The Board

Tunku Naquiyuddin
Non-Executive Chairman

Tunku Naquiyuddin (BSc Econs. Hons) is a prominent Malaysian businessman and is presently the Chairman of Sino Hua-An International Berhad, and Kian Joo Can Factory Berhad, both of which are  listed on Bursa Malaysia (formerly known as the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange).  He was formerly a Diplomat and represented the foreign mission of Malaysia in Paris. He is also a keen environmentalist and was a Committee Member for the World Wide Fund for Nature (Malaysia) and a council member of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Geneva.
Tunku Naquiyuddin’s was the founding chairman of The Federation of Public Listed Companies Berhad in Malaysia. He was also the head of the Malaysia-France Economic and Trade Association for 8 years. As chairman of the Alliance Francaise in Malaysia for over 18 years, he was instrumental in the promotion of Malaysia-France cultural and business links. In 1989 he was nominated by the Malaysian Minister of Finance to sit on the Committee of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange, an appointment he served for five years.

Mr Brian David Thomas
Non-Executive Director – Acting Chief Executive Officer

Mr Thomas is a geologist and mineral economist (BSc, MBA, SAFin, MAusIMM, MAICD) with more than 20 years of mining and exploration industry experience in a broad range of commodities from precious and base metals, bulk and industrial minerals, diamonds and oil and gas. This experience is complemented by twelve years in the Australian financial services sector working in corporate stockbroking, investment banking, funds management and with an Australian commercial bank, sourcing mining finance opportunities.

Mr Peter Beilby
Non-Executive Director

Mr Beilby is General Manager of Operations for Resolute Mining Limited. He is a qualified mining engineer with more than 25 years of operational and project experience in gold, base metals and mineral sands. Prior to joining Resolute in 2010, he was General Manager of Iluka’s Murray Basin minerals sands operations. He has a strong background in greenfields and brownfields development and operations management of both open cut and underground gold mines.

Mr John Welborn
Non-Executive Director

Mr Welborn is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Equatorial Resources Ltd, an ASX listed iron ore exploration and development company with projects in the Republic of Congo. Mr Welborn has extensive experience in the natural resources sector, as a senior executive in corporate management, finance and investment banking. He has held previous roles as managing director of a listed resources company, and as head of specialised lending in Western Australia for Investec Bank (Australia) Ltd. Mr Welborn is a Chartered Accountant who brings more than 15 years’ senior management experience gained with national and international professional services and management consulting firms.

Company Secretary

Mr Anthony Ho

Mr Anthony Ho has been the Company Secretary of Noble Mineral Resources Limited since April 2008.  Mr Ho graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1983 with Deloitte. Mr Ho is presently the principal of a consultancy practice specialising in providing corporate and financial services to ASX-listed companies.

Joint Co. Secretary

Mr Erik Palmbachs

Team in Perth

Mr Mark Laing
Chief Operating Officer

Mr Mark Laing is a qualified mining engineer with more than 25 years’ experience in project and operational management in Australia, South Africa and Indonesia. Prior to joining Noble in September 2011 as the Company’s Principal Mining Engineer, Mr Laing held  similar positions with a number of mining companies including OM Holdings, Minara, Thiess, Aurora Gold, St. Barbara and Dominion.

Mr Erik Palmbachs
Chief Financial Officer

Mr Erik Palmbachs is an experienced CFO and holds an MSc in Mineral Economics and a Bachelor of Business (Accounting). He is a member of the Australian Society of Accountants (AASA, CPA) ,a Fellow of Chartered Secretaries Australia (FICS) and also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD i.e. graduate).
He joined Noble as Chief Financial Officer in June, 2012, bringing more than 30 years’ experience, predominantly gained in in senior finance roles in the Australian resources sector. Mr Palmbachs has considerable experience in the financial management of listed gold companies, from start-up exploration through mergers and acquisitions to medium-sized producers. Prior to joining Noble, Mr Palmbachs was Chief Financial Officer of Catalpa Resources, where he played a key role in the company’s merger with Conquest Mining Limited resulting in the formation of a new mid-tier Australian gold company, Evolution Mining.

Mr Patrick Conway
Financial Controller

Mr Patrick Conway holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting and Finance) and is a member of the Australian Society of Accountants (AASA, CPA).  Mr Conway has more than 8 years’ experience, and prior to joining Noble in October 2010, he held positions with a number of Chartered accounting firms, specialising in taxation and business advisory services.

Mr John Baiden
Financial Accountant

Mr John Baiden holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the University of Northampton UK.  He is also a member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants UK (ACCA) and an associate member of CPA Australia.  Mr Baiden joined Noble in 2012 from L-3 Nautronix-Fremantle where he was the Project Accountant.  He has experience in the Ghanaian mining industry where he worked for Abosso Goldfields now owned and operated by Goldfields, before leaving in 2002 for further his studies in the UK.

Mrs Marie-Françoise Scott
Office and Administration Manager

Mrs Marie-Françoise Scott is an experienced administrator with a career spanning 20 years in government and private industry. Recently she has worked as a senior administrator working for a number of listed companies in Australia’s resources and oil & gas sectors. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Sorbonne University, Paris and is fluent in French. Mrs Scott joined the Company’s head office in Perth in 2012.

Team in Ghana

Mr Paul Gyasi
Executive Director

Mr Gyasi holds an M.A from the University of Greenwich and is a Chartered Management Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in (Ghana).  He has considerable experience in finance and extensive in-country knowledge. His previous roles include as Administration Manager for Golden Star Resources, and Chief Accountant and Treasurer with Abosso Goldfields (Ranger Minerals) where he was responsible for managing the Finance Department and the company’s liquidity in London and the Ghanaian Money Markets.  While at Abosso, Mr Gyasi was instrumental in developing a number of SME’s in the mining community and offered free business advisory services to many companies in and around Tarkwa. Mr Gyasi is a partner of KAP Consultancy, a management consultancy firm in Ghana.

Mr Roger Bannister
Executive Manager Operations

Stewart Ramsey (Roger) Bannister has 25 years of experience in the global mining sector, specialising in plant, process, equipment and operations management. Since commencing his mining career for White Flag JV in 1989, he has held numerous senior roles in plant management, process engineering, mill management, and mining operations, working for a number gold mining companies in Western Australia, Queensland, the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea and Armenia, with consulting roles in Zimbabwe, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Alaska. He has been based in Ghana, West Africa since 2009, working on Owere Mines Ltd’s Konongo Gold Project prior to joining Noble Minerals in 2012.