Before I started with Kenmare in January 2015 we spent 18 years in southern Africa. It was a culture shock to be back in the northern hemisphere.
I was brand new on the block and Kenmare was in the deepest of trouble but it was a risk very much worth taking – a good move professionally and personally.
Growing up in Lincolnshire I was always an outdoor type. I did not want to end up cooped up in an office, I liked geography and science so I studied Applied Geology at Leicester.
University was fun and where I met my wife Joanne – now a teacher in Dublin. My team would probably say I am a hard driver but ‘work hard, play hard’ has always been my motto.
My degree set me up to work in mineral exploration but as my career progressed I moved out of geology and from 2004 stopped being a specialist and started managing teams for the mines.
I was reminded this year how much I loved the university environment when I did an advanced management program at Harvard. Two months of pure learning, including five weeks in-class lectures at Harvard with 165 other delegates. It was an amazing experience and a privilege to take that time off and have colleagues cover for me. I took away an incredible amount I can use in Kenmare, and in what I learned about myself.
I was supposed to do it in 2019, but we were in the middle of our turnaround growth strategy then and in hindsight it was much better to wait.
Out of Africa
I worked for two years as a junior geologist for a company in the UK running drill rigs and then did a Masters at the Camborne School of Mines which led me to South Africa with Rio Tinto to work in the mineral sands industry.
I went for three months for my thesis and stayed 18 years working up from assistant geologist, to superintendent to manager of the mineral separation plant in Richards Bay.
When I went off to be general manager for three years at a sister mine in Madagascar in 2009, this was the first place I could say was my patch, I had whole accountability.
Looking back, it was quite the adventure – our son went to the French school there and my daughter was born while we lived in Madagascar. It was really very basic but it was fantastic.
In 2013, I was sent back to Richards Bay for a bigger job looking after five mines but going back to my old company was not what I wanted to do.
Titanium
I was not actively looking but I was ready for change when a headhunter on a tour looking for the Kenmare role came calling. I met him in Durban, and then met Michael (Carvill), the MD of Kenmare, on his way to their Moma mine in Mozambique. He had a vision I found compelling.
I knew we had a lot to do as Kenmare was not in a great place, the markets were low, we would have to work hard to survive.
When I started, management had the recovery plan in place. Back then I was less in the strategy and more in the delivery and survival mode.
We recapitalised in 2016 and progressed through a plan of improvement which came to a head end of 2020. Last year was a record year. We improved capacity and this week Moma achieved 10 million hours worked without any lost time to injury. When we can improve capacity and safely it is so gratifying.
Biking to work
In Dublin I’m up at 6.15am, do a routine check of the production numbers on my phone, shower and then it’s my job to get everyone down and breakfast set up – the kids would rather watch a TikTok than eat breakfast so I chase them down and then Joanne gets up, I eat some toast or cereal and get out of the house.
I cycle to work, 12km each way. Life is busy and cycling is my main exercise. I find it relaxing and enjoy it though I’ve had a few accidents. I keep a bike at the guesthouse at our mine in Mozambique so I get my exercise when I’m working there.
I aim to leave the office around six, be home for seven and I try not to work later on. I need to recharge my batteries. I’d rather do a couple of hours on a Saturday morning than work evenings, though when travelling I often just continue working weekends.
Mining a deep seam
When I’m at the mine I’m busy looking at the mining plants, at the future mining areas, and the drill rig. The employees are very proud to show it off, to display their hard work.
I love being there and don’t find it lonely, I’m an open person and get on well with people. With some employees flying in for eight weeks to work at the mine it’s very important to form a relationship.
We have created a culture where people work and socialise together. Those informal chats around a barbeque, over a drink or coffee in the evening are important.
Before Covid I would go to our mine in Mozambique around six or eight times a year but we have learned we can deal with lots on Zoom so I will go a little less frequently now, but still every couple of months as it’s a moving mine, things are always changing and I need to be on the ground.
Kenmare always had a strong ESG focus, another reason I wanted to work there. They look after the local communities and hire from them and we are fortunate in the development of our mine that 90pc of our electricity is zero carbon. For the rest we have commissioned a project to ensure uninterrupted clean power from the grid in the summer months, when storms affect supply, so we don’t have to use the diesel generator.
Long-term future
I have my foot in two camps, one in Mozambique and one in my corporate role where I liaise with investors, work on corporate reporting and interact with marketing and sales. Board meetings are every month and in meetings I am the rep of the mine.
Around 70pc of my time is spent focusing on the mine.
My day is split into the short-term where I’m looking at targets and liaising with the site team, looking at problems and solutions.
Then there is the strategic process. Mining is a depleting industry, you have to create new assets and move them when you are running out of ore.
We are back in the office now three or four days a week and I much prefer going in. It’s far more productive not to have to make an appointment for a quick conversation. I prefer meeting my colleagues in person.
Best of both worlds
We were happy for our kids to be educated in South Africa but we both wanted to live nearer our elderly parents in the UK and now we get to see them more.
The kids integrated easily into their schools and most of my life outside work is spent ferrying them to their hockey, Gaelic football and hurling.
We did struggle with the Irish. Joanne needs to learn it to get a permanent teaching role and my son missed the exemption and is getting by – after learning Zulu, Afrikaans and French – he is managing but will never be a linguist when it comes to the Irish.
Life is good for us in Ireland; we do miss South Africa but we kept our holiday home in Hermanus and it was lovely to visit at Easter for the first time in two-and-a-half years.
