SAMANTHA HYDE
Chief Executive Officer

Samantha trained as a professional archaeologist. As Samantha’s career evolved her entrepreneurial flair and management skill secured her first CEO role at an early stage. She has worked with brands, such as Camelot, Channel 4, the Ministry of Sound and TalkTalk.

Samantha has moved between sectors and worked as a Director at Save the Children. She has worked with some of the most marginalised communities in the UK and across the globe. Samantha has worked extensively with Government and, was until recently, the CEO of one of his Royal Highness’ the Prince of Wales charities. Samantha has raised over £40m for charitable projects in the past 3 years.

She is a Group Board Director of L&Q, a regulated charitable housing association, and one of the UK’s most successful independent social businesses. The L&Q Group houses around 250,000 people in more than 95,000 homes, primarily across London and the South East.

JOHN MURRAY
Chairman

Mr Murray is the founding principal of Swann Global with more than 35 years in the mining and executive search industries. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience that enables him to understand and accurately define the needs of his clients and candidates.

​He enjoys close working relationships with key organizations and leaders within the mining industry globally. He is regularly invited to conduct Board assessments to leading mining groups in North America, Europe and Australasia.

He has an international reputation for the way in which he is able to add value to those who seek his advice and services. He is known for his forthright assessments and his ability to think about the industry in a unique way, often challenging the status quo.

GEOFF McNAMARA
Non-Executive Director

Geoff has over 25 years of international resource sector experience as a geologist, project manager, corporate financier and fund manager.

Geoff is Non-Executive Chairman of Alliance Minerals, Non-Executive Chairman of Cora Gold, Non-Executive Chairman of Tesoro Resources, Non-Executive Director of Access Asia Mining and a Non-Executive Director of the Singapore Mining Club.

Previously he was an owner and Investment Director of Pacific Road Capital, a private equity manager, with USD800 million under management, investing in the global mining industry.

Prior to that he was a Director of Societe General’s Mining Finance group in New York.

Operational roles include Project Manager, Senior Mine Geologist and Mine
Geologist for Ivanhoe Mines, Lion Ore International and Western Mining Corporation.

Geoff holds a Bachelors degree in Geology, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA). He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).

DANIEL MAJOR
Technical Advisor

Daniel Major is a mining engineer from the Camborne School of Mines in the UK. He is also a minority shareholder of Argo Natural Resources. His career spans over 30 years in the mining industry where he has established a solid track record initially with Rio Tinto at the Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia and later as a mining analyst with HSBC Plc followed by JP Morgan Chase & Co. in London. More recently Mr. Major was Chief Executive and later Non-Executive Chairman of Basic Element Mining and Resource Division in Russia, and held leadership positions in several Canadian listed mining companies with exploration and producing assets in Canada, Russia and South America. Daniel joined GoviEx in 2012 as a director and as CEO, and has been responsible for the transition of the company from explorer to developer.

PROF. ANDY ABBOTT
Physical Chemistry – University of Leicester

Specialised in ionic liquids, electrochemistry, material science, metal recycling. Abbott started the field of deep eutectic solvents, which now has 750 papers. Managed 36 major grants since 2000 most of which involved industrial partners. Four EPSRC grants on material processing led to the Royal Society Brian Mercer Award which has resulted in spinning out technology for thermoplastic wood. Editor of a book on Electrodeposition using ionic liquids and wrote the first review of Ionometallurgy (topic of this proposal). Author >160 papers + 9 patents. h-index = 43 and > 7,000 citations

DARRYN QUAYLE
Technical Advisor

Darryn is an internationally experienced mining engineer with 27 years of experience in open pit and underground extraction techniques in numerous metals including gold, nickel and iron ore. He is also a minority shareholder of Argo Natural Resources. He graduated from the world renown West Australian School of Mines in the 1990s and qualified as a First Class Mine Manager a few years afterwards. Postgrad qualifications in business and an expertise with explosives resulted in several roles with ICI then Orica and transfers across Australia to New Zealand and the UK where he managed Orica’s blasting business for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

A chance to use innovative mineral processing technology in municipal solid waste saw a role as an executive of Global Renewables in the UK building a £350m facility in Lancashire. This led to a business partnership with Lord Redesdale creating the Carbon Management and Energy Managers Association and exposure to the UK Government whilst working with the Qatar Government on climate change. Darryn joined the Department for International Trade (then known as UKTI) in 2014 and remains the UK Government’s technical expert on mining matters and the business specialist for mining in the Americas.

PROF. GAWEN JENKIN
Applied Geology – University of Leicester

Gawen Jenkin is Professor in Mineral Resources at the University of Leicester in Applied Geology with over 30 years experience. He possesses expertise in ore mineralogy, mineral and material characterisation and extraction of elements. He has pioneered methodologies for studying mineral dissolution in-situ and written the seminal paper on application of deep eutectic solvents to mineral processing. Involved in £9.5M successful research bids. Author of over 50 papers, h-index = 23.