PLC Board

Senior Management

Liam Fitzgerald, Engineering Director, ATH Regeneration Ltd

Liam has worked for ATH Regeneration and its predecessor for 28 years being primarily involved with coal washing and preparation plant over this period. He started in the engineering department as a trainee and has worked his way through the ranks to his current position. Liam has been involved with the design, installation, set up and ongoing maintenance of the washing plants and associated equipment. He has developed and oversees detailed planned preventative maintenance schemes, both mechanical and electrical, which ensure the operations are reliable, efficient and capable of maximising throughput. Liam was appointed to Engineering Director in May 2007.

Mike Lenagh, Managing Director of ATH Regeneration Ltd

Mike has worked in the quarrying and extractive industries for over 35 years starting with Raisby quarries in Durham where he attained his professional qualifications. Moving to TW Ward, at the time owned by RTZ, he became General Manager of Shap Granite Quarries, and then Production Manager for all UK quarries. Following the sale to RMC Group, Mike was promoted to General Manager for RMC Roadstone East and became a Director of RMC Roadstone Ltd. Mike joined the Ogden Group in 1998 as Director of Coal Reclamation and has overseen the development of the plant and equipment used on reclamation sites and implemented best practices improving operational efficiencies. With further promotion to Managing Director in 2001, he has been responsible for the successful development, reclamation and reinstatement of Creswell, Barnburgh, Silverwood, Thurcroft, Mansfield and Grimethorpe colliery sites.

Peter Morgan, Group Development Director

Peter Morgan is a chartered mineral surveyor and chartered mining engineer who commenced his career in iron ore mining with British Steel before moving to surface coal mining with Miller Mining. In 1982 he moved to South Africa with Gencor in gold mining and then subsequently to Botswana in copper nickel mining and then Angola in surface diamond mining. In 1988 Peter returned to the UK and joined Wardell Armstrong, a leading firm of mining, minerals and environmental consultants. He was appointed as a Partner in the firm in 1990 and Technical Director in 2004. Peter joined the Group in January 2006 as Development Director of its mining subsidiary Aardvark TMC Ltd.

Mike Tod, Director

Mike Tod is a chartered minerals surveyor and commenced his career gold mining with Gencor in South Africa and subsequently moved to uranium mining in Namibia with RTZ. In 1990, Mike returned to the UK to work as a consultant for Wardell Armstrong, a leading UK mining and minerals consultancy firm. Mike joined Tom Allchurch’s project team in 1995 and was instrumental in the development of and subsequent acquisition by the management team of Skares Road and its management buyout in 1998. Mike was the Development Director of the Group between 1998 and 2006. Following an illness Mike stepped down from the plc board in June 2006 and continues to offer strategic advice as a director of Aardvark TMC.

James Wilson, Marketing Director

James joined the Group in October 2005 as Marketing Director of its operating subsidiary Aardvark TMC Limited. James has considerable experience in the preparation and marketing of coal from his time with West of Scotland Fuels Limited and is widely known and respected within the coal industry. He has recently been employed at Network Rail as Senior Route Freight Manager and prior to this at English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (“EWS”) as General Manager of their coal operations.

Chris Barber, Projects Manager

Chris is a graduate Mining Engineer with over 23 years experience in opencast coal mining. Chris has a diverse background in all aspects of opencast mining having held a variety of development, technical and operational positions within British Coal and Celtic Energy Ltd. Most recently he was Mine Manager of Nant Helen Opencast Site until 2005 and following a brief spell in health and safety management, joined the Group in April 2006.

David Booth, Operations Manager

David commenced his career in 1990 as Junior Engineer with Crouch Mining and progressed to Site Manager working at various sites throughout Scotland. In 2003 he joined the Ogden Group to manage the Group’s engineering surveying requirement. Initially this was predominantly at Wath Manvers in Yorkshire, one of the largest land remediation and reclamation projects in the UK, but also covered the various Coal Recovery projects throughout Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

Jo Davies, Projects Manager

Jo is a chartered minerals surveyor who graduated in 1993 from Sheffield Hallam University. Since then Jo has been employed in a number of roles in estates and planning within the minerals industry. Most recently she worked for CEMEX as a Senior Planning Officer before joining ATH in 2006.

Robert Haskell, Resources Manager

Robert commenced his career as a site engineer with Coal Contractors in 1984 and progressed to site manager with Parkhill Estates Limited prior to joining Rackwood’s project team in 1995. After a brief period in logistics he joined the Group in 2001 and manages new mine developments from identification and exploration to fully permitted status.

John Hodgson, Director

John Hodgson commenced his career with the National Coal Board in 1964 as a chemist in the scientific department, from where he progressed to assistant regional marketing and preparation officer in 1975. In 1981 John joined Burnett & Hallamshire Fuels plc as production director responsible for the production and marketing of coal from twelve coal washing operations. In 1984 John transferred to Rushcliffe Fuels Limited and was managing director from 1989 to 1993. John joined British Fuels in 1993 as general manager of the International and Sourcing Division, responsible for sourcing the entire companys solid fuel requirements. John joined the Group in 1998 as its Group Marketing Director.  At the end of October 2007 John retired from the Board and continued as a Director of Aardvark TMC Limited ("Aardvark"), the Group's subsidiary operating company, focussing exclusively on his specialist area of added value domestic and industrial coal sales and marketing on a part-time basis.

David Lancashire, Group Plant Director

David Lancashire is a professional Plant Engineer with 22 years experience in engineering management. Previously the Plant Manager for Miller Mining and General Manager for Castlebridge Plant he has gained over 28 years experience working at all levels within the heavy earthmoving plant industry. He joined Ogden in 2004 and is responsible for controlling and administering the maintenance of their mobile plant fleet utilising an in house team of mobile plant technicians and workshop facilities. David was appointed to Group Plant Director in June 2008.

Peter Lawson, Technical Manager

Peter Lawson is a qualified Coal Preparation Engineer with over 30 years experience in coal processing. He is a former Scientific Officer with British Coal and before joining Ogden, Peter was the Marketing and Quality Control Manager at South Side Coal Preparation Plant Grimethorpe. He is responsible for the technical aspects of the business and runs an in house laboratory and technicians, ensuring that the wash plants are fine tuned to maximise coal recovery. He leads all new site investigation work analysing all sampled materials at the in house laboratory.

Michael McNeely, Production Manager

Michael has worked on major mining and civil engineering projects as a plant operator for over 30 years. In 1995 he was promoted to a supervisory position whilst at Coal Contractors Limited and, following a spell as production supervisor at APC Limited, joined the Group in the same role. He was promoted to production manager for the Group in 2003 following the acquisition by the Group of the Garleffan mine.

Brian Tinnion, Development Manager

Brian is a Chartered Minerals Surveyor and an Associate Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment. He has over 30 years experience in the coal industry and well versed in the modern requirements on brownfield site reclamation and restoration. He started work with British Coal in the South Yorkshire Region through whom he studied and attained his professional qualifications along with good experience in property management. He joined Ogden in 1997 and has been involved in all property, planning and environmental matters related to the Company’s land reclamation activities.

Lee Weatherall, Development Manager

Lee is a chartered mineral surveyor who graduated in 1991. Since then Lee has held a variety of development, operational and project management positions within British Coal, Blue Circle Industries and most recently Lafarge. Lee has been involved in many international mining projects and spent three years at Lafarge Cements technical centre in Lyon, France before joining the Group in 2004. Lee is a chartered member of the RICS, a member of the Institute of Quarrying and a member of the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining.

David Wilson, Group International Development Director

David was appointed to Group International Development Director in September 2008. Prior to joining ATH David spent over 20 years in the British Army as a Commission Officer retiring in 2003. In the 5 years prior to joining ATH David worked in the Middle East and East Africa, successfully managing business growth and development for a number of companies working within security sector reform and risk management. As the company's International Development Director, David is the initial point of contact for overseas business opportunities - focusing mainly on North America.

Derek Pollock, Operations Director

Derek commenced his career as a Junior Engineer with Murphy Bros Ltd in 1981, progressing to Regional Manager with Coal Contractors in 1996. He went on to hold senior positions within the plant hire, surface mining and explosives industry before joining the Group in March 2008 as Operations Director of its mining subsidiary Aardvark TMC Ltd.

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