Hello and welcome to the Corporate Storytime podcast series. My name is Lucas Robinson, the host of the podcast. On this pod, I'll get the opportunity to talk to ASX company leaders and innovators as they run through their personal executive journeys and the stories behind the companies they're helping to grow. Today, I'll be leveraging my experience as a former stockbroker and my current role with investor relations consultancy Corporate Storytime. But enough of that for now. Let's gather around, come in close, and let me tell you a story.
Welcome to the Corporate Storytime Podcast. I'm very pleased to welcome our latest guest, Wayne Bramwell. Wayne is a metallurgist and experienced mining executive who is the Managing Director of major ASX gold producer Westgold. He is also a non-executive director of ASX-listed rare earths company OD6 Metals. As the company name suggests, Westgold's main mining assets are located in Western Australia, with the recent acquisition of Cora Resources bringing mines near Kambalda into the business to complement the company's Meekatharra-based operations. Wayne, thanks for joining me for a chat. Before we get into the Westgold story and the OD6 story, can we go back in time a bit? Can you explain how you came to be involved in the mining industry?
Thank you for the invitation today, and yeah, happy to chat through the history.
No worries. So, what is your background in the mining industry then, Wayne? How did it come to be that a young Wayne Bramwell found his way into this business?
It was really a happy accident in some sense. I mean, born in Western Australia, no family connections in mining. I think in maybe year six or seven, went on a school trip to the Goldfields, and that was probably one of the first times we'd ever seen anything mining related. The first thing, which I guess was burned in my memory, was, you know, the first mine that I ever saw was the Great Fingall mine at Day Dawn in the Queensland. And I guess it just, the scale of it shocked me, just sort of probably blew my, you know, year six mind. But that was really the first touchpoint with the industry. I guess, you know, many years later, at the end of high school, not really knowing what I wanted to do, you know, the idea of the... I sort of fell into the sector or a mining-related degree, which was metallurgy, with the appeal that this degree gave you the opportunity to travel and earn a decent salary. I mean, there was not much more driver than that, other than the sort of the appeal of being able to travel on the back of a career that you could get, could take you around the world. I mean, you know, thinking about it now, sort of 30-odd years on, it's been exactly that. The career has taken me to places and given me opportunities that a sort of a boy from Wiluna could only ever have dreamed about.
Excellent. And so, what was your first experience in the gold sector?
Oh, the first gold project I ever worked on as an undergraduate was at Duketon for a little company called Sundown Minerals. I mean, that asset and mine is still there now, but that was my first exposure to gold and working as a plant operator over a summer vacation.
And then you got involved in projects far and wide across the globe and got experience across different commodities as well. I understand you had a fairly long stint at Casbar, which at the time was advancing a tin project in Morocco. What was that like?
Look, that was a fantastic experience. That was after many years of sort of working my way through the ranks, sort of starting in operational roles and back into business development and corporate roles, having the aspiration to actually want to try and take on the role of CEO or Managing Director. Not an unfamiliar path for many mining people, you know, you come through a technical stream and you somehow end up in a management role. Well, the opportunity came through a set of circumstances to start an exploration company with these assets in Morocco, and in 2006 I grabbed that opportunity and away we went.
Very good. And so the opportunity with Westgold, my understanding, you've been inside the business as an executive for about four years or so. Is that right?
Well, no, I actually joined the board as a non-executive in 2020. I actually had an executive role running MACA's business and was asked to consider joining the board of Westgold at that stage as a non-exec, which I, you know, I looked at the business and thought, wow, some of these assets are well known. I met a lot of the people and thought there's some really fantastic people here. And at that stage, I'd always run in my career with an executive role, and I tried to maintain a non-executive role. So why have I always tried to do this? Because in my mind, it forces me to be a better executive and a better non-exec. As an executive in these companies, you know, I can instruct and take action, whereby as a non-exec, you don't get to give instructions, you get to give advice. So it's a very different type of thinking. So I think maintaining those two roles makes me better in both of those roles.
Yeah, that's well explained. So when I look back at the financial year 2024 results for Westgold, it obviously tells a story of the business as it was up until then. But in early August, the company completed the acquisition of Cora. So looking forward will be a very different story. But just looking back on the result that you achieved from a bottom-line point of view and the dividend that you have declared, what were the highlights of that financial year 24 result for you guys?
