Board and Governance
JEREMY WRATHALL
Founder, Interim Chairman and CEO
Jeremy has over 30 years of experience in the mining finance industry and has advised mining companies on transactions globally.
Following his graduation in Mining Engineering from the Camborne School of Mines in Cornwall, he spent three years working as a mining engineer in the South African gold mining industry. Jeremy then pursued a career in mining investment banking in London which included senior roles at global investment banks, including his most recent role as Global Head of Natural Resources – London at Investec Bank plc.
He has advised on transactions on all of the world’s major mining exchanges and has served as a non-executive director of mining companies listed on AIM and on the ASX stock exchanges. Jeremy is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
Having founded Cornish Lithium in 2016, Jeremy decided to fully focus on the company and left his career in investment banking in March 2017.
JANET BLAS
Independent Non-Executive Director
Janet is currently Chief Financial Officer of Bacanora Lithium, which was acquired by Ganfeng Lithium in December 2021 for approximately £275 million. Janet is a certified public accountant who has held a number of senior financial roles including Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Gemfields, where she played a key role in the formulation and implementation of group strategy. In addition, Janet managed Gemfields’ preparations for a London Stock Exchange Main Market listing.
Prior to Gemfields, Janet held a number of senior finance positions with ENRC (August 2007 – July 2013), including a key role on ENRC’s IPO on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange with the company joining the FTSE 100 index. Previously, Janet was part of the Audit and Assurance Services team at Ernst & Young in London and PWC in the Philippines (2002 – 2007).
KEITH LIDDELL
Non executive Director
Keith Liddell is Chairman of NYSE Listed Lifezone Metals Ltd and is an experienced metallurgical engineer and resource company director. Working since 1981 exclusively in the minerals industry, he has experience in management and ownership of a number of public and private businesses and joint ventures with a variety of participants.
Having been involved in technical and corporate roles, company management, capital raising and stakeholder relationships, Keith has a unique blend of attributes that allow concurrent appreciation of the various social, environmental, commercial and technical components that constitute successful modern resource companies. He has negotiated purchases and sales of assets, joint venture agreements and sales agreements for concentrates and metals. Keith is the inventor of the patented Kell Process for the hydromet recovery of Platinum Group Metals (“PGMs”) from concentrates.
In 1997 Keith was appointed Managing Director of Aquarius Platinum which developed the Kroondal PGM mine under his direction. In 2003 Minerals Securities Ltd, his listed investment company, invested in Sedibelo Platinum Mines Ltd which produces PGMs in South Africa, where he was a director from 2004 until 2023, chairing the Safety, Health, Environmental, Quality and Social License Committee.
Keith has also been involved in exploration for gold, PGMs and nickel in China and Australia, development of an open pit, heap leach copper SX-EW mine in Australia, exploration and production of fluorite in South Africa and Australia. He is a director ASX listed of Tombador Iron Ltd.
ADAM HOWARD
Non-Executive Director
Adam is a Director of Banking and Investments at the UK Infrastructure Bank (“UKIB”), responsible for leading energy and infrastructure transactions in support of the Bank’s twin mission to tackle climate change and support regional and local economic growth. Prior to joining UKIB he spent over 15 years working in the energy and infrastructure sectors at EBRD, ING Barings and Lloyds Bank, with a focus on direct equity and capital markets. During his career, Adam has led equity investments to support the growth of socially responsible mining companies across Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Adam holds an Executive MBA from INSEAD and MSc Financial Economics from the University of Leicester.
JOHN RAYMOND
Non-Executive Director
John is a Co-Founder and Co-CEO of EMG, a leading diversified natural resources-focused private equity firm. He is responsible for directing strategic and investment activities of EMG and managing its investment portfolio and day-to-day activities with EMG’s Co-founder and Co-CEO John Calvert.
Prior to founding EMG in 2006, Mr. Raymond served in a number of senior executive management roles within the energy sector over a period of 14 years. These include his time as Chief Executive Officer of Plains Resources, Inc. (“Plains Resources”), a publicly traded company, from 2002 to 2004. Following the management-led buyout of Plains Resources in 2004, Mr. Raymond served as Chief Executive Officer of the successor entity, Vulcan Energy Corporation, from 2004 to 2005. In addition to his current role as Chief Executive Officer of EMG, Mr. Raymond serves on the boards of 25 companies, including public and private portfolio companies of EMG, as well as several companies not owned by or affiliated with EMG. Mr. Raymond graduated from the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in 1992 with a B.S.M. with dual concentrations in Finance and Accounting.
SIMON GARDNER-BOND
Non-Executive Director
VARSHAN GOKOOL
Chief Financial Officer
Varshan has over 20 years of experience in guiding TSX and AIM listed mining companies from project definition through to development and construction across a number of international jurisdictions.
Following his graduation from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, he has worked on both the investment banking and corporate sides of the mining industry during which time he has arranged and led over US$ 1.5 billion of funding transactions across the entire capital structure from equity to senior secured project finance debt for mining projects. He was most recently President and CEO of Euromax Resources Limited where he led the development of the Ilovica-Shtuka Copper Gold Project in North Macedonia from inferred resource to definitive feasibility study. Prior to Euromax, he led and implemented the financing strategy of European Goldfields Limited which owned, developed and operated copper, gold, lead and zinc mines in Greece and Romania.
Varshan is a Charterholder of the Charted Financial Analyst Institute.
