Bunker Hill Series: Pushing Forward on All Fronts (Ep.1)

A former Executive General Manager of Barrick Gold’s Lumwana Copper Mine in Zambia, Mr Ash is an experienced American Mining Engineer and modernizing leader, with a proven track record of building and leading teams capable of optimizing and enhancing the operating efficiency, profitability and sustainability of mining operations in complex and challenging environments. During his tenure at Lumwana Mr. Ash Delivered over $100M in sustainable free cash flow improvements, achieved 50% improvement in safety performance, executed a training and development program achieving 96% local workforce, and progressed expansion plans that doubled the value of mine. BEng Mining Engineering from University of Missouri Rolla; MA in Strategic Leadership, London Business School.

Former Head of Closure, Rehabilitation and Asset Development Barrick Gold; Managed 100+ employees over 85 sites globally, including 5 Superfund sites in the USA. Managed annual budgets of over $80 million. Developed commercial partnerships and investment feasibility studies for redevelopment of 4 Superfund sites. Former Centar American Technical Services (Drilling and Exploration Services). International investment advisory in large-scale real estate developments. Designed and managed award-winning economic development program in Zimbabwe using US Government Title II food aid. US Peace Corps in Guatemala, agricultural diversification volunteer. Family history in large-scale commercial farming. BA Economics, University of California, Riverside. ESG, Government and Community Relations, Water Management Rehabilitation.

Mr. Francis joins the Bunker Hill team after 10 years with Rio Tinto, the second-largest mining company in the world, where he was most recently Mine Manager at the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine (“Kennecott”) in Utah, USA, its single largest mining operation. Among other achievements, his team delivered world-class payload metrics on Kennecott’s ultra-class truck fleet while simultaneously increasing average haul truck speeds and tire life. Previous roles with Rio Tinto included responsibility for productivity across the full Kennecott value stream (mine, concentrator, smelter and refinery), three years in the Group strategic investment analysis team assessing its global suite of projects (greenfield, brownfield & closure), and several years in Rio Tinto Exploration (RTX) managing operational support (incl. safety) for Rio Tinto’s Exploration’s projects across Africa and Eurasia. Prior to his mining experience, Mr. Francis served as an officer in the Royal Marines and UK Special Forces, serving on multiple operational tours in Kosovo, Iraq & Afghanistan. He is a dual national US/UK citizen having lived, studied and worked in both the US and the UK. He holds a first-class degree from the University of Oxford (BA, Mathematics & Computation).