Our Team

Sam brings a wealth of mining experience particularly in marketing New Zealand’s unique coal domestically and internationally, and since our investment in BT Mining, has continued to manage and add value to our domestic / export customer contracts and logistics operations.

Sam has recently led our Business Development team and will also oversee the Tenas project as General Manager – Telkwa Mining.

Sam holds a Postgraduate Master of Science majoring in Geography and has a Certificate in Company Direction (Institute of Directors Member).

Russell has over 30 years in the mining and construction sector with significant experience in mine project evaluations and construction of new mines.

Starting his career as a public accountant, Russell has held senior management positions in commercial and planning roles with BHP and Anglo American.

Russell is a director of joint venture entities BT Mining Limited and NWP Coal Canada Limited as a Bathurst representative.

Richard has worked in almost every role in coal mining since starting his career in the 1970s.

Richard’s first job in the industry was at Greymouth’s Liverpool State Mine and after working in Australia for 32 years, Richard returned to Wellington, New Zealand to take up the position of Chief Operating Officer at Bathurst in 2012. He was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer in March 2015.

Richard is the Chair of the Coal Association of New Zealand and sits on the board of the New Zealand Mines Rescue Trust and Straterra. Richard is a director of BT Mining Limited as a Bathurst representative.

Mark spent his first 15 years working in corporate law in New Zealand, London and Australia in both law firms and in-house.

For the last 20 years Mark has worked primarily in mining, both as a lawyer and a chief executive, most recently building a mining business in the US and Canada focussed on exporting metallurgical coal.

Mark has deep connections and relationships in mining in British Columbia (Canada), along with established relationships with First Nations in and around the Tenas Project.

Responsible for planning how the project will be built and operated.

Dan is a mining engineer with over 23 years of experience in the coal industry in British Columbia and Alberta. He started his career with Luscar Coal in the 1990s when it was Canada’s largest coal producer, and with Teck Resources following its acquisition of Luscar.

As Technical Services Manager for Hillsborough Resources, Dan was responsible for project development planning. Later, he was Operations Manager for Anglo American Metallurgical Coal, responsible for Peace River Coal’s mine operations and technical services. He joined Telkwa Coal in mid-2015.

Sue has over 30 years' experience in mining engineering and management in the coal mining industry.

Sue will oversee the Tenas Project as a Technical Director, Telkwa Mining. She has held senior positions at open pit mines in British Columbia, been a Principal and Director for engineering consultancies, having worked on feasibility assessments for project development on Canadian and international projects, as well as 20 years work in Australasia. 

More recently Sue acted as General Manager of Resource Development for BT Mining.

Sue holds a BSc (Hon) in Applied Science in Mining Engineering, is registered as a professional engineer with Engineers & Geoscientists of British Columbia and a Chartered Professional and Member of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Responsible for the detailed mine design and planning for reclamation.

James is a mining engineer with over 11 years of experience in mine operations. He began his career at Gibraltar Copper Mine in 2008 and completed the majority of his EIT programme there.

James moved to Australia in 2011, working for Rio Tinto at multiple coal mines in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales with responsibilities in mine planning and design, operations optimization and reclamation. He rose to Operations Specialist / Superintendent at Bengalla Mining Company.

James returned to Canada in the fall of 2018 to join the Telkwa Coal team.

Responsible for supporting the Engineering team with detailed mine design and planning.

Victoria is a Mining Engineer-in-Training who graduated from British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Mining and Mineral Resource Engineering program in 2020.

Victoria has experience in operations for various open pit mines in Canada, in areas of geotechnical monitoring, heavy equipment, dewatering and reclamation.

Victoria is passionate about diversity and inclusion, as well as responsible mining. She has been with the Telkwa Coal team since February 2022.