directors

MR DAMIAN HICKS
Chairman (Founder)

Mr Hicks was a founding Director in 2002 of Hannans Reward Ltd, an ASX listed minerals Exploration Company and was appointed Managing Director of that company on 1 July 2007. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Australian funds manager Growth Equities Pty Ltd (www.growthequities.com.au).

Mr Hicks holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) from the University of Western Australia, is admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, holds a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance & Investment from FINSIA (formerly the Securities Institute of Australia), a Graduate Diploma in Company Secretarial Practice from Chartered Secretaries Australia and is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

MR OLOF FORSLUND
Technical Director (Founder)

Mr Forslund is a geophysicist and has extensive international experience in the mineral exploration industry, particularly in the development and application of geophysical instruments and radar technology. His assignments have covered activities in Sweden, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Canada and the USA.

Mr Forslund commenced with SGU in 1966 and during the period 2003 – 2007 Mr Forslund was Regional Manager of the Geological Survey of Sweden’s Mineral Resources Information Office in Mala, Sweden (www.sgu.se). SGU’s branch office Mala serves as a ‘one-stop’ information office for all those conducting exploration in Sweden.

Mr Forslund  was a founding shareholder and President of MALÅ GeoScience (www.malags.com) between 1994 and 1998. MALÅ is currently the global leader in the design and manufacture of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems.

From 1999-2003 Mr Forslund was also project manager for Georange (www.georange.se) , a non-profit organization whose main task is to expand the concept of "development" in the mining and minerals industry in Sweden. Georange has today about 50 members from municipalities, organizations, Universities and private companies. Whilst involved with the Georange project, Mr Forslund was responsible for the raising of approximately SEK100 million from various organisation and governments including the European Union to fund Georange activities.

Mr Forslund has an extensive network of contacts through Scandinavia covering geophysicists, geologists, drilling companies, government and industry. He was responsible for the Sweden Geological Survey’s active participation at the Prospectors and Developer’s Conference (otherwise known as PDAC) in Toronto, Canada.

MR IAN GREGORY
Non-Executive Director & Company Secretary

Mr Gregory holds a Bachelor of Business from Curtin University and has over 25 years experience in the provision of company secretarial and business administration services in a variety of industries, including exploration, mining, mineral processing, oil and gas, banking, insurance and aquaculture.

In 2005 he established The Company Secretariat which provides professional and effective company secretarial and business administration services to listed and unlisted companies.

For 6 years prior to this Ian was the Company Secretary of the Iluka Resources Limited group of companies based in Perth.  Iluka is the largest zircon producer in the world and the second largest producer of titanium minerals, with operating mines in Australia and the USA.

 Before joining Iluka, Ian worked for 12 years as Company Secretary and Compliance Manager of IBJ Australia Bank Limited, the Australian operations of The Industrial Bank of Japan, and prior to that he was Company Secretary, for 4 years, of the Griffin Coal Mining group of companies.

Ian has been the Chairman of the Western Australian Branch Council of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and served on the National Council of that body.

MR PAUL THOMAS
Non-Executive Director

Mr Thomas originally graduated as a Metallurgist from the Western Australian School of Mines and has subsequently attained various other regulatory and technical qualifications in mining, processing, management and finance. These include a Diploma in Open Cut and Underground Mining, a Diploma of Business and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment.

His extensive development and operational experience comes after being in the mining industry for 25 years, most of which has been in Management and Executive roles within Australian listed gold and base metal mining companies.

He was appointed Managing Director of S&P/ASX Top 200 Company OM Holdings Limited's subsidiary OM Manganese in March 2007 heading up the Australian Operations and forming part of the Senior Executive Management Team of the OM Holdings Group before becoming the OMH Group's Chief Development Officer in March 2010.

He is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Senior Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.