Board & Management
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Non-Executive Directors
Non-Executive Chairman
Hugh McCullough
Hugh has over 40 years’ experience in gold and base metal exploration, principally in Ireland, Ghana, Mali and Papua New Guinea,.
Having previously worked as a project geologist, in 1982 he became chief executive of Glencar Mining plc.
Hugh was responsible for the management, financing and strategy of Glencar for over 27 years until it was acquired by Gold Fields Limited in September 2009.
Hugh is a geologist and holds an honours degree in geology from University College Dublin and a degree of Barrister-at-Law from the King’s Inns, Dublin.
Non-Executive Director
Patrick Purcell
Patrick served an apprenticeship in the Irish Air Corps in the 1950s and later qualified as an accountant in Australia in 1961.
When he returned to Ireland in 1967 he joined Shannon Diamond & Carbide Ltd, (later Boart Longyear) and worked in various capacities with their European Group Companies for the next 10 years.
His roles with Shannon Diamond & Carbide included that of cost accountant, sales and marketing director and a period as a general manager of their manufacturing plant in Norway before becoming their director for European sales companies and product development.
Patrick set up Mincon in 1977 and developed the group, firstly in Ireland and then into overseas areas including USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Sweden.
Patrick remained as executive chairman until 2012 but continued to work with the company as an adviser on new projects.
Senior Independent Non-Executive Director
Paul Lynch
Paul currently acts as strategic adviser for a number of companies having recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Applegreen plc, a quoted petrol forecourt retailer in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, between 2014 and 2017.
Paul qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in 1990, after which followed a wide ranging career in corporate finance and senior management across a number of industry sectors.
He was a director of Heiton Group plc for seven years, from 2000 to 2007, initially as Head of Corporate Development and subsequently as Managing Director of its Retail Division.
Paul served as chief executive of large-scale businesses in the retail, manufacturing, waste management and facility services sectors and he has led and concluded over 20 M&A transactions across diverse industries and jurisdictions.
Independent Non-Executive Director
Pirita Mikkanen
Pirita is currently a Vice President of Energy with the Metsä Group, a Finnish forest industry group operating in international markets, focused on the responsible processing of northern wood into first-class products. Her team at Metsa works to ensure reliable and cost-effective energy production and leads the sustainable development of Metsä utilities.
Prior to joining Metsa, her experience included roles with TM Systems Oy, an industrial air systems company with a focus on reducing energy usage and emissions, and serving as CEO of Lifa Air Ltd Oy, a pioneer in the development of services, machines and equipment that enable cleaner and healthier indoor air. She has acted as a fund manager and board member of climate funds.
Pirita holds a Ph.D in Applied Physics, focusing on cleantech on pollution prevention, from the Helsinki University of Technology.
Non-executive director
Orla O’Gorman
Orla has in-depth understanding of scaling companies through 25+ years’ experience of working with them from the perspectives of an executive leader, advisor, capital markets operator and non-executive director.
Orla was formerly Head of Listing for Ireland and UK at Euronext. In 2015 she founded Euronext’s IPOready programme, to give companies the required skillsets for raising strategic finance. Orla is a strong advocate for funding scaling companies and is a member of Scale Ireland’s Steering Group.
Orla is a non-executive director of Cairn Homes plc, Cubic Telecom, Bon Secours Health System and Elite SpA; she is also a member of the Elkstone Ventures Advisory Board.
Orla has a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Accounting from University College Dublin. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and is a member of their Ethics and Governance Committee, and Sustainability Expert Working Group.
Executive Directors
Chief Executive Officer
Joseph Purcell
Joseph qualified as a mechanical engineer in 1988 at University College Galway, in Ireland and since then has worked with Mincon in various capacities.
DTH hammer design has been his main area of specialisation although he has extensive experience in manufacturing methods, heat-treatment and process development.
His hammer design work has included seven years in Perth, Australia where he developed a successful range of reverse circulation and conventional DTH hammers for local and export markets.
Joseph was appointed as chief technical officer for the Mincon Group on his return from Australia in 1998. In May 2015, Joseph was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Mincon Group plc.
Chief Operating Officer
Tom Purcell
Thomas has a background in accounting prior to emigrating to the USA to work with Mincon on a new joint venture opportunity in the country.
He worked for the Mincon Group in the dimensional stone quarrying industry during which time he was key in setting up operations in Virginia and North Carolina. In 1996, Mincon sold its investment in the quarrying entities to Marlin Group of South Africa.
He worked in various positions with their USA subsidiary from Purchasing and Safety Manager of four quarrying companies, to CFO and Operations Manager for their Atlanta based operation, Stone Connection.
He re-joined the Mincon Group in 1999 as President of Mincon, Inc.
Executive Management & Company Secretary
Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary
Mark McNamara
Mark began his finance career in practice in 2004 where he qualified as a Certified Public Accountant (“CPA”). He began working with Mincon as Financial Controller of Mincon International Ltd. in March 2010.
He moved into the position as Group Financial Controller in 2013 prior to the IPO of Mincon where he was the lead accountant. Preceding his finance career Mark worked in airline operations and holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology.
Mark also held the position of company secretary for Mincon Group plc between March 2017 and March 2019.
Regional Executive - Africa Region
Martin van Gemert
Martin joined Mincon in 2010, when he set up the Mincon West Africa business and started the Group’s expansion into Africa.
He has more than three decades of experience in the construction, geotechnical, exploration, and mining industries, in various operational management capacities with drilling contractors and drilling equipment manufacturers. In 2007 he established a country office for Sandvik in Mali and was appointed as the country manager for that business, where he managed a team of technicians and sales personnel, as well as the supply of capital mining equipment and consumables to three large gold mines.
He has managed drilling and blasting operations at major construction projects and opencast gold mines across Southern Africa, where his operational experience includes operating drilling equipment, specialised geotechnical, ground stabilisation, controlled construction, and opencast mine blasting techniques.
Regional Executive – Asia Pacific Region
Chris Flamini
Chris joined Mincon in April 2017. He has extensive experience working across both engineering and operational disciplines. He graduated from Curtin University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial design.
He has a broad range of experience from designing and innovating products to practical expertise in operating drill rigs across various product types.
Chris spent 3 years as Mincon’s Product Development Manager and managed their newly established drill pipe facility in Perth. He played a key role in assisting the senior management team and was appointed Operations Manager in 2020. In 2022 he was appointed Regional General Manager and transitioned into the executive team in April 2023.