The Board

Andrew King

INTERIM NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

 

aged 59, appointed as a non-executive director on 20 December 2021 and as interim non-executive chairman on 27 October 2023.  Andrew is a proven business leader with more than 30 years’ experience in the mining, metals and banking sectors where his management experience has encompassed strategic, financial and operational oversight. He is currently Managing Director of Scanmetals A/S, a specialist metal recycling business with operations in Denmark, the UK and Germany. Prior thereto he was Group Business Development Director at Amalgamated Metal Corporation Plc. and for thirteen years Andrew held various positions with Standard Bank including Head of Resource Banking, Global Co-Head Investment Banking, and Chief Executive Standard Bank Asia.

Earlier in his career he worked with BMO Nesbitt Burns and Warrior International. Other directorships have included Avnel Gold Mining Limited and Rame Energy plc. Andrew has a BSc in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and an MBA from the London Business School.

He is a member of the audit and nomination committees.

Robert (Rob) Marsden

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

 

aged 51, Rob is a Mining Engineer with 29 years of international experience. Upon graduation from the Camborne School of Mines in 1995 he joined Rio Tinto plc and over the next 18 years held several technical, operational and management roles , living and working in South Africa, Australia, France and the USA, and was latterly employed in the Business Evaluation Department at Rio Tinto’s head office in London.

In 2013 Rob founded his own consultancy, MarsdenGray, based in the UK, to draw together his unique blend of technical, financial and practical experience, providing clients with clear robust insights into the planning, operation and evaluation of mining projects.

During his career, Rob has gained experience across a wide range of commodities including copper, diamonds, gold, silver, coal, industrial minerals, and iron ore with on the ground assignments around the world, including Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Ghana, Madagascar, Peru, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Rob is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM), Qualified for Mineral Reporting (by IOM), is a Fellow of the Geological Society (London) and an Associate of the Camborne School of Mines.

Namrata Verma

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

 

aged 44, non-executive director appointed 20 December 2021. Namrata Verma is an experienced corporate finance executive with strong credentials in advising metals and mining companies with assets at the pre-feasibility and feasibility stages on project bankability, growth strategies, funding options, and financing execution.

She is the founder of Terrafranca Advisory, which was set up in 2015 to provide independent debt financing advice to early-stage and small and mid-cap mining companies and investors. She has advised on bankability considerations, debt structuring and arranging on numerous mining projects in Europe and Africa.

Namrata previously had more than a decade of experience at Standard Chartered Bank, in Asia and the UK, where she was a director in the mining finance team focused on advising and arranging project and structured debt financing, acquisition financing and working capital funding for mining and metals clients. Namrata holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and an MBA from the London Business School.

She is a member of the audit and remuneration committees.

Jonathan (Jo) Battershill

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

 

aged 54, is a mining geology graduate from Camborne School of Mines and has over 25 years of experience both in mining operations and in the finance sector, particularly in Australia and in the United Kingdom.

After almost a decade working in mining operations and business development with Western Mining Corporation in Australia, in 2004 he joined a boutique broking house in Perth, Western Australia. He subsequently worked in the mining finance sector for 17 years until July 2021, primarily as an Executive Director for UBS in Sydney/London and as Managing Director for Canaccord in London. He has extensive knowledge and connections within the mining finance industry, having been part of globally top ranked mining ECM/Sales between 2008 and 2021. Early in his mining career he worked as an underground miner at the South Crofty Tin Mine in Cornwall, while attending the School of Mines.

Mr Battershill is also managing director of ASX listed company Silver Mines Limited.