AUSTRALASIA Winner...
CRAIG PARRY Australia
ABOUT TIGERS REALM COAL
Tigers Realm Coal is an ASX listed emerging global coking coal leader focused on development of its Amaam and Amaam North coking coal projects in eastern Russia on the Pacific coast, close to key Asian steel markets. At a time when market interest in coking coal project developers and the resource sector generally is muted Tigers Realm Coal has been successful in raising over $80m in 2013/14 and securing the support of major new institutional investors including the Russian Government backed Russian Direct Investment Fund. Craig Parry is a founder and CEO of the company and is leading it in the transition from explorer to developer and producer with first coal production slated for 2015.
CEO INSIGHT... Q
CEO of Tigers Realm Coal
FINANCE MONTHLY CEO AWARDS 2014
What are your most important professional achievements at your current company?
As a founder of Tigers Realm Coal I have had the great pleasure of seeing the company grow from the concept stage through to the current time where we are commencing construction of the first of our exceptional mining projects – projects that are set to see Tigers Realm Coal become one of the lowest cost metallurgical coal producers on the planet. To have played a part in that progression is tremendously satisfying.
Q How did you do that?
Any success we have had to date has been due to the great efforts of a world-class team of mining professionals working on great projects. Being supported by a great team and investors who have belief in our projects and abilities has afforded us the opportunity to achieve what we have thus far, but there is plenty more to be done before we can say we have delivered for our investors and all stakeholders.
Q
What education or prior experience helped you succeed at your current company?
I was very fortunate early in my career to be recruited by Rio Tinto, one of the world’s great companies. Rio Tinto proved to be a very good place to gain experience across the breadth and depth of the mining industry.
Q
What lessons did you learn on your way to becoming a CEO?
Plenty of hard ones and a few more than once! Key in my mind are summed up as: •There is no substitute for hard work •Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you
•Believe in yourself, your projects and your people
Q
What are the key success factors for a CEO?
I’m still working that out! However any success Tigers Realm Coal has had so far is because of much more than my efforts and so being able to lead a diverse team has been crucial. Having a broad depth of experience and working hard to be a good communicator helps but more importantly than that I think being motivated, driven and having a great enthusiasm for your projects and company is vital to inspire team, investor and stakeholder support.
Q
What are the key challenges for a CEO?
Our business involves the development of natural resources projects at a difficult time for markets and in an unusual jurisdiction in Pacific Eastern Russia. Keeping a team motivated during difficult times has proven a challenge as has convincing potential investors of the merits of our great projects. I’ve found a strong sense of belief in our projects and people is critical at these times and you must never give up no matter what gets thrown at you. Just keep going! Establishing credibility has been a major challenge when it comes to winning regulator, Government, community and investor support. We have overcome this by concentrating on delivering on our projects and doing exactly what we tell stakeholders we will do. Overtime we have demonstrated our capability to deliver and established credibility.
Q
How do you manage the relationship with your Board of
Directors? My approach here is very simple. I
communicate openly and very regularly with each Director and regularly seek out advice from individual Directors with relevant experience in particular situations. I also foster trust and communication by allowing full access for Directors to the team. We have tried to develop a collegiate atmosphere and a degree of esprit de corps across the group and particularly between senior management and Directors. What has proven effective for achieving this is holding offsite workshops to review and consider areas of the business including strategy.
Q
Do you admire another CEO or a leader (current or historical)?
Why?
I have been very fortunate to work with a number of mining leaders including Tom Albanese (ex Rio Tinto CEO) and this has given me some insight into what drives a successful mining company. However I have had the great privilege of working alongside Owen Hegarty who left his role as head of Rio Tinto’s copper business to found a company called Oxiana Limited which in 2000 had a market capitalisation of $6M. By the time Owen left Oxiana upon the merger of the company with Zinifex Ltd in 2008 it had grown into a $6B company. IN the process Owen became one of the resource sector’s great leaders. So I have been lucky to have the chance to learn from Owen about what has and hasn’t worked for him and the drivers of success as an entrepreneur, manager and leader in the industry.
Q
How do you compete in a global business environment?
We find ourselves in the fortunate position of having a project that has exceptional properties not least of which is the fact that we have thick coking coal seams only a few
Craig Parry, CEO of Tigers Realm Coal Email:
IR@tigersrealmcoal.com l Website:
www.tigersrealmcoal.com 84
www.finance-monthly.com
We are positive in the extreme. The demand for our product – a key component in the steel making process - whilst strong now is set to continue to grow at a solid rate due to development in China driven by the ongoing migration of China’s people from rural areas to cities and also from increased demand out of the rest of Asia including and particularly India. Whilst there is a push globally to use less coal in power generation the same is not true in steel making with there being no substitute for coking coal in the primary process for steel making. With few new significant discoveries of economically viable coking coal deposits in the last 20 years supply is challenged and companies with projects the quality of ours are well positioned to capitalise on a very strong medium to long term demand outlook.
Q
Can you share with us a CEO humour?
I’ve found that to be successful you only need to work half days, and it doesn’t matter which half – the first twelve hours or the second twelve hours. And your address is important. These days I live in seat 27B!
kilometres from our own coal export port on the Pacific coast, providing direct access to the huge Asian coking coal market. The quality of our Project F is such that once in production we expect to be one of the world’s lowest cost coking coal exporters. The challenge for us now is to secure the modest amount of capital to complete development of the project and we are rapidly advancing towards a positive outcome there. Once in production cost management will always be vital however we have the projects to ensure we will have high profit margins throughout the commodity price cycle.
Q
How do you see the future of your industry?
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