Mike spent his early career working underground as a geologist in South Africa and then completed his PhD assessing alternative methods of resource estimation at the Renco Mine in Zimbabwe. He then joined SRK Consulting as a resource geologist in 1991 and over the next 30 years held various technical and management roles before leaving in early 2022. These roles included being Chairman of SRK Global, Managing Director and Chairman of SRK’s UK practice and Chairman of SRK’s Russia, and Kazakhstan practices.

Mike continues to act as a consultant to the mining industry generally and is managing director and founder of Sarn Helen Gold Ltd, a company exploring for gold in the UK. Mike also currently serves as a non-executive director of Central Asia Metals Ltd and Tertiary Minerals Ltd and is also Chairman of the Geological Society Business Forum and Honorary Chairman of the Critical Minerals Association.

Mike is a previous member of the PERC Committee, chaired the committee that developed the first edition of the CRIRSCO compliant NAEN Code which was introduced in Russia in 2011 and also took part in initial meetings with the government of Kazakhstan which ultimately led to the development of the CRIRSCO compliant KAZRC Code.