Howard Bills, Group Exploration Manager (R)
Adonis Pouroulis
Non Executive Chairman
Adonis is an entrepreneur whose expertise lies in the discovery, exploration and development of mineral resources including diamonds, precious / base metals, coal and oil and gas, and bringing these assets into production.
Having worked in the natural resources sector for over 18 years he has extensive experience in the exploration and mining sector, and a wide network of industry relationships across the African continent.
Adonis qualified as a mining engineer from the University of Witwatersand in Johannesburg in 1991 and subsequently spent some time working in the South African gold mines before heading to the Former Soviet Union where he established the Koronia metal trading company in Moscow. In 1994, having returned to South Africa, Adonis founded Blue Diamond Mines that developed a diamond mining operation in Port Nolloth and brought it into full production. Seeing an opportunity to create a larger, international diamond company focused in Africa, he founded Petra Diamonds and in 1997 it became the first diamond company to be listed on London's AIM market with a market capitalisation at the time of just £10 million. He has since overseen Petra's development from an exploration base into one of the largest independent diamond producers in Africa today with a market capitalisation of over £1billion.
He was influential in the founding, development and listing of a number of other natural resources companies including Chariot Oil & Gas that floated on AIM in May 2008 (having raised US$90 million and subsequently raised a further US$140m to further the exploration programme), Chromex Mining and Mukuba Resources. He continues to work with a pipeline of other early stage private companies such as Benzu Resources, Alufer Mining, Centrale Oil and Gas, Helios Oil and Gas and Rainbow Resources.
Martin Horgan
Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director
A mining engineer by training, Martin has worked across numerous areas of the mining sector including as an engineer for Gold Fields in South Africa, for Steffen Robertson & Kirsten in the UK and RSA offices, at Barclays Capital and as Executive Director of BDI Mining Corp. At Barclays his responsibilities included the origination and execution of mining project finance and advisory business across the African and the Middle East regions, global responsibility for the technical appraisal and review of all investments, environmental and social compliance of the investments in line with international standards and the financial modelling of all transactions. As Executive Director of AIM listed BDI Mining, Martin was part of the team which negotiated the sale of the Company to Gem Diamonds in 2007 realising a record share price for the Group.
Phillip Jeffrey (Jeff) Gard
Executive Director
After graduating with degrees in Chemical, Mining and Minerals engineering, Jeff started his career in mining in 1966 with the National Coal Board in the U.K. He then joined Cominco in Canada with the position of Process Superintendent in lead/zinc, gold and coal.
In 1974 he joined the Fluor Corporation as Senior Process Engineer in their mining and metals group. Over the following 20 years he held various positions around the globe including Process Manager, Project Manager and Project Director, becoming the Managing Director for Southern Africa and later became President of their mining and metals group. In this position he was responsible for the safe and timely execution of projects worth approximately US$2 billion in value annually. This included the US$1.9 billion Batu Hijau project (copper/gold) in Indonesia and the US$1.8 billion Muskeg River project (oil sands) in northern Canada.
Jeff has held a number of directorships in the resource sector following his retirement from Fluor, helping to establish mining operations across multiple commodities and jurisdictions.
Howard Bills
Director & Group Exploration Manager
An exploration geologist by training, Howard has spent the last 30 years working predominately in gold and diamond exploration across the African continent undertaking work for BP Minerals, SRK Consulting, SAMAX and AXMIN. Over the years, Howard has developed an in-depth knowledge of a broad range of exploration techniques and the application of these to mineral exploration in the tropics.
As well as being involved in a number of discoveries across Africa, Howard has worked on mineral exploration projects in SE Asia and South America and while with SRK Consulting he was involved in various pre- and feasibility studies worldwide as well as preparing 43.101 documents and independent reports for stock exchange listings and private placements.
Prior to co-founding Toro Gold with Martin Horgan in 2009 Howard was Exploration Manager for AXMIN and General Manager of AXMIN’s local operating company in the Central African Republic. Howard managed the discovery of the 3Moz Passendro gold project from grassroots to completion of the pre-feasibility study.
William Lovering
Non Executive Director
William is currently a Managing Partner at The Private Office in Geneva, Switzerland where he also resides. Prior to this role he served as Head of International Portfolio Management for the Al Rajhi Holdings Group of Companies. He has significant experience in the resource sector and over twenty years investing experience in London, the Middle East and Geneva.
Boubacar Thera
Director & International Business Development Manager
Boubacar Thera is a mining administrator and lawyer, has been involved with francophone African countries since 1994. Prior to joining Bambuk in 2009 Mr. Thera was appointed Manager and Chief Government Liaison Officer of AXMIN and African Selection Mining, and has previously acted as a consultant for other mining companies.