Board and Management

With a successful track record of discovery, development and operation, including corporate transactions across the African continent, the management of Equator has experience of finding gold and other mineral deposits and advancing them through all stages of development.

Mark Parker, BA, MIMMM.  Managing Director

Mark Parker is a geophysicist and exploration entrepreneur with 44 years’ experience in exploration and corporate management in Africa, Europe, South-East Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. He is also an independent director (formerly Chairman) of IGS Ltd, a global geoscience consultancy spun out of the British Geological Survey.

Mark was founder and managing director until 2011 of African Eagle Resources plc, an AIM-listed company which discovered the 100 million tonne Dutwa nickel resource in Tanzania. African Eagle also operated in Zambia, Mozambique and elsewhere in Tanzania. He was responsible for African Eagle’s IPO in 2000, its admission to AIM in 2003 and its listing on the JSE AltX in 2007. He negotiated a significant investment into African Eagle by IFC, part of the World Bank, and several joint ventures with major international mining companies. Companies he has led have raised more than GBP 40 million through equity subscriptions.

Previously Mark worked in the British Geological Survey, Hunting Geology and Geophysics, Ark Geophysics and as a consultant. Mark is a Professional Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Qualified Person for reporting exploration results.

Emma Parker, BSc, MSc, TEFL.  Director

Emma Parker is an environmental scientist who has worked on exploration and mining projects, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and impact investing roles in eastern and central Africa. Emma has more than 19 years’ experience as an  (ESG) and mining operations specialist and is currently Principal in charge of Sustainable Business Opportunities at Anglo American plc. Emma is also a director of Getech Group plc and President of Tanzania–based She founded the Musangu Foundation, which supports mining companies’ approach to social investment, and Impact Capital Africa, which supports impact investing in Zambia.

Jeffrey Francis Anthony (Jeff) Malaihollo, PhD, BA, FGS, MAusIMM.  Chairman

Dr Malaihollo founded GGG plc, formerly Central China Goldfields, and was its Managing Director until its 2012 merger with Bullabulling Gold Limited. From 2000 to 2004, Jeff was an Executive Director at Loeb Aron & Company Ltd, London corporate financiers specialising in natural resources. Previously, he worked for Newcrest on grass roots exploration for gold and base metals, Rio Tinto on area selection and project evaluation in the Former Soviet Union and Indonesia, and Billiton on generative programmes and target selection in South East Asia, China and Eastern Europe.

Robert Peter (Bob) Foster, PhD, BSc, FIMMM, CEng, FGS, CGeol.  Director

Dr Foster is a professional economic geologist with 37 years of experience in exploration, mining, and applied academic posts, having worked in Europe, Central Asia, North and South America, and throughout Africa. He has particular expertise in gold genesis and exploration, and has published extensively on these topics. Currently CEO of Stratex International plc, Bob previously worked as Minerals Manager for UK-based international consultancy group Exploration Consultants Limited, as lecturer and research scientist at Southampton University and in the mining industry in Zimbabwe.

Geert Trappeniers, BSc, MSc.  Exploration Manager

Geert Trappeniers is an exploration geologist with 20 years’ experience in exploration, development and production management in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He was operations manager for ESCOM Mining in Angola, managing director of Walzinc srl, and general manager of KDC in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2004, Geert formed Skapto, a Belgium-based geological consulting and exploration services company. As a consultant he managed exploration programs for precious and base metals in West-Africa, Turkey and Europe. Geert was also director of AIM-listed base metals explorer Phoenix Global Mining Ltd.