Board and Management

Mr Asimwe Kabunga 

Executive Chairman

BSc (Mathematics and Physics)

Asimwe Kabunga is a Tanzanian born Australian entrepreneur with multiple interests in mining and IT businesses around the world.

Mr Kabunga has extensive experience in the mining industry, logistics, land access, tenure negotiation and acquisition, as well as a developer of technology businesses. Mr Kabunga has been instrumental in establishing the Tanzania Community of Western Australia Inc., and served as its first President. Mr Kabunga was also a founding member of Rafiki Surgical Missions and Safina Foundation, both NGOs dedicated to helping children in Tanzania.

Mr Kabunga also serves as a Executive Chairman of Lindian Resources Limited (ASX.LIN), Executive Chairman of Resource Mining Corporation (ASX:RMI) and Non Executive Chairman of Volt Resources Limited (ASX:VRC).

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Mr Paul Williams 

Chief Executive Officer

BA LLB (UQ)

Mr Williams holds both Bachelor of Arts and Law Degrees from the University of Queensland and practised as a corporate and commercial lawyer with Brisbane legal firm HopgoodGanim Lawyers for 17 years. He ultimately became an equity partner of HopgoodGanim Lawyers before joining Eastern Corporation as their Chief Executive Officer in August 2004. In mid-2006 Mr Williams joined Mitsui Coal Holdings in the role of General Counsel, participating in the supervision of the coal mining interests and business development activities within the multinational Mitsui & Co group.

Mr Williams is well known in the Brisbane investment community as well as in Sydney and Melbourne and brings to the AKN Board a broad range of commercial and legal expertise – especially in the context of mining and exploration activities. He also has a strong focus on corporate governance and the importance of clear and open communication of corporate activity to the investment markets.

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Peter Tighe

Mr Peter Tighe 

Non-Executive Director

Mr Tighe started his working career in the family-owned JH Leavy & Co business, which is one of the longest established fruit and vegetable wholesaling businesses in the Brisbane Markets at Rocklea and has been trading since the late 1800s. As the owner and managing director of JH Leavy & Co, Mr Tighe expanded the company along with highly respected farms and packhouses that have been pleased to supply the company with top quality fruit and vegetables for wholesale/export for over 40 years.

Mr Tighe has been a director of Brisbane Markets Limited (BML) since 1999. BML is the owner of the Brisbane Markets® site and is responsible for its ongoing management and development of its $400m asset portfolio. As the proprietor of the site, BML has over 250 leases in place including selling floors, industrial warehousing, retail stores and commercial offices. BML acknowledges its role as an economic hub of Queensland, facilitating the trade of $1.5 billion worth of fresh produce annually, supporting local and regional businesses of the horticulture industry. As a Board member Mr Tighe has held roles in various sub-committees which include: 

  • Chairman of Safety and Tenant Advisory Committee
  • BML Strategy Investment Committee
  • Legal and Compliance Committee

In 2016 the JH Leavy & Co business was sold but Mr Tighe has continued in the senior management of Global Fresh Australia, trading as JH Leavy & Co, to ensure a successful transition of ownership.

Mr Tighe (with his wife Patty) own Magic Bloodstock Racing (MBR), a thoroughbred horse racing and breeding company. MBR has acquired many horses which are trained and raced across Australia and around the world including “Winx”, one of the greatest thoroughbreds of all time winning more than $26m in prizemoney.

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ShiZhou Yin

Mr ShiZhou Yin 

Non-Executive Director

Mr. Yin is a Chinese national without any foreign permanent residence, holds a Master of Professional Accounting degree and is a Chinese Certified Public Accountant and a Senior Accountant. From September 1994 to September 2010, Mr. Yin served successively as Accountant of Beijing No. 2 Water Pipe Factory, Audit Manager and Audit Partner of Yuehua Certified Public Accountants Firm, and Senior Partner of Zhongrui Yuehua Certified Public Accountants Co., Ltd.

From October 2010 to May 2011, Mr Yin served as Chief Financial Officer of JCHX Mining Management Co., Ltd.

From May 2011 to April 2017, Mr Yin served as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of the Board of Directors of JCHX Mining Management Co., LTD (Shanghai Stock Exchange Code: 603979).

From April 2017 to the date of this Prospectus, Mr Yin has been Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of the Board of JCHX Group Co., Ltd.

Mr. Yin has been the chairman of the Board of Supervisors of JCHX Mining Management Co., Ltd (Shanghai Stock Exchange Code: 603979) since May 2017.

Mr Yin has been an Independent Director of:

  • Beijing Century Real Technology Co.,Ltd. (Shenzhen Stock Exchange Code: 300150) since September 2018;
  • Beijing Yiqiao Shenzhou Technology Co., LTD. (which is to be listed on Growth Enterprise Market (“GEM”) of Shenzhen Stock Exchange) since March 2020; and
  • previously, from October 2009 to March 2015, Dalian East New Energy Development Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen Stock Exchange Code: 300125) from October 2009 to May 2015.

Mr Yin will represent the interests of major shareholder JCHX, on the Company’s Board.

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Garry Johnston

Mr Park (Zuliang) Wei 

Director, Project manager, Builder.LREA

Bachelor Degree of Arts

Park Wei is a Chinese born Australian entrepreneur with multiple interests in property, mining and finance businesses around the world.

Mr Wei is currently the Chairman of a fund manager, PAN Australia Fund Management Pty Ltd (PAFM) and the founder of Top Pacific Group, which was established in 1994 and diversified into property development, construction, Real Estate sales, building and strata management, mortgage broker, etc. He developed extensive residential property projects with total turnover of more than A$3 billions.

In 2019, Mr Wei took over PAFM (former Boill Fund Management Pty Ltd, wholesale fund manager) to be main shareholder and become company Managing Director. Mr Wei has successfully invested in a number of equity investment projects in China and Australia, achieved good returns. Mr Wei also helped JAT fundraising 15M and acquired the famous Australian dairy company ANMA.

In addition, Mr Wei has invested in several ASX listed leading companies in the fast-moving goods industry and mining industry in Australia, to become a major shareholder and achieved good return.

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Mr Paul Marshall 

Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary

LLB, ACA

Paul Marshall is a Chartered Accountant.  He holds a Bachelor of Law degree, and a post Graduate Diploma in Accounting and Finance.  He has 30 years professional experience having worked for Ernst and Young for ten years, and subsequently twenty years spent in commercial roles as Company Secretary and CFO for a number of listed and unlisted companies mainly in the resources sector. 

Mr Marshall has extensive experience in all aspects of company financial reporting, corporate regulatory and governance areas, business acquisition and disposal due diligence, capital raising and company listings and company secretarial responsibilities.

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Mr Chris Bittar 

Exploration Manager

MGeoSc, MComm (Finance), BMSc

Mr Bittar was previously Senior project Geologist at Pantoro Limited’s Norseman Project in Western Australia, where he supervised the planning and execution of near-mine exploration and resource development programs as part of the Definitive Feasibility Study program at Norseman.

Previously, Mr Bittar held Senior Geologist roles with Millennium Minerals (Nullagine Gold project) and Pilbara Minerals (Pilgangoora Lithium project), and Exploration Geologist roles with Sumitomo Metal Mining Oceania and Northern Minerals (Browns Range rare earths project in WA). In these roles Mr Bittar gained extensive experience in taking projects from greenfield exploration to resource development and up to mine-ready feasibility study stage. This experience included supervision of multiple drilling campaigns, geological interpretation, data management and project reporting. Mr Bittar has also maintained a strong commitment to company safety policies and procedures.

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