Board of Directors

Mr Didier Murcia, AM

Chair

(B.Juris, LLB)

Mr Murcia is a lawyer with over 30 years of legal and corporate experience in the resources industry. He is currently Honorary Australian Consul for the United Republic of Tanzania. Mr Murcia is the Chair and founding director of Perth-based legal group Murcia Pestell Hillard, and non-executive director of Alicanto Minerals Ltd.

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Mr Darren Gordon

Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer

(B.Bus, FCA, AGIA, ACS, MAICD)

Mr Gordon is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years’ experience in the mining industry as a senior finance and resources executive. Mr Gordon has had extensive involvement in financing resource projects from both a debt and equity perspective and is a non-executive Director at Ordell Mineral Limited. Mr Gordon has over 15 years experience operating in Brazil and as a result has a deep understanding of the regulatory framework and general operating environment required to develop a mining project in country. 

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Mr Bruno Scarpelli

Executive Director

(M.Sc., PMP)

Mr Scarpelli is based in the Company’s Brazil office. He joined Centaurus in 2011 bringing a wealth of stakeholder relations and regulatory approval experience to the Company, particularly in the field of environmental matters, health and safety and human resources. Prior to joining Centaurus, Mr Scarpelli was the Environmental Coordinator of the S11D Iron Ore Project, part of the world class Carajás Iron Ore Operations in the State of Para, Brazil.  Mr Scarpelli has also previously held a number of roles in Minas Gerais, including with the leading environmental consulting group, Brandt Meio Ambiente, and the global mining consultancy, Golder Associates.

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Mr Mark Hancock

Non-Executive Director

(B.Bus, CA, FFin)

Mark is a Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years professional experience, including senior financial roles across a number of leading Australian and international companies including Atlas Iron, where he held the roles of CFO and CCO, Lend Lease Corporation Ltd, Woodside Petroleum Ltd and Premier Oil plc. Mr Hancock is a Company Director and consultant to the resource industry with a focus on commercial advisory and commodity marketing. He is currently a non-executive director and chair of Strandline Resources Ltd.

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Mr Chris Banasik

Non-Executive Director

(B.App.Sc (Physics), M.Sc (Geology), Dip Ed, GAICD)

With more than 31 years’ experience across multiple disciplines and commodities, Mr Banasik is a well-known and highly-regarded mining and exploration executive. He was a founding Director of the successful WA gold producer Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR), where he held the key role of Director of Exploration and Geology from 2007 to 2014. Prior to that, he held a range of senior geological and executive roles for companies including Consolidated Minerals, Reliance Nickel, Western Mining Corporation and a private mining company.

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Dr Natalia Streltsova

Non-Executive Director

(MSc, PhD (Chem Eng), GAICD, MSME, MCIM)

During her 29-year career, Dr Streltsova has spent over 12 years in various technical and senior executive roles with major mining houses including Vale, BHP Billiton and WMC Resources.

A Chemical Engineer with both an MSc and PhD, Dr Streltsova spent the early part of her career working in chemical research before taking on several mining industry roles where she had considerable interaction with operations to provide support and to identify technical opportunities for efficiency improvements and cost reductions. She was Program Leader – Hydrometallurgy and Project Manager for WMC Resources; Team Leader – Hydrometallurgy and Technology Development Manager for BHP Billiton between 2005 and 2008; Manager Development and Technical Solutions for GRD Minproc (2008) and Director, Technical Development, for Vale SA in Brazil between 2008 and 2012.

In the past ten years her focus has been on non-executive board memberships and consulting. Natalia is non-executive director and chair of the risk and sustainability committee of Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS), non-executive director of Neometals (ASX: NMT), and was a non-executive Director of Western Areas (ASX: WSA) from 2017 until its takeover by IGO Limited.

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