ECO METALS RECOVERY - Key Persons


Alastair Macfarlane

Job Titles:
  • Mining Engineer
  • Mining Industry Consultant
Alastair is a mining engineer with 47 years of mining experience who graduated from Camborne School of Mines in 1973. He has extensive experience in senior and executive management positions in the mining industry, consults to many mining companies within the sector locally and internationally in areas of mine optimisation, mine planning and mine feasibility. He is a visiting senior lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. In addition, he is an Independent Non-Executive Director Implat Platinum. Co-Founder and past Co-Director of the Mandela Mining Precinct. Past Council Member Association of Mine Managers of South Africa. Past Board Member Mining Equipment Manufacturers of South Africa (MEMSA). Founding Member of International Mineral Valuation Committee (IMVAL) and former chair of the SAMVAL Committee. Immediate Past President, Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Alejandro Solis

Job Titles:
  • Management Accountant
Alejandro is a finance professional with great attention to detail, who has more than 15 years of experience working at international enterprises in the fields of accounting, finance and administration. He has developed throughout his professional path skills in financial control policies, budgets, financial models and full-cycle accounting processes. Alejandro's main passion is to help entrepreneurs in their exciting journey providing guidance to achieve sustainable growth in their businesses. Alejandro holds a MSc. in Economics from the University of Essex, and a BSc. in Finance from the University of Mobile.

Dean Ackerman

Job Titles:
  • Lead Engineer
Dean has 33 years of experience in the mining industry, specialising in the extraction of high value particles from run of mine material feed. His particular strength and skill-set lies in the design and optimisation of particulate extraction machinery and he is highly skilled and successful in the development of novel concepts, followed by the fundamental research and development. He spent 10 years at Boart Longyear, a division of Anglo American, designing under-ground rock drilling equipment and then 21 years at DeBeers helping to design novel marine mining tools and methods, for the extraction of diamondiferous gravels from the seabed.

Mike Grummitt

Job Titles:
  • Consultant
  • Mining Engineer
Mike is a Mining Engineer with 40+ years of operational, technical, project and consulting experience, and holds an Associateship from the Camborne School of Mines (ACSM). He's spent several decades leading the Technical Services of various mines at BCL Limited, to Barrick Gold to working as the Senior Mining Engineer in the Mining Section of Engineering Group TWP in Johannesburg. His work led him to spend time in numerous countries across the African continent and experience a vast array of technically challenging environments and situations. This is an invaluable experience that EMR relies on Mike to provide.

Rebecca Campbell

Job Titles:
  • Outside Counsel
Rebecca is a mining and metals sector expert who brings an industry-focused approach to every aspect of her work. She has forged her expertise as in-house counsel at BHP Billiton and in private practice at top law firms in Australia, New York and London. Rebecca brings her knowledge and experience to a broad range of transactions across the mining & metals sector globally, regularly taking the lead on financing, M&A/corporate, project development and restructuring transactions, as well as operational improvement and best practice projects for corporate clients. Rebecca is known for her unparalleled knowledge of the commercial, technical and political aspects of the mining and metals sector and her ability to deftly integrate these with the legal considerations on any given matter for her clients. Rebecca holds first class degrees in Law and Biochemistry from the University of Melbourne.

Richard Verkley - Chairman

Job Titles:
  • Chairman
Richard is passionate about developing environmentally and ecologically friendly mining, equipment and technology companies. Richard helped open some of the first AlphaGraphics in Canada and trained locations in Russia and the UK. He grew a Canadian business consulting franchise to 96 offices in three years and expanded globally. He excels at implementing unique growth strategies, and successfully bringing new concepts to life in a multitude of industries. Richard has an ability to generate strong business plans with market opportunity in mind and builds expert teams to support his vision.

Robert van der Zalm - CEO

Job Titles:
  • CEO
Robert is a proven business turnaround and change leader, with over 30 years' experience in 11 countries. He has extensive commercial finance and M&A skills and has a passion for building new teams. He was Group CFO of Noble Group, the Asian listed trading company with $90+ Billion turnover, CFO of BHP Billiton's Global Aluminium business and SVP Finance in Shell of Shell's Gas and Power Trading business. He also held a number of senior finance roles in Unilever. Robert holds a first class Chemistry degree from Oxford University.

Sean Goodwin

Job Titles:
  • Patent Attorney
Sean has played for over 40 years in engineering and patent law. In engineering, he designed equipment and managed various projects for hydrocarbon extraction and hazardous waste processing in North America and abroad. In his boutique patent firm, Sean applied his broad understanding of diverse technologies to support world-leading innovators. Having transitioned his IP team to a full-service law firm, Sean now picks his adventures. Sean holds a B.Sc. in Engineering, a LL.M. in IP Law, and CA and US Patent Agent qualifications.