Our Team
Board of Directors
Robert Pett is a minerals economist with over 30 years’ experience working in exploration and mining. During this time, he has worked internationally in the resources sector at senior levels both in Australia and Africa. He has been involved with listed companies at all levels, from grass-roots exploration through to mine development, production and financing of more than ten mining projects globally including East and West Africa and the construction of the Golden Pride Gold Mine in Tanzania.
He was founding Chairman of Resolute Mining Limited (gold mines and exploration Africa and Australia), Sapphire Mines Limited (gemstone mining and exploration), Reliance Mining Limited (nickel mining Kambalda), Senex Energy Limited (petroleum production and exploration) and director of several other mining and exploration companies operating in Africa, Asia and Australia in gold, base metals, petroleum and uranium.
Robert has also had an active involvement in education and community activities including over 10 years’ service to Murdoch University Western Australia as Senator and Chairman of their Resources (Finance) Committee.
Andrew Spinks has over 25 years’ professional experience in Australia, Asia and Africa on a range of commodities including speciality and industrial minerals.
Andrew has worked in a range of diverse roles across exploration through to successful project developments, and has held a number of board positions on both ASX and TSX.V listed companies.
Andrew was co-founder of TanzGraphite Pty Ltd and has been Managing Director of EcoGraf since its acquisition.
John Conidi is a Certified Practicing Accountant. He has over 20 years’ experience developing, acquiring and managing businesses in the technology and healthcare sectors. In his roles as Managing Director of Capitol Health Limited, Mr Conidi’s role drove its sustained expansion, increasing its market capitalisation.
John has extensive interests in the graphite sector. He is an experienced investor specialising in technology and resources and is the Chairman of 333D Limited that with EcoGraf, jointly owns 3D Graphtech Industries Pty Ltd.
Management
Howard Rae is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years’ experience in acquiring, developing, financing and operating a range of businesses in Australia, Canada, Asia, Africa and Europe.
His career includes Chief Financial Officer roles with a number of successful ASX listed companies active internationally in the precious and base metals, steel-making materials and industrial minerals sectors, together with Directorships of several unlisted and not-for-profit organisations.
During this time, he’s been responsible for new business development, joint ventures, structuring and negotiating corporate, project and infrastructure funding transactions, sales and marketing, risk management and implementing business improvement programs.
Dale Harris is an accomplished resource’s executive with over 30 years’ experience across multiple commodities.
During a career of almost 20 years with Rio Tinto, Mr Harris held progressively more senior roles in Australia and overseas in the areas of business planning and analysis, project development, construction and commissioning, mining and mineral processing operations, business development, asset management, integrated planning, automation, and business improvement.
At Rio Tinto Iron Ore he held the role of Chief Operating Officer as well as several General Manager roles where his responsibilities included the successful operation and continuous improvement of multiple mines and infrastructure networks during a period of rapid expansion. He was the inaugural General Manager of the state-of-the-art remote operations centre in Perth and was responsible for the roll-out of the Lean Six Sigma improvement program.
He was subsequently appointed Managing Director of Gindalbie Metals Limited and then Chief Executive Officer of its Karara Mining Joint Venture, successfully turning-around the ramp-up of its multibillion-dollar mid-west magnetite mining and beneficiation development. More recently, Mr Harris was a Director of global engineering group Hatch, where he was responsible for leading the Perth office during a period of significant expansion and growth. During this time Dale and the Hatch team worked with clients across multiple sectors on the development, construction, optimisation and management of complex battery minerals, bulk commodity, and base metal projects in Australia and overseas.
Christer Mhingo is a highly skilled, dynamic and motivated geologist, experienced in working with exploration and mining companies across a range of commodities in Africa and overseas.
She holds a Bachelor of Science (Geology) Degree from the University of Dar es Salaam, which included a focus on project management and development.
She has led a number of successful projects in Tanzania and has been involved with a number of ASX and LSE listed companies from grass-roots exploration to operations, holding multiple roles covering project acquisition advice, Government liaison, community and stakeholder engagement, tenement management, business permitting and compliance, business development, exploration and project development.
Christer is the Executive Director and co-founder of Azurite Management and Consultancy Limited, a business that advises mining and exploration companies from Australia, Asia, Europe, America and Africa operating in Tanzania and East Africa. As a member of the University of Dar es Salaam alumni, she has also been actively involved with mentoring programs at the University’s School of Mines and Geosciences.
Karen Logan is a Chartered Secretary with extensive compliance, capital raising, merger and acquisition, IPO and backdoor listing experience in a diverse range of industries including resources, technology, media, health care and life science. She has assisted a substantial number of private start-ups and established businesses transition to being publicly-listed companies for over 15 years.
Karen is the founder and principal of a consulting firm and company secretary of a number of ASX-listed companies, providing corporate services to those clients.
John Hearne is a mining engineer by profession with over 35 years of experience spanning production roles to executive directorships with leading mining and consulting companies including Snowden, Wood (Amec Foster Wheeler), Coffey Mining, BHP Billiton, North Ltd, Henry and Walker, and Mount Isa Mines.
John's experience includes technical, supervisory and management roles at all stages of the mining lifecycle.
John has experience managing all facets of mining projects, from early stage studies through to full scale operations, for both underground & open cut operations.
Chrisjan van Wyk is a project manager with over 28 years' experience in the mining and minerals industry across multiple commodities. He has executed projects as an EPCM/EPC contractor project manager, and the last 14 years he has been the project manager for various mining companies like Kumba iron ore, Anglo Coal and Khoemacau Copper Mining. His experience includes the development of mega projects from concept, pre-feasibility, feasibility to implementation, commissioning and close out.
His expertise lies in developing project teams and determining the correct execution strategy for successful project implementation. As a project specialist he has a track record of leading multi discipline teams to delivering projects safely, within budget and schedule to stakeholder requirements.
Michael Chan has a degree in Minerals Engineering (University of Birmingham, England) and is a Chartered Engineer (London) with 35 years' experience in senior operations, project development and commercial roles for multi-national and ASX- listed companies across Africa, Asia and the United States.
Mr Chan has 8 years of graphite/spherical graphite/battery anode material project experience, 15 years extensive rare earth project experience as well as 13 years of titanium dioxide commercial development project experience.
During his time, he’s been responsible for the major test work programs, process flow sheet development, pilot processing and graphite product development, core technical marketing, process flow sheet design, establishing pilot scale facilities, developing full scale commercial plants and driving much of the detailed downstream test work in collaboration with end-users.
Marshall Hestelow is an accountant with over 30 years' experience in senior management roles within ASX listed mining companies, that are active both in Australia and internationally.
He has considerable experience in a broad range of financial, management, project development and administrative activities. During his time with EcoGraf he has assisted with project financial modelling, ASX and financial compliance and associated administrative activities.
David Cairns is a highly respected and qualified geologist with more than 40 years experience in exploration, development and mining.
Mr Cairns’ expertise lies in the evaluation and management of projects. He has been responsible for managing multidisciplinary teams on studies that led to the successful development of seven mineral projects in Australia and Africa.
He is experienced with a vast range of mineral commodities which includes graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper, chromite, gold, bauxite, uranium, rare earths, vanadium, iron ore and sapphires in a wide range of locations including Australia, China, Laos, Africa and North and South America.
Mr Cairns is a recognised industry leader who has served as Board director on a number of successful ASX listed exploration and mining companies that have produced gold, nickel and sapphires.
Jean is a highly accomplished executive who currently serves as EcoGraf's Korea representative. With a wealth of experience in international market development and marketing, Jean is responsible for championing EcoGraf's products, solutions, and investment opportunities to Korean stakeholders.
Before joining EcoGraf, Jean held the position of commissioner of the Western Australian Government office in South Korea for 12 years. During his tenure, he was directly involved in multi-billion dollar investment and trade deals, and he played a key role in elevating the relationship between Western Australia and Korea to an essential level. Prior to his role as commissioner, Jean represented several reputable US IT companies as a Korea country manager, where he gained extensive experience in managing international and Korean commercial operations with a focus on market development, sales, and marketing.
In addition to his impressive professional background, Jean is also a co-founder of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Korea, where he served as a board director and treasurer from its formation in 2009 until his retirement from the chamber in 2020.
Jean is an Australian citizen who received his Bachelor of Business degree from Curtin University in Western Australia and his Master of Business degree from Yonsei University in Korea. He also underwent intensive language training in Taipei, which enabled him to speak Korean, English, and Chinese (Mandarin) fluently.
Anna Vanderbruggen is a processing engineer from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Géologie in France and accomplished the EMerald Erasmus Mundus Masters program, focusing on characterization, processing and modelling in georesources engineering. After working with primary resources, she switched in 2018 to secondary materials with lithium-ion battery recycling. Currently, Anna Vanderbruggen is working for Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology as a researcher. Her work focuses on the joint recovery of lithium metal oxides and graphite from the spent black mass by using froth flotation and to reuse the recovered graphite in new batteries. In addition, she works for ERZLABOR Advanced Solutions GmbH as a process engineer, where she does consulting for recycling companies.
Larissa Kelly has over 12 years' experience in media, communications and marketing. She has worked with brands from a multitude of industry sectors including finance, not-for-profit, retail and resources. She has also been commissioned for a variety of local, State and Federal government projects.
Larissa holds skills and experience in implementing internal and external communications across multi-disciplinary mediums for both traditional and digital marketing to various stakeholders. Her background covers a range of executions from branding, websites, video and graphic design, to social media, digital marketing and events.
Mr South is an equity capital markets professional with over 15 years’ experience in stock broking, wealth management and corporate finance. He has worked in both WA owned and Australia wide wealth management firms.
Mr South has previously held the roles of Head of Retail Trading at a prominent WA wealth management firm DJ Carmichael and most recently a Director of Corporate Finance at Shaw and Partners. During this time, he advised several ASX listed resource companies on growth strategy, funding arrangements and stakeholder engagement.
Mr South holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Curtin University WA, with a finance major. He also holds a Diploma of Financial Planning.
Mr Drabble is a geologist with over 14 years’ experience in exploration and mining, with success taking projects from grassroots exploration to discovery, resource definition, feasibility studies and development. Mr Drabble has worked on a variety of projects in Australia, Africa and Asia, including the past eight years in Tanzania. During this period he has been engaged as EcoGraf’s lead geologist, managing exploration programs in Tanzania. His experience spans a wide range of commodities, including nickel, gold and industrial minerals.
In 2016, Mr Drabble founded Lithic Brewing, a UK craft brewery, where he held the position of Managing Director. He established and grew the brand before selling it and the product rights to a large regional brewery in the UK.
Mr Drabble is a member of AusIMM, a Fellow of The Geological Society of London and holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Environmental Earth Sciences.