Bruno Camarri
Bruno Camarri (Chairman) is a senior member of Freehills' national Energy and Resources team. He was a partner of Freehills from 1973 to 2003. In 1999 and 2000 the Euromoney Legal Group Survey nominated Bruno as one of the world's leading energy and resources lawyers.
Currently he is Deputy Chairman of United Group Limited and a director of LinQ Capital Limited, and Australian representative director of the Australian subsidiaries of Nippon Oil (oil exploration), Nucor Inc. (iron ore processing), and Agrium Inc. (fertilisers).
George White
George White (Managing Director) has wide-ranging management experience in mining, minerals processing and energy. Within three years of his appointment as environmental officer for Alcoa of Australia Ltd in 1971 he had built a multi-disciplinary environmental department of over twenty professionals and engendered a culture which resulted in Alcoa being the first mining company in the world to receive a United Nations environment award. By 1979, as Alcoa's Manager of Mines and Environment, he was accountable for operational and Environmental management of all that company's Australian bauxite mines.
After a period with the Department of Resources Development in Western Australia, latterly as Executive Director-Energy, George became Managing Director of Doral Resources NL, subsequently Devex Limited, which acquired the Tubridgi and Woodada gas fields, the Tallawang magnetite mine, the Gympie gold mine and the Young magnesite mine. All of the above were brought into successful and substantial profitable operation under his stewardship.
He founded Australian Fused Materials Pty Ltd. This operation attracted a takeover by the Japanese Iwatani Group. Subsequently, for Iwatani, George acquired a mothballed mineral sands operation near Bunbury, which is now operating profitably as Doral Mineral Sands Pty Ltd. He also acquired what is now Doral Specialty Chemicals Pty Ltd, a processor of specialised zirconium chemicals.
Colin Agnew
Colin Agnew (Director) was until recently the Director of Alumina Business Development for BHP Billiton Limited. In this role he was responsible for identifying and bringing to approval all future alumina/bauxite expansions within BHP Billiton.
He has a work history of managing complex chemical processing plants, where he has achieved substantial increases in profitability with low or zero capital cost and by reducing unit costs. The operations were characterised by superior health and safety performance, a high level of community engagement and best practice environmental management. He has held the top management position in a series of mining companies, including Worsley Alumina Pty Ltd, Nabalco Pty Limited and Bond Gold Australia Pty Ltd, where he was responsible for the start of the super pit in Kalgoorlie.
Colin is a mining engineer by profession, having graduated from the University of Queensland in 1967 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining). He also holds a Master of Administration from Sloan School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
John Keay
John Keay (Research and Business Development) heads up the company's Asian activities. These focus on the establishment of organisations and infrastructure capable of supporting the planting of over one billion Jatropha trees by 2013.
He has a PhD in chemistry and was formerly a Principal Research Scientist with the Division of Soils in CSIRO, where he worked on soil fertility and the mineral nutrition of plants. Subsequently he spent many years at Board level in the field of mineral exploration and development.
Allan Townsend
Allan Townsend (Senior Project Engineer) is a highly experienced professional engineer who spent much of his early career with BHP Engineering, latterly moving between roles as Engineering Manager and International Business Development Manager.
As a consultant, he has managed the design and start-up of a wide range of mining and chemical processing businesses, and has been responsible for a number of pioneering developments in his field.
Peter Newcomb
Peter Newcomb (Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary) is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.
He has held roles of Financial Controller, Company Secretary and Finance Director of companies in Australia, United Kingdom and Asia. He specialises in financial systems design and implementation.
Thai Management and Staff
Dr. Suthiporn Chirapanda (Senior Business Development Consultant Thailand) is the Company's principal advisor on technical and Government matters in Thailand.
The former Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr. Suthiporn Chirapanda, joined our Thai subsidiary, Curcas Energy (Thailand) Ltd on 1st October 2007. Dr. Suthiporn holds a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of New England and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.
He has served on the Board of several Thai banks and National Agricultural Organisations and is a former Chairman of Directors of the Thai Agricultural Economics Society under Royal Charter. He has also represented Thailand as a Free Trade Agreement negotiator with U.S.A., Australia, ASEAN and W.T.O. A number of potential senior employees who are of Thai nationality have been identified and will be appointed as required after funding is complete.