Management Team
Executive directors
John Bonoh Sisay
Chief Executive Officer
John Bonoh Sisay
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Sisay started his career as a graduate trainee at the Central Selling Organization (CSO) of De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd where he learned the contours of the mining industry, in particularly with regards to diamonds. After working at the CSO, Mr. Sisay joined America Minerals Fields, now part of First Quantum, and worked on new acquisitions for the company, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Sisay joined SRL in 2001.Jean Lindberg Charles
Chief Financial Officer
Jean Lindberg Charles
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Charles has significant financial and auditing experience as well as a deep understanding of the Company’s operations. From April 2005 to October 2008, Mr. Charles worked as Group Financial Controller for TRG, based at the Sierra Rutile minesite. Whilst at TRG, Mr. Charles was responsible for implementing a new management information system, setting up the accounts department for Sierra Rutile and developing the Company’s multi dredge financial model.
Prior to joining TRG Mr. Charles worked as an auditor for Ernst & Young and as Country Financial Controller of Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts in the Seychelles and Gabon. Mr Charles is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants, England & Wales (FCCA) and a Non Executive Director of Raphael Fishing Company Limited, a company incorporated in Mauritius.
Non-executive directors
Walter Kansteiner, III
MA., M.T.S., Non-executive Chairman
Walter Kansteiner, III
MA., M.T.S., Non-executive Chairman
Mr. Kansteiner has over twenty years’ experience with African and emerging market business issues. A founding principal of The Scowcroft Group, he has advised corporations on a wide range of mergers, acquisitions and privatisations throughout Africa and has been involved with transactions in telecommunications, forestry, mining, financial services, healthcare and aviation services. Previously, Mr. Kansteiner served three years as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. In this capacity, he was responsible for U.S. foreign policy in Africa. From 1980 to 1986, Mr. Kansteiner was executive vice president of a commodity trading and processing company, which specialised in tropical commodities (coffee, cocoa and sugar). In addition to his business experience in emerging markets, from 1989 to 1992, Mr. Kansteiner served in the U.S. government as the Director of African Affairs on the National Security Council staff. He also served as the Africa specialist on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, and with the Department of Defense as a member of the strategic minerals task force. He holds graduate degrees in international economics and ethics from American University and Virginia Theological Seminary, respectively. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, chairs the Africa Policy Advisory Panel (a congressionally mandated advisory group) and serves on various boards in the U.S. and Africa.Rod Baker
MSc., Non-executive Director
Rod Baker
MSc., Non-executive Director
Mr. Baker has worked for thirty five years as a mineral exploration geologist in many countries in five continents. He started his professional career in North Sea gas as a geologist before joining the Anglo American Corporation to work in southern Africa. He then joined a South African consulting group and carried out work for clients such as Rio Tinto, Selection Trust, U.S. Steel, Falconbridge and Billiton on a number of commodities. In 1981, he became an independent consultant working largely for the United Nations and other clients in Africa, India and the Americas. For the last sixteen years he has been mostly engaged in pursuit of his own diamond and gold interests in South America. He has a long familiarity with Sierra Leone and West Africa. He was also a founding director of Diamond Field Resources Inc. Mr. Baker received a B.Sc. in geology from Nottingham University and an M.Sc. in mineral exploration from Leicester University.Mr. Alex B. Kamara
B.Sc. Mech., B.Sc. Elec., P.Eng.
Mr. Alex B. Kamara
B.Sc. Mech., B.Sc. Elec., P.Eng.
Alex is 68 years old and a Sierra Leonean national. Mr. Kamara has considerable experience in the mining industry and in mechanical and electrical engineering. Mr. Kamara was Head of Engineering at SRL 1982 to 1995, and head of the management team at the Sierra Leonean National Power Authority from 2000-2002.Mr.Kamara is a Non-Executive Director of Cemmats Group, a Sierra Leonean company which has a number of contracts for the supervision of the construction of Dredge 3 which is currently ongoing and the new power house at Sierra Rutile Limited.
Raju Jaddoo
Non Executive Director
Raju Jaddoo
Non Executive Director
Over the last eighteen years he has gained extensive experience undertaking assignments in developing countries across Africa and Eastern Europe involving balancing national and various macro-economic interests. He has also been involved in several local and international corporate finance transactions. Mr. Jaddoo has worked on a number of World Bank funded assignments by providing a broad range of economic, financial, organisational and socio-economic planning services to government and private industry. He has advised and assisted international industry experts in formulating innovative strategies in the provision of public services by the private sector (public private partnerships, executive agencies, contracting out, output based contracts) in diverse fields such as transportation and logistics, power, telecommunications, ports and airports, water and sanitation and environmental solid waste management. Mr. Jaddoo is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
François Colette
Non-Executive Director
François Colette
Non-Executive Director
Mr. Colette has more than 25 years experience in mining in Africa having worked for Gécamines and AMFI-Adastra. While at AMFI-Adastra he was in charge of their copper, cobalt and zinc projects, including Kolwezi Tailings. Between 1990 and 1996, Mr Colette worked as a consultant mainly to Sofremines (France) in relation to a number of copper, cobalt, zinc and gold projects in Romania, Russia, Kazakhstan, Zaire, and Cuba.
Senior management
Mark Button
Chief Operating Officer
Mark Button
Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Button has over 22 year’s experience of working in Africa in a variety of mining and geological roles. Mr. Button started his career with Gold Fields, as part of their Geology Training Scheme, where he spent 10 years as a geologist in South Africa.
Prior to joining TRG Mr. Button spent 12 years at Anglo American Plc, including 4 years as Mineral Resources Manager at Anglo Base Metals’ Namakwa Sands, heavy mineral sands deposit. Most recently he was Regional Geological Resources Manager at Anglo Coal’s Witbank Coalfields in South Africa. Additionally, Mr. Button has a Masters Degree from the University of the Free State (SA) in Mineral Resource Management.
Neil Gawthorpe
Marketing Director
Neil Gawthorpe
Marketing Director
Mr. Gawthorpe, who joined TRG as Sales & Marketing Manager in 2008, has more than 12 years experience in international industrial minerals marketing covering a broad range of products and end-use sectors, including the refractories, polymers, oil drilling, glass, water treatment, ceramics, paint, feed and pharmaceuticals markets.
After completing a degree in Mineral Engineering at the University of Leeds, Mr. Gawthorpe has held marketing and technical positions at a number of large international minerals producers and trading companies such as Redland PLC, Frank & Schulte GmbH and Minelco Group. He has significant experience of all aspects of marketing including managing bulk and container logistics and his background as a Mineral Engineer will enable him to continue supporting the work of the operations team at Sierra Rutile.
Prior to joining TRG, Mr. Gawthorpe ran an independent consultancy business sourcing and marketing a varied range of mineral products primarily for Chinese and Indian clients. Mr. Gawthorpe’s experience of Chinese and Indian markets will strengthen the Company’s ability to supply these important growth markets as production at Sierra Rutile increases.
Sahr Wonday
General Manager, Sierra Rutile
Sahr Wonday
General Manager, Sierra Rutile
Mr. Wonday is a first class honours graduate from the Royal School of Mines (ICL) and during his 25 years at SRL he has held a number of senior positions at SRL in a range of different areas. He is also a Chartered Certified Accountant in the UK. Mr. Wonday worked in each of the production plants of SRL prior to assuming control of its technical services department, which is responsible for geology, mine planning and development, plant metallurgy and laboratory services. Mr. Wonday has also been instrumental in the process design and commissioning of various retreatment plants that have boosted rutile production and profitability. A particularly notable achievement was the development and operation of a patented process for zircon flotation which significantly enhanced the production of rutile in the fine size range.