As a metallurgical engineer (ULB, Brussels) Noël Masson was responsible for Research & Development at Vieille Montagne, Belgium’s most important zinc miner in modern times. In this position he developed several innovative methods for the processing of various types of zinc ore and for the production of zinc oxides. Noël later became CEO of Vieille Montagne and when this company merged with Union Minière, he became CEO of Union Minière. Noël later became Executive Director of Reunion Mining, a British junior mining and exploration company, developing the Skorpion mine (Namibia). Reunion Mining was ultimately taken over by Anglo American plc. Noël was also Executive chairman of AIM-listed ZincOx, developing the Shairmerden mine (Kazakhstan, sold to Kazzinc) and Jabali (Yemen) Zn-mines. Noël was the first chairman of IZA: International Zinc Association and was in charge of missions for the World bank to define the mining strategy of several African Countries.

Geert Trappeniers is an exploration geologist with 20 years’ experience in exploration, development and production management in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He was operations manager for ESCOM Mining in Angola, general manager of KDC in the Democratic Republic of Congo and exploration manager of Equator Gold in South Sudan. In 2004, Geert formed Skapto, a Belgium-based geological consulting and exploration services company. As a consultant he managed exploration programs for precious and base metals in West-Africa, Turkey and Europe. Geert was also director of AIM-listed base metals explorer Phoenix Global Mining Ltd.

Mark Parker is a geophysicist and exploration entrepreneur with 44 years’ experience in exploration and corporate management in Africa, Europe, South-East Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. He is managing director of Equator Gold Holdings Ltd, a Jersey-incorporated public company exploring for gold in South Sudan and is non-executive Chairman of IGS Ltd, a global geoscience consultancy and of Andiamo Exploration Ltd, a British exploration company active in Eritrea. Mark was founder and managing director until 2011 of African Eagle Resources plc, an AIM-listed company which discovered the 100 million tonne Dutwa nickel resource and other gold and copper deposits. He was responsible for African Eagle’s IPO in 2000, its admission to AIM in 2003 and its listing on the JSE AltX in 2007. He negotiated a significant investment into African Eagle by IFC, part of the World Bank, and agreed several joint ventures with major international mining companies. Companies he has led have raised more than GBP 40 million through equity subscriptions. Previously Mark worked in the British Geological Survey, Hunting Geology and Geophysics, Ark Geophysics and as a consultant. Mark is a Professional Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Competent Person for reporting exploration results.