Team

 

Bert Monro
Chief Executive Officer & Director

Bert was originally appointed a director of Cora in 2017 & took up the role of Chief Executive Officer in 2020.

Bert has significant experience in both the resource sector & the City. Most notably, he spent over 10 years at Hummingbird Resources plc (AIM:HUM), holding several roles including Operations Manager, Country Manager & Head of Business Development as the company transitioned from a private pre-resource explorer through to a listed gold miner with over 6 Moz of gold resources in West Africa.

Craig Banfield
Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary

Craig co-founded Cora in 2012 & since then has held the position of Company Secretary.

Craig is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, & has been involved in the administration, financing & financial control of both private & public mineral exploration & development companies since 1994, the majority of which has been with African focused groups.

Siaka Koumare
Country Manager

Siaka is an exploration geologist with over 20 years of practical field experience in West Africa. Since 1996 Siaka has been continuously involved in mineral exploration programmes for gold in West Africa & has worked for a number of successful Canadian & British companies in Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) & Senegal. Since the inception of Cora in 2012 he has held the dual role in Mali of both Country Manager & Exploration Manager. Siaka’s practical exploration ability is complemented by a good knowledge of exploration software, planning, budgetary & management skills, & he is multilingual (French, English & Russian).

Djibril Sanogo
ESG Manager

Djibril has over 15 years' experience overseeing environmental and community management for mining companies in Mali.

He previously worked for several large gold mining companies, including AngloGold Ashanti and Resolute Mining.

Murray Paterson 
Head of Geology

Murray is an accomplished technical geologist with 30 years of experience. He has worked in all aspects of geological related disciplines, from exploration, mineral resources, mine geology and feasibility studies, and across multiple metal commodities and locations. Murray has held previous roles working in West Africa, primarily at the start of operations, including at Syama Gold Mine in Mali under Randgold ownership and more recently at Hummingbird’s Yanfolila Gold Mine in Mali.

Lourens Steenekamp
Project Director

Lourens is an experienced mining professional with a career spanning over three decades. Having begun his mining career with Gold Fields, he held engineering roles in Ghana and Tanzania where he progressed to construction projects. More recently, he has worked as Project Manager on various projects including a greenfield oxide operation at the Syama and Tabakaroni mines in Mali for Resolute Mining and in a Project Manager role at Sissingue and Fimbiasso mines for Perseus Mining in the Côte d'Ivoire.

Ed Bowie
Non-Executive Director (Independent) & Chair of the Board

Ed was appointed a director of Cora in 2019 & later that year took up the role of Chair of the Board.

Ed has over 25 years' experience within the wider natural resources industry. He started his career with SAMAX Gold in Tanzania before going on to work in equity research, corporate finance roles, & then serving as fund manager for Altus Capital Limited’s two mining funds. More recently he served as Head of Business Development at London-listed Amara Mining plc, managing the process that led to the company’s acquisition, and Head of Business Development at Brazilian gold producer Serabi Gold plc. Ed is currently chief executive officer of Beowulf Mining plc (AIM:BEM; Spotlight:BEO).

Andrew Chubb
Non-Executive Director (Independent)

Andrew was appointed a director of Cora in 2020.

Andrew is a Partner & Head of Mining at natural resources focused investment bank Hannam & Partners. Previously Andrew was a Managing Director at Canaccord Genuity, where he worked for 8 years in the natural resources team. He has a broad range of international corporate finance, restructuring, capital markets & M&A experience focusing on the metals, mining & natural resources sectors. Prior to joining Canaccord Genuity he spent 4 years with law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.

Paul Quirk
Non-Executive Director

Paul was appointed a director of Cora in 2017.

Paul has over 10 years' operational experience in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), having worked as Country Manager of MPD Congo SA (Zanaga Iron Ore Company) which listed on AIM in 2010. He started his own logistics company in the Congo, Fortis Logistique Limited. Paul co-founded Lionhead Capital Advisors Proprietary Limited (‘Lionhead’), a principal investment firm that invests private capital into attractive long-term opportunities. Paul is the head of resources strategy & a director at Lionhead. Prior to co-founding Lionhead, Paul founded Fortis Logistique, a leading FMCG logistics business in West Africa.

Adam Davidson
Non-Executive Director (Independent)

Adam was appointed a director of Cora in 2025.

Adam has extensive experience in the natural resources sector, most recently as Founder & CEO of Trident Royalties, which was acquired in 2024 by Deterra Royalties, an ASX-200 company. Adam’s experience extends to mining capital markets, having worked for Resource Capital Funds, a leading mining-focused private equity firm, as well as BMO Capital Markets, and Orica Mining Services. Adam currently serves on the board of South Atlantic Gold Inc (TSX-V:SAO) and was previously a Non-Executive Director of RG Gold, a private gold producer.

A graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, he holds an MBA from the College of William & Mary and completed a post-graduate in Mining Studies from the University of Arizona.

David Pelham
Technical Adviser

David is a mineral geologist with over 40 years’ global exploration experience. He has overseen the discovery & early evaluation of the +6 Moz Chirano Gold Mine in Ghana, as well as the 4.2 Moz Dugbe Gold Project in Liberia. He has been closely involved with a number of major discoveries of gold, copper-cobalt, coal, iron ore, chrome & uranium. These discoveries add up to over 100 Moz of gold equivalent. David is also a non-executive director of Oriole Resources plc (AIM:ORR).

Frikkie Fourie
Mining Consultant

Frikkie has over 10 years of experience in both operational and consulting roles within the Mining Industry, holding positions at companies such as Minxcon, Coffey International, and Asanko Gold.

A graduate of the University of Pretoria, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mining and Mineral Engineering, and is registered as a Professional Engineer at the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSE).