Mr. Volynets has 25 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and senior corporate management roles.  He has led private and public transactions worth more than $30 billion and managed leading businesses in the metals and mining industry.

Mr. Volynets established ACG in 2014, as an advisory and investment management firm, through which he worked on a number of cross border transactions in the mining and metals sector in Eurasian emerging markets. These transactions utilized his extensive experience of M&A-led sector consolidation, his local knowledge and networks, and his global industry and investor connections.

Between 2018 and 2021, Mr. Volynets led the transformation of London-listed Chaarat Gold, via an M&A-driven strategy from a development business with no production or cash flows into a fully-operational producer. At the end of his tenure as Chief Executive Officer, Chaarat had three assets in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, 63 koz of gold equivalent production (in 2021), 9.5 moz of resources, and had raised over $175 million in various forms of funding. Mr. Volynets stepped down on 5 August 2021 from his role as Chaarat CEO to focus on the Company.

As a key strategy & M&A executive in the Eurasian aluminium industry from 2003 to 2013, Mr. Volynets has led several high-profile transactions that consolidated this sector. These include: the three-way merger between Sual, Rusal and Glencore’s alumina assets to create UC Rusal ($8.5 billion); UC Rusal’s acquisition of a 25% strategic stake in Norilsk Nickel ($12.6 billion); and its $2.2 billion IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.  As CEO of En+ (2010-2013), Mr. Volynets also spearheaded cooperation and joint ventures with China’s Norinco, Yangtze Power and Shenhua.

From 1997 to 2003, Mr. Volynets was a management consultant and corporate finance advisor with Monitor Group in Boston and London, working on more than 25 major international strategy and M&A projects for world-leading companies in mining and metals, banking and telecommunications.

Mr. Volynets was a board director of Chaarat Gold, En+, UC Rusal and Eurosibenergo, and served as an independent non-executive director at Norilsk Nickel and as Chairman of International Aluminium Institute.

He obtained an MBA from Georgetown University in 1997 (in a joint program with INSEAD in France) and a BA in Economics from The American University in Washington DC in 1994 and also studied at Moscow State University in Moscow. He emigrated from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991 and lives in London. He holds dual British and Russian nationality.

Patrick Henze has over 13 years' experience in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, investor relations and project finance and advisory. 

During his career, Mr. Henze has completed metals and mining deals in banking, private equity, corporate and advisory roles totalling more than $2 bn. He has held senior roles at London-listed Chaarat Gold, Fusion Capital AG and Lynx Resources. 

More recently he founded Targa Capital Ltd, a Swiss investment vehicle focused on natural resources.

Ms. Paulus has over 37 years’ global investment banking experience, having held senior management roles with a number of leading international investment banks including Credit Suisse, ABN AMRO Bank, and Citigroup.

During her career, Ms. Paulus has led a variety of global banking businesses, from start-ups to companies with US$4 billion in annual revenues. Additionally, Ms. Paulus has advised companies and private equity firms on strategic initiatives in the energy and resources sectors across more than 70 countries, often in complex and challenging situations.

She is a Senior Adviser in the Metals & Mining business at Gleacher Shacklock and is a Non-Executive Director at Interpipe Group, JSW Steel Limited and Nostrum Oil & Gas plc.

Mark Cutis is a seasoned banking and capital markets executive with extensive global experience having actively managed portfolios of assets as CIO and CEO on behalf of both private and state-owned capital managers, with an excellent record of profitability.

Most recently, Mr. Cutis both was CEO of Abu Dhabi Global Market, Group CFO, and Chief Advisor of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (2018 – 2021), and  immediately prior to that was founding CIO of Global Situations at Abu Dhabi Investment Council (2008 – 2018), a Middle East sovereign wealth fund.

Mr. Cutis has also run investment managers and financial institutions in London, Tokyo, and New York.

Prior to this, Mr Cutis held senior management roles at Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, UniCredit and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, amongst others.

Mr. Cutis holds a BA in Monetary Economics and History from Emory University and an MBA in Finance from Wharton Business School.

Mr Cutis is chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Remuneration & Nomination Committee.

Hendrik Faul has over 30 years of mining industry experience as both a qualified mining engineer and as a senior corporate manager, with demonstrated ESG leadership experience as well as operational and project execution experience across 5 continents.

Mr. Faul joined Anglo American in 2004, initially holding several senior engineering positions within its Technical and Base Metals divisions. From 2013 to 2019, Mr. Faul served as CEO of Anglo American’s copper business. Prior to this, he held roles as Anglo American’s Head of Mining (2011 to 2013) and as CEO of the group’s zinc business (2009-2010). Before his tenure at Anglo American, Mr Faul worked for mining contractor Brandrill Torex, where he held technical and general management roles. He began his career at Gencor in 1988.

Mr. Faul is a NED of London listed gold company Centamin plc, a position he has held since July 2020. He has also been a NED of Johannesburg listed Master Drilling Group Ltd since June 2020. Mr. Faul has previously held NED positions at London AIM-listed gold company Amara Mining (2011 to 2016), and JSE-listed Palabora Mining Company (2011 to 2013). Mr. Faul was Chairman of the International Copper Association from 2016 to 2018.

Mr. Faul holds a B(Eng) Mining Engineering degree from the University of Pretoria.

Mr Faul is a member of the Audit Committee.

Warren Gilman was Chairman and CEO of private mining investment company CEF Holdings Ltd. CEF Holdings Ltd. was 50% owned by the flagship public company of Mr Li Ka-Shing, CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd., and 50% by Canadian bank CIBC.

Mr. Gilman co-founded CIBC’s Global Mining Group in 1988. During his 26 years at CIBC he ran the mining investment banking teams in Canada, Australia and Asia, serving as Managing Director and Head of the Asia Pacific region for 10 years and latterly as Vice Chairman for CIBC World Markets.

Mr Gilman has acted as advisor to the largest mining companies in the world including BHP, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Noranda, Falconbridge, Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, China Minmetals, Jinchuan and Zijin and has been responsible for some of the largest equity capital markets financings in Canadian mining history.

Mr. Gilman is Founder, Chairman and CEO of TSX listed Queen’s Road Capital investment Ltd. He is also a board member of NYSE/TSX-listed NexGen Energy Ltd, a uranium exploration and development company, and the Lead Director of NYSE-listed Gold Royalty Corp.

Mr. Gilman studied at Queen’s University and Western University in Canada.

Mr. Friedland is the founder and chairman of Ivanhoe Capital Corporation (ICC). During the past 30 years, ICC has invested in a diverse portfolio of businesses, with a focus on mining and disruptive technologies, raising over $25 billion of capital for investment in over 30 countries.

Mr. Friedland is currently Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Ivanhoe Electric Inc. (Ivanhoe Electric) and Executive Co-Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (Ivanhoe Mines).

Ivanhoe Electric is an American technology and mineral exploration company publicly traded in the United States and Canada that is focused on combining advanced mineral exploration technologies, renewable energy storage solutions and electric metals projects predominantly located in the United States.

Ivanhoe Mines is a publicly traded company in Canada that operates the ultra-high-grade Kamoa-Kakula copper complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the largest copper deposits in the world, where Ivanhoe Mines commenced commercial production in 2021. Ivanhoe Mines is also developing two other large-scale, joint-venture mining projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr. Friedland has been chairman, board member and shareholder of numerous natural resources companies, many of which are, or were, publicly traded.

Mr. Friedland launched his own $240 million SPAC, Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition Corp in late 2020, which completed its merger with SES AI Corporation (SES) a lithium-metal battery developer, in February 2022. Mr Friedland continues to serve as a director of SES.

• 19+ years of experience in mining operations incl. project execution and operations management
• Joined Polimetal in 2022 after managing role at Eldorado Gold

• Over 30 years of experience in greenfield, brownfield exploration and development
• Recently providing principal advise for Eldorado, Asarel, Teck Cominco
• Previously extensive exploration management experience with companies as Royal Gold Inc or Phelps Dodge in SE Europe, Caucuses and Russian far east

• Over 30 years’ experience in the mining industry, spanning projects through the full lifecycle from exploration to production
• Former Founder and Director of Lazarus Mining, a Balkan based mining consultancy firm, advising on various mining and metallurgy projects in the region
• Former Head of Mining at Fusion Capital, Switzerland managing the operation in Macedonia and Montenegro
• Previously held senior roles at Global Mining Services, Newmont Gold and Homestake (now Barrick Gold) in Australia

• 14 years experience as a practising and corporate M&A and finance lawyer
• Previously more than 2 years Head of Legal for Lidya Madencilik
• Previously Head of Legal of Zorlu Holdings, a Turkish Conglomerate and Attorney at Dentons Turkey
• Master of Laws in Environmental Law
• Speaks fluent English, French and Turkish

Chiara Hoolasi is a certified Chartered Accountant of South Africa, England and Wales. She also holds an MBA from the University of London.

 She was an external auditor at KPMG, where she was involved predominately in the Energy and Mining sectors.

She was also accountable for the finance functions in multinational companies in the specialized metals and energy sectors; covering countries in North America, Europe, and Asia. 

• Darko is a qualified Chartered Accountant and CFA Charterholder with 8+ years of experience in finance.
• He completed his CA(SA) articles at EY Johannesburg and most recently served as Corporate Finance Senior Analyst at Birkett Stewart McHendrie.
• His M&A experience includes mining, banking and financial services, renewable energy, industrials,  FMCG and fintech.