of the West of England, a Bsc (hons) Degree in Social Science from Cardiff University, Level A and B Occupational Assessment from the British Psychological Society and a Certificate in Professional Coaching from ICF Consulting.
Lucy holds the position of HR Director and is a member of the Tungsten West Senior Leadership Team, which provides operational and project oversight for the organisation.
LUCY CLIFFORD
HR Director
Ian holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from Curtin University (Western Australia) with over thirty years’ experience associated with the delivery of mining projects covering studies through to successful delivery.
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He has held project management positions within junior and experienced mining organisations along with working within the engineering and construction sectors.
IAN REYNOLDS
General Manager
BOARD COMMITTEES
Audit and Risk Management Committee
The Audit and Risk Management Committee comprises Martin Wood, who will act as chair.
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Remuneration Committee
The Remuneration Committee comprises Martin Wood, who will act as chair, David Cather and Richard Maxey.
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Technical Committee
The Technical Committee comprises David Cather, who will act as chair.
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