Directors and Management

Christopher Hall, BSc, MSc (age 62)

Non-Executive Chairman

Christopher Hall has over 39 years of wide ranging experience in the mining sector. He is currently the in-house mining adviser to Grant Thornton LLP, principally assisting the Capital Markets team with clients listed on London Stock Exchange and the AIM market.

After graduating in geology, Christopher worked in exploration and as a mine geologist with Consolidated Goldfields in Australia, before returning to the UK to take an M.Sc. in Mining and Exploration Geology. This was followed by periods as a mining analyst with stockbroker Messel & Co, in the investment and mining divisions of Anglo American associate Charter Consolidated where he was involved in the acquisition and management of tin, tungsten, coal and quarrying companies, and in specialist resources fund management with Touche Remnant. He helped to establish European Mining Finance, an international mining finance and investment company, which was the first resource company to list on AIM, serving as CEO from 1991-97. After leaving EMF he has worked as a consultant, spending three years managing the UK office of international mining consultants Behre Dolbear, before joining Grant Thornton in 2005. He has been a director of numerous private and listed companies and his experience enables him to make a contribution across the whole spectrum of technical, financial and corporate aspects of the mining business.

Bob Foster, BSc, PhD, FIMM, CEng, FGS,CGeol (age 63)

Chief Executive Officer

Bob Foster has 37 years of experience as a professional economic geologist in exploration, mining, and applied academic posts and has particular expertise in the genesis of and exploration for gold deposits, having worked in Europe, Central Asia, North and South America, and throughout Africa. Following ten years in the mining industry in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) he joined Southampton University in 1984 where he subsequently devoted more than 15 years to lecturing and managing a large applied research group investigating ore-forming processes and mineral exploration strategies on regional and area scales and within operating mines. He has published numerous scientific and technical papers and has been an invited keynote speaker at very many international scientific and technical conferences around the world.

During his time at Southampton University he also undertook numerous consultancy projects with major and junior mining companies and was a founding member of the management team of Pan-African Mining Pvt Ltd that developed the open pit Ayrshire gold mine in Zimbabwe in 1991-1996. He also directed a major gold exploration programme for associated company Pan-Reef Mining in Zimbabwe during 1994-1996. For six years prior to joining Stratex, Bob was Minerals Manager for UK-based international consultancy group Exploration Consultants Limited.

David Hall, BSc, MSc (age 53)

Executive Director for East Africa

David Hall is a graduate in geology from Trinity College Dublin and holds a Masters Degree in Mineral Exploration from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. He has 30 years of experience in the exploration sector and has worked on and assessed exploration projects and mines in over 50 countries including Turkey where he worked for four and half years. From 1992, he was Chief Geologist for Minorco responsible for Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Middle East. He moved to South America in 1997 as Consultant Geologist for Minorco South America, subsequently became Exploration Manager for AngloGold South America in 1999.

David is founder and Non-Executive Chairman of AIM-listed Horizonte Minerals plc. David co-founded Stratex in 2004 and played a key role in assembling the Board and management team that has led to the successful discovery of gold mineralization in Turkey and Ethiopia.

Perry Ashwood, FCA, (aged 63)

Chief Financial Officer

Perry Ashwood qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1971, training with Spain Brothers & Co. and KPMG. Shortly after qualifying he spent 5 years with British Oxygen Ltd in their Corporate Office before moving to Rank Xerox Ltd in 1978. Perry was with Xerox for 20 years and held various positions ranging from Group Chief Accountant to Finance Director, Central & Eastern Europe. During his time with Xerox, he held both technical accounting roles, including involvement in internal controls and audit, and operational roles with extensive involvement in: Turkey; Egypt; India and Russia. He also spent 3 years on assignment in the USA at corporate headquarters as Manager, Xerox Business Arrangements where his major focus was on acquisitions, divestments and joint ventures. He joined Intermec International Inc in 1998 as Finance Director, Europe, Middle East & Africa before becoming an independent consultant in 2000 taking on various interim roles with small to medium sized businesses.

John Cole-Baker (aged 64)

Executive Director for West Africa

John graduated in Civil engineering from Queen's University, Belfast, and subsequently earned a Master's degree at Imperial College, London. With over 40 years of experience, John has been involved in infrastructure and mining development projects, at various levels up to Project Director, as well as restructuring projects in Africa, Europe, the Former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and the Indian sub-continent. Since the 1990's, John has been Director of a number of consultancy companies including CSA Group Ltd, IMC Ltd, and Mackay & Schnellmann Ltd, and prior to that was the Managing Director of the exploration company BUMINCO. John has had significant involvement in advising governments and restructuing overnment institutions in a number of countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. His understanding of the minerals industry and its investment criteria has resulted in his appointment as an advisor to UNCTAD. He is fluent in French and has a good working knowledge of Spanish.  

Peter Addison, (aged 69)

Non-Executive Director

Peter Addison qualified as a solicitor in 1966 and practiced in the City of London, originally with Linklaters & Paines and subsequently with Norton Rose, specialising in company and commercial law. In 1982, he became a director of English Trust, a corporate advisory bank, and for some twenty years was involved in providing corporate finance advice to a wide range of public companies in the UK and Ireland on all aspects of their businesses. He is currently non-executive chairman of SiRViS IT plc, a UK company.

Mr Bahri Yildiz, BSc (age 57)

General Manager Turkey

Bahri Yildiz is a Turkish national with an industrial career spanning 31 years dedicated to mineral exploration and mining geology throughout Turkey. A geology graduate of the Middle East Technical University, Bahri commenced his career in 1980 with the government's General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) where he spent ten years managing a wide range of projects relating to exploration for precious and base metals. This was followed by three years as Exploration Manager with Turkish company Yurttaslar Madencilik before he joined Dardanel Madencilik, the Turkish subsidiary of major Canadian mining company Inco Ltd in 1992 as Senior Geologist. During his final four years with Dardanel he was Exploration Manager and responsible for generating and supervising a wide range of exploration programmes throughout Turkey. Following closure of the Turkish office in 2003 he became an independent consultant before joining Stratex in April 2005.

Franco Maranzana (age 79)

General Manager Djibouti

A professional economic geologist for over 50 years, Franco has worked in over 100 countries for governments, international organizations, multinationals and as a consultant, mainly in mineral exploration, country potential assessment, negotiations and also on natural risks and themes of international cooperation.