Kerr Anderson, 1962-2015
In many ways Kerr Anderson, who died this week, was the exemplary junior mining company executive.
He was thoughtful about the markets, never got carried away when the mining boom was in full swing and never despaired when commodities and equities hit new lows in the correction that followed.
During his tenure as managing director at Ormonde Mining, which began in 2001, he was able to cut deals with major mining companies like Antofagasta and with major investment groups like Oaktree Capital.
He worked up one project, the La Zarza gold and base metals project in Spain, only to have to take the painful, but entirely untypical decision for the mining business, that in the end it didn’t quite make the grade.
He then switched Ormonde into tungsten and the Barruecopardo project, also in Spain, for which he made an economic case, and for which he then spent the last couple of years arranging finance.
Along the way he fought off hostile interest from rival tungsten groups, dealt with the ebbs and flows of the equity markets, soothed the niggling doubts of countless smaller shareholders, and ensured the survival of his company while many others around him were going under.
And the understated manner with which he went about it all earned him the loyalty of significant mining industry players, particularly since he was never ensnared by the trend to inflation in executive pay as commodities soared.
Ian Henderson of JP Morgan, arguably the most powerful fund manager in London during the mining boom, was an unwavering supporter.
Others came and went, and Kerr, like so many others, had to endure the agonies of a share price collapse in the face of a project that he believed had real merit.
It was hard, but perhaps not surprising, that it took him a while to get a fund of real calibre on the hook to fund construction.
But when he did it was a real doozy – Oaktree Capital has over US$100bn under management and a strong desire to hold a meaningful European position in tungsten.
For Kerr, who felt keenly Ormonde’s failure to deliver on La Zarza, that long-term commitment for Barruecopardo was crucial.
He delivered it. And it turns out that that was the last crucial act in his professional life.
So, against expectation, Barruecopardo will now get built without Kerr’s guiding hand.
Not that he would have taken any of the credit anyway.
He was always quick to praise the company’s teams on the ground, and always saved a word for local residents for providing constructive dialogue and feedback as well as a warm welcome.
Permitting issues - so often a real issue for mining companies operating in Spain - never troubled Ormonde in the slightest.
The permits came through with barely a murmur in November last year, and that development, following on from successful economic studies cleared the way for the funding.
A couple of months later nearly US$100mln was secured from Oaktree.
The money will get Barruecopardo up and running and allow for preliminary investigations into the viability of a second phase of mining, this time underground .
Remarkably, in the end, Kerr had made it look easy.
But the apparent ease with which he finished the final stretch belied the hours of dedicated work that he had put in year after year, when times were good, bad or indifferent.
He had an infectious laugh, a ready wit, a mellifluous Scots accent, and a willingness to have a beer and a joke with the best of them in the mining sector.
He was well-known in the Irish mining scene from days of old when he served his managerial apprenticeship as one of the key exploration figures at Navan Mining.
Subsequently he based himself in Navan itself, and that exile from the financial capitals in which most company directors seem to feel the need to ensconce themselves, probably helped to keep him grounded.
Shareholders couldn’t have wished for a more dedicated managing director. And they will miss him now he’s gone.