Our Team
Stephen Penrose
Chairman
Mr Penrose is the managing partner of Tottle Partners, specialising in in corporate and commercial litigation. He graduated from UWA with a BCom/LLB and was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 1992. He acts for a broad range of commercial clients ranging from small family-owned businesses through to ASX-listed entities. His clients include mining companies, high-net-worth individuals, not-for-profit groups as well as professional services firms. He is an experienced non-executive director having served on the boards of a number of listed companies, however he is not currently a director of any other ASX listed companies at this time.
Ian Hobson
Company Secretary
Mr Hobson is a Fellow Chartered Accounted and Chartered Secretary. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the areas of corporate finance, governance, corporate accounting, company secretarial and restructuring advice. He was a director of Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Ferrier Hodgson Chartered Accountants before specializing in providing company secretarial and corporate accounting services to listed entities.
Sean Gregory
Managing Director
Mr Gregory is a seasoned mining executive with more than 25 years experience in minerals exploration, development and mining in Iron Ore, Gold, Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, and Graphite in Western Australia and abroad. The last 7 years has been at CEO and board level of listed ASX mining companies SGA, KFE, GSN, and BAR. This built on an early career with BHP, MMX and MIN developing iron ore and lithium operations. His practical mining experience is well complemented by a strong academic background including a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Geology (UWA), MBA (UWA), Advanced Mergers and Acquisitions Program (Melb Uni) and Corporate Company Directors Course Award (AICD).
Sarkis Akopov
Chief Financial Officer
Mr Akopov is a Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) with over 10 years of experience in finance, delivering financial services to several ASX-listed companies through his role at LCP Corporate Pty Ltd. Fluent in both English and Russian, Sarkis plays a vital role as the bridge between the Company’s Australian operations and its Kazakh subsidiaries, ensuring seamless communication and strict adherence to regulatory requirements across jurisdictions.
Beyond his commercial expertise, Sarkis demonstrates a strong commitment to the non-profit sector, serving as Board Treasurer at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) and ReMida Perth. He has attained GAICD designation.
Dr Waldemar Mueller
Non Executive Director
Dr. Mueller has over 40 years’ experience in exploration and valuation of mineral resources. The last 20 years he has worked on various leadership positions with mineral exploration companies in Germany (projects in Brazil & Kazakhstan), in Canada (projects in Russia & Kazakhstan), in Australia (projects in Kyrgyzstan, Georgia & Kazakhstan). He has a strong background in gold and base metals deposits of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. He is a Competent Person as defined in JORC Code. He was also the exploration director of the ASX company Central Asia Resources Ltd from 2005 to 2009
Antonio De Assis
General Sales and Marketing Director
Mr De Assis has extensive experience in sales and marketing of graphite products globally. His most recent role has been as head of graphite sales at TSX listed South Star Battery Metals who have now commissioned their Santa Cruz graphite mine in Brazil. Prior to that he has an extensive career in marketing industrial materials including the last 15 years specialising in selling graphite for Unimetal Group Brazil, Technografit Germany, Syrah Resources Mozambique, and Nacional De Grafite Brazil.
Martyn Buttenshaw
Non Executive Director
Mr Buttenshaw is an experienced mining executive based in Switzerland. He is presently a Director with NASDAQ listed Stardust Power Inc. and TSX-V listed Ranchero Gold Corp and has previously served as Director for listed companies Atacama Copper Ltd (TSX-V), Kasbah Resources Ltd (ASX), Atlantic Tin Ltd (ASX), Asian Mineral Resources (TSX-V), and Sierra Rutile Ltd (AIM).
Following an early career as a Mining Engineer with Rio Tino, Anglo American and others, Mr Buttenshaw joined Swiss based mining focused investment company Pala Investments Ltd for 10 years, rising to the position of Managing Director. He was then Managing Director and Operating Partner with New York based Antarctica Capital LLC.
He holds an MBA from London Business School, a Masters in Mining Engineering from the Imperial College London, is a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering Council, and is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining.
Arkadiy Ligay
Project Manager
Mr Ligay is an Engineer and certified Project Management Professional with more than 10 years experience. His previous employers include the state owned mining company Tau Ken Samruk and the largest copper producer in Kazakhstan, Kazakhmys. He is degree qualified in Law, Engineering and Economics from Kazakh universiries and Louisiana Technical University. Mr Ligay leads the Sarytogan team in our Karaganda office.
