Our Team

Brian Talbot

Founder and Director

Brian has over 25 years’ experience in mining and minerals processing operations and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with Honours. He was previously Galaxy Resources Head of Australian Operations. Prior to this position Brian was General Manager where he managed the Mt Cattlin mine site increasing production to above plan design.

Prior to joining Galaxy he was at Bikita Minerals, a lithium mine in Zimbabwe where he achieved increased product yield and capacity. Brian has also held the positions of mining company director, general manager and metallurgist at various mine operations in Egypt and South Africa with diverse experience in designing, planning and managing profitable mining operations.

Nick Rowley

Founder and Director

Mr Rowley is an experienced corporate executive with a strong financial background with over 16 years’ experience specialising in marketing and sales of various raw materials, corporate advisory, M&A transactions and equities markets. Mr Rowley’s most recent position was Director – Corporate Development of ASX-listed lithium company, Galaxy Resources Limited. Mr Rowley through this role saw the implementation and closing of the A$6 billion merger with Orocobre Limited, to create the world’s fifth largest lithium producer Allkem (ASX:AKE) in mid-2021.

Mr Rowley has a strong understanding of the international lithium market having traded various lithium minerals over the last 10 years. Having overseen the marketing and sales division at Galaxy Resources since the restart of the Mt Cattlin project in 2016, he has been integral in building the supply chain from Australia through to Asia over that time.

Noel O’Brien

Project Manager, Lithium Specialist

Noel is a metallurgist and processing expert with experience in multiple lithium projects in Australia and internationally. He has over 40 years of experience in the resources sector and in the areas of general management, international business development, project management of major infrastructure and mining projects and operations management of various commercial and mining companies.

Noel has previously acted as Executive Director of Birimian Ltd that owned the Goulamina lithium project in Mali, he has previously acted as a technical adviser to the Mt Holland lithium project and was previously a technical consultant to Galaxy Resources (now Allkem) and to the Bikita Minerals Lithium Project in Zimbabwe.

Noel has a Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Melbourne, an MBA from the University of the Witwatersrand and is a Fellow of the AusIMM.

James Abson

Chief Geologist

James has over 28 years of experience in multi commodity mining and mineral exploration, specialising in Lithium and Tantalum and has held various positions from Vice-President of Exploration to CEO.

James was previously Chief Geologist and exploration manager for Bikita Minerals Lithium in Zimbabwe, where he primarily oversaw the Geology department that undertook the pit reserve and resource expansion and hard rock mineral resource exploration for spodumene.

Over the last 15 years, James has also been involved in the exploration and assessment of various lithium plus tin-tantalum pegmatite projects in Afghanistan and Africa, including the Manono lithium project in the DRC, Desert Lion and UIS in Namibia and the Arcadia lithium mine in Zimbabwe.

James was educated at Rhodes University, South Africa, and holds a BSc. Honours degree in Geology. He is also a registered as a Professional Natural Scientist for over 13 years.

Andrew Li Chuang

Chief Representative and Business Manager China

Andrew has over 15 years of international trading experience with his most recent role being senior business manager and trader with Mitsubishi Corporation (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, specializing in marketing and sales of various battery metals raw materials specializing in lithium ore and chemicals.

At RTEK Andrew is responsible for the Spodumene lithium business for our clients in Australia, Brazil and Africa where he handles all international and domestic logistics to our Chinese customers. He also manages the Lithium Carbonate and Lithium Hydroxide export business from China to Tesla’s Chinese EV Plant, Panasonic, LG and others. Andrew is well connected with Lithium Chemical converter plants all over China and has been integral in building the supply chain from our resources globally to Asian downstream factories.

Andrew has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance (1st class Honors) from the University of London and a Master’s degree in Economics and Finance from the Warwick Business school in UK.

Shahriar Masud

Project Director

Shahriar is a process engineer, specialising in project management, commissioning, and operations readiness. He has over 18 years of experience in mining project start-ups in Oceania, West Africa & Central Asia. Through strong leadership and effective communication, he managed cross-functional teams and successfully developed multi-cultural workforce in those projects. As part of his recent assignment, Shahriar led the Sigma Lithium’s phase 1 project in Brazil to full production and proceeded on to be the project manager for phase 2 feasibility study.

Shahriar has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and a Graduate certificate in Business administration from the Australian Institute of Management.

Kristy Mitchell

Executive Assistant

Kristy has over 12 years’ experience as an Executive Assistant with a strong background in corporate finance and management. Kristy has previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for 11 years before joining RTEK in 2022 and brings a wealth of knowledge and skillsets to the business along with strong customer relations, having been able to interact directly with potential and existing clients from many years of experience in the industry.