Board and Governance
JEREMY WRATHALL
Founder & 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.
IAN COCKERILL
Independent Chairman
Ian has more than 45 years’ experience in the global natural resources industry. He has extensive operational, project and leadership expertise, having held executive roles at major international mining companies, including Chief Executive Officer of Gold Fields and Anglo Coal, a subsidiary of Anglo American, and other Non-Executive positions.
Ian is currently a Non-Executive Director of BHP Group and is Senior Independent Director at Endeavour Mining. He also serves on the board of private company I-Pulse Inc; and Ian is a founding board member of an African wildlife charity called The Leadership for Conservation in Africa. He has previously held the positions of Chair of BlackRock World Mining Trust and Non-Executive Chair of Polymetal International.
Ian holds a BSc(Hons) degree in Geology from the University of London, an MSc in Mineral Production Management from the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College and participated in the Advanced Management Programme at Templeton College, Oxford.
DEREK LINFIELD
Non-Executive Director
Derek is a legal consultant and serves as non-executive director on several boards. He practised as a Canadian lawyer in London for 20 years, where he focused on cross-border financings and mergers & acquisitions in the mining, oil and gas sectors, including taking companies to the London Stock Exchange.
Prior to his retirement in 2015, Derek had been Managing Partner of the London office of Canadian law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP for ten years. Derek holds degrees from Memorial University of Newfoundland as well as LLB and MBA degrees from McGill University.
He is currently the Chairman of AIM listed Mkango Resources as well a non-executive director of a number of private companies and not for profit organisations. He is a director of MUN UK (UK campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland), a trustee of the Harlow Scholarship Trust and adviser to the board of the Canada UK Chamber of Commerce.
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).
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.
