Howard Bills, Group Exploration Manager (R)
Martin Horgan
Chief Executive Officer, Toro Gold Ltd
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.
Gary Townsend
Chief Financial Officer, Toro Gold Ltd
Gary is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Chartered Taxation Adviser. For the majority of the last 15 years he has worked for major gold mining companies in Africa in senior financial roles. From 1996 to 2004, he was Group Financial Controller of Ashanti Goldfields where he was in charge of structuring the finance department in order to accommodate several acquisitions including that of SAMAX. Within this role Gary was also integral in setting up and running the internal budgetary and reporting systems dealing with the Group's seven mining operations across Africa, mitigating tax liabilities and helping to refinance the Group prior to the Company being sold to Anglo Gold in June 2004.
Gary has also held positions as Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary at Guinor Gold (which was subsequently sold to Crew Gold for US$350m following a raising of US$130m in equity and project finance to fund mine expansion) and more recently Horizonte Minerals Plc where he dealt with all financial aspects required for the operations in London, Peru and Brazil.
Howard Bills
Group Exploration Manager, Toro Gold Ltd
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.
Boubacar Thera
International Business Development Manager, Toro Gold Ltd
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.
Dr Jonathan Forster
Chief Executive Officer, Bambuk Minerals Ltd
Jon is a geologist by training who has worked in the mining and exploration sector for 28 years and has a successful corporate and technical track record in the discovery of gold in Africa. For the last 9 years he has been involved with the establishment and executive management of a publicly listed junior gold exploration company, with attributable discoveries of over 4 million ounces of gold in west and central Africa. He has a proven ability to create shareholder value through the identification, evaluation, acquisition and exploration of gold projects and provides strong hands-on exploration management expertise.
Glen Armstrong
Senior Environmental and Social Performance advisor
An environmental scientist and public health specialist by training, Glen has nearly 30 years experience in environmental management and social development, much of it International, having worked extensively across Africa, Latin America and South East Asia as well as Europe.
As Managing Director of Aspinwall and Company he led one of theUK’s leading and most respected consultancies before joining IFC as head of its Environmental and Social Development team inWashingtonDC, responsible for environmental and social analysis of all its investments worldwide. After moving back to theUKhe continued as an advisor to IFC and the World Bank during which he played a key role in facilitating the Equator Principles. In 2003 he co-founded Sustainable Finance Ltd providing E&S risk management services to over 40 major Banks globally before the Company was acquired by PWC in 2008. Since 2008 he has acted as an advisor to a range of organisations.
Anna Corriol
Environmental and Social Development Manager
Anna is an environmental and social professional with more than 10 years experience. Starting as QHSE Manager for a food distribution company, then moving to being an Environmental Management Lecturer, she has been an Environmental and Sustainability Consultant for the past 6 years. She has built considerable international experience in mining, oil & gas, port and infrastructure projects, mainly in Europe and Africa. Many of her projects were in sensitive areas and complex settings, such as mining projects in Guinea, the development of a deep sea port in Cameroon, the extension of Lagos city (Nigeria) into the ocean, and strategic sustainability assessment of the coastal region of Kribi (Cameroon).
Her fields of expertise include: Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) Risk Management, Sustainability strategy / Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Strategic Environmental and Sustainability Assessment (SEA), and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA / EIA).