Battling copper miner Tiger Resources has announced its third managing director in 18 months, with the company turning to former Discovery Metals boss Brad Sampson to lead its attempted revival.
Tiger, which operates the Kipoi copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced Mr Sampson’s appointment today, confirming a move foreshadowed by The Australian.
Current CEO and managing director Michael Griffiths will remain on the board as a non-executive director. He has been running the company since the departure of Brad Marwood in August 2015.
Mr Sampson’s appointment comes at a delicate time for Tiger, which had endured a horror past few years as it struggled with an ugly balance sheet, underperforming mine and an unfavourable copper price.
With the copper market turning for the better, Mr Sampson will be charged with improving the operational performance of Kipoi and rebuilding the miner’s former market standing.
Mr Sampson is best known for his role leading another African copper miner, Discovery Metals, from 2008 to 2013.
He was in charge of Discovery when it rejected a hostile $830 million takeover offer from Hong Kong private equity group Cathay Fortune in 2012, in what turned out to be a fateful decision for the company.
Discovery ran into operational issues at its Boseto copper mine in 2013, which put pressure on its balance sheet and saw its share price collapse. The stock fell from more than $1.60 a share at the start of 2013 to less than 6c at the time Mr Sampson left at the end of that year, and by 2015 it had quietly slipped into administration.
In recent times, he has had a more fruitful time as chairman of phosphate play Agrimin, with the stock having more than quadrupled since he joined the board last April.
Tiger’s biggest shareholder is specialist mining private equity fund RCF, with a 14.5 per cent stake, while private equity firm Taurus Funds Management has been its main lender.
Young rich listers Todd Hannigan and Tom Todd, who each made fortunes as lieutenants to Nathan Tinkler during the heyday of his old coal play Aston Resources, are also prominent on the Tiger register with a combined 8 per cent stake.
Tiger’s recent woes started in 2014 when it doubled down on Kipoi by buying the 40 per cent stake in the mine held by DRC government-owned Gecamines for $US111 million. The deal completed just as copper prices began to slide.
The rebound in copper prices in recent months has helped Tiger shares double since October to 4.1c on Friday, although they remain well short of the highs of more than 40c a share back in 2014 ahead of the Gecamines deal.
TGS Price at posting:
4.1¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
