Our People
Mike O'Brien (CEO)
Thirty five years working in the mining and minerals industry and over twenty-five years extensive management experience with multinational companies Shell Coal and Anglo Coal (subsidiary of Anglo American) has positioned Mike O’Brien as a leader in his field. His experience includes operational roles as General Manager of a large underground longwall mine and as General Manager of a very large opencast mine that included a coal seam gas (CSG) operation. He has also held senior corporate positions including General Manager of Shell Coal’s technical group that included responsibility for the mining, geological and engineering development. This has given him a wealth of knowledge in the coal industry and his expertise in strategic planning is underpinned by very strong skills in operations management and technical evaluation.
He has also held the role of CEO of a small listed company operating in Australia and New Zealand. This wide experience base has proved invaluable in building MetroCoal’s reputation and developing its potential as a significant player in the coal industry.
He holds a B. Sc (Min)(Eng) from the University of Witwatersrand.
Theo Psaros (Chief Operating Officer and Company Secretary)
Mr Theo Psaros is a Chartered Accountant with considerable experience in financial management and administration. He holds a Bachelor of Financial Administration from the University of New England. His long and impressive career in management includes working with some of Australia’s biggest financial and sporting names.
In his role as a Chartered Accountant, he worked for Coopers & Lybrand and for PricewaterhouseCoopers. He developed his specialist skills and expertise to provide business advisory services, valuations and corporate finance transactions and worked in London for three years in a variety of roles gaining international experience in the financial sector. He was CEO of Queensland Rugby Union and more recently was CEO of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia.
His extensive experience in finance, project management, strategic planning and government relations will prove invaluable in positioning MetroCoal as a key player in the mineral exploration industry. He is also the Company Secretary and CFO of Orion Metals Limited (ASX- ORM) following Metallica Minerals Limited’s strategic investment in ORM.
Neil Mackenzie-Forbes (Exploration Manager)
Mr Mackenzie-Forbes is a geologist with 15 years of varied experience in coal, oil shale, gold and base metals. He has worked for Metallica Minerals Ltd, Suncor Energy Inc, Southern Pacific Petroleum, Australian Resources, Gympie Eldorado Mining and Queensland Metals Corporation. Neil has wide and varied exploration and mining experience including resource and mine development.
Knowledge of first of kind projects with the Stuart Oil Shale Project in Central Queensland from 1997 through to 2004 in the capacity of Senior Mine Geologist and Environmental Coordinator. Neil has been associated with MetroCoal Ltd for the last 3 years, identifying and generating projects, initiating and managing exploration of MetroCoal’s tenements. Neil graduated from the Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Applied Science in 1993.