Reward Minerals Ltd (ASX:RWD) CEO Lorry Hughes has always been one for the outdoors. As a child, he would go prospecting with his father on weekends, exploring various stations. This early exposure to the wonders of geology would become the spark that ignited his lifelong passion.
Today, at 53, he reflects on his journey, from the child who was fascinated by rocks, to the shortages of good young workers coming into the industry, to the successful leader he is now.
Geology, it seems, has as much allure as gold.
As a high schooler in the late 1980s, Hughes would browse job postings in Saturday newspapers. At that time, the mining sector was burgeoning, offering promising job prospects for young, aspiring geologists.
The popularity of mining at the time cemented his career decision.
Hughes graduated from Curtin University with a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.), Geology/Earth Science and early days worked in various roles across the mining industry, first gaining experience in gold exploration and mining.
His first job was spent underground at the Bellevue and Bounty gold mines, which the latter is now being transformed into a lithium mine.
And while he admits he is no longer as interested in "pretty looking rocks" as he once was, he does boast a collection of gold nuggets, which at today’s price of US$2037.22/ounce (A$3011.01) could fetch a pretty penny.
"Anything shiny is always interesting, isn't it?" he tells Proactive.
While Hughes cut his teeth in gold, his experience in mining and leadership was cemented in industries as far ranging as fertiliser and uranium.
In this article:
- Opportunities present
- A lot of noise about potash
- Reward for effort
- Encouraging others to take their opportunities
- Into the future
- Footnote
When asked about what ties his diverse experiences together, Hughes explains it’s all about seizing the right opportunities.
And there have been plenty.
First as a consulting geologist with Homestake Gold in 1998, then as Technical Services superintendent at North Ltd, now Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), where he spent five years managing the mine technical services team for the Ranger and Jabiluka uranium mines.
His time at Rio Tinto taught him about corporate bureaucracy and provided an opportunity to apply his academic learnings to real-world situations.
He followed the Rio experience by moving to another giant in CSA Global where he was a consulting geologist with a focus on resource estimation.
Each role offered unique lessons and experiences but these days he's more selective about the projects he chooses, often influenced by their ability to attract funding – a trait he saw in Reward Minerals.
Certainly, the small cap space seems to be where he has laid his hat … for now.
Hughes was exploration manager at Energy Metals Ltd from 2006 to 2008 overseeing the advanced Bigryli uranium deposit feasibility study and JV with Paladin Resources.
He became managing director and CEO at Danakali Ltd (ASX:DNK, LSE:DNK, OTC:SBMSF) in 2008 until 2013, discovering a world-class potash deposit in Eritrea and working on the Duketon Nickel-Copper-PGE and Gold Project in Western Australia.
“That was my first managing director role and it was an opportunity that I identified myself: I found from a number of roles, no one's going to help guide your career unless you're a doctor or indoctrinated into a graduate scheme with a big company. So, when you're chopping and changing and creating a career for yourself and factoring in choices and family and lifestyle, you end up realising that you have to make decisions for yourself.
“I wanted to become a CEO and I identified Danakali (previously South Boulder) as a company with a lot of assets with a lot of value. I said, ‘I need to join this company’, and the timing happened to be perfect as the previous managing director was ready to move on. That was just a great opportunity. And I ran with it.”
Following Danakali, Hughes was director of private company Strategic Iron from 2013 to 2014 and had a small stint as CEO with Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) in 2014. He spent time at Metaliko Resources and Horizon Minerals, before enjoying a four-year stint as CEO of Yandal Resources Ltd (ASX:YRL) from 2018 to 2022.
He took Yandal from a private to a public company – something he considers one of his biggest achievements.
He is also a well-regarded consultant.
From gold to potash to nickel and uranium, Hughes has found opportunity in a myriad of sectors.
The transition from working in large corporations to smaller explorers was stark: “The shift presented different challenges and opportunities, offering a contrasting perspective on operations in the mining industry,” he says.
He is now back in the potash game after taking charge at Reward Minerals and there’s a connection between his first CEO role and his current one.
Hughes doing a gold project evaluation in Bahia, Brazil in 2013.
A lot of noise about potash
Reward first came to Hughes’ attention when he was with Danakali.
His former company had an exploration licence to explore for gold in a region where Reward was looking for potash which is also known as potassium sulphate or SOP.
“We pegged the licence for gold, but we had a look around and noticed Reward was making a lot of noise about potash. So, we did our research and thought we could be a chance to have potash in the ground as well and that was a game changer as it attracted multinational investors who were interested in investing in Danakali’s potash potential.”
That was Hughes’ first experience with the greatly improving potash environment. He says it is one of the key pillars of growth in the future and is happy to be back in that space, having gone through the steep learning curve already.
Reward for effort
Now at the helm of Reward Minerals, he says the company is poised to make a significant impact in the potash industry, which he sees as a truly global business with enormous growth potential.
Reward is a potash-focused advanced-stage technology and development company. Its flagship assets are its new potash processing technology known as the Reward Process, and its wholly-owned Kumpupintil Lake Potash Project in Western Australia.
Hughes caught up with Proactive earlier in the year to discuss his work in building the company’s Kumpupintil Lake Potash Project since taking the reins earlier this year.
He says what makes Reward stand out is the company’s technology, known as the Reward Process.
The Reward Process extracts potassium (K) and sulphate (SO4) components directly from high sulphate brines avoiding mechanical harvesting and flotation upgrade of crude potash solids.
The benefits are that it eliminates the expense of mechanical harvesting of crude potash which requires sophisticated pond construction as well as the technical challenges and costs of flotation.
It is also potentially a much simpler process than operating and developmental flowsheets.
The company’s preliminary laboratory work recently confirmed the efficacy of its new processing technology for the recovery of SOP from seawater and other high-sulphate brines.
Reward has now started a follow-up program, aimed at optimising reaction times of specific technical stages in order to reliably produce high-grade SOP (>52% K2O).
This work is part of the company’s engineering scoping study, with test-work supporting the robustness and reproducibility of the new process.
The technology is currently patent-pending and Hughes is cautious about revealing too much with the patent application still under review, but he believes this technology is a game-changer.
"We believe our process, which uses simple chemical reactions and not a great deal of reagents, will easily translate to similar results out in the field," he says, explaining that this process eliminates the need for mechanical harvesting and flotation, resulting in dramatic cost savings.
Reward has commissioned an international engineering consulting group to conduct a scoping study. If the results are positive, this will be a significant milestone for the company, validating the potential of its technology.
With a firm belief in the importance of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) considerations, Hughes also points out that using solar energy for evaporation checks important sustainability boxes.
"There's real potential for us to add our technology on to existing solar salt operations that currently throw away potash and other products. So many ESG boxes are ticked here," he says.
With Reward Minerals, Hughes is set to contribute to a global industry that is vital for the future of agriculture and food security.
He speaks with an unreserved passion about Reward Minerals' latest exploits, particularly around their novel technology.
This technology, he explains, has driven not just the company's valuation, but its global strategy as well.
"Inquiries are pouring in from around the globe," he enthuses, "and we're exploring collaborations with other companies to expand our reach. Evaporation of seawater to produce salts have been in existence for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and we think our technology can play a significant role in enhancing these existing operations."
The opportunity to augment existing operations with the technology is appealing, as many of these operations already have the infrastructure in place and are situated strategically on the coast. Lorry outlines Rewards’ aspirations to tackle a half-million tons of production annually, which would translate to a considerable revenue stream.
Encouraging others to take their opportunities
Hughes is preparing to expand his small team as Reward’s technology develops.
The current mining landscape offers a wealth of opportunities, much like it did when he first embarked on his career.
However, the industry is now facing a shortage of graduates despite an abundance of jobs. He says, "This disconnect has been a problem for a long time. It's either feast or famine."
With the country's abundant resources and growing demand for battery commodities like nickel and copper, the industry is poised to thrive. The challenge, however, lies in attracting young professionals to the industry.
Hughes says recruitment has become increasingly competitive, even for relatively inexperienced individuals.
However, the message to young upstarts should be clear: “It’s the same advice as when I was young. Once you get the experience under your belt, you're generally not going to be short of any work in your career.
“In Australia, there's enough commodities of interest, particularly battery commodities, that everyone can keep themselves busy now.”
Ideas around money are another issue.
“I have seen in the last few years, especially during boom times that there's a lot of young professionals out there that are happy to chase the best money. You can’t blame people chasing money.
"However, what that has done is made the industry incredibly competitive just to employ fairly inexperienced people. This has been a problem for I'm sure a lot of other CEOs, so you really have to sell the opportunity.”
Given Reward’s technology and its mission, Hughes doesn’t believe attracting the right people to the company will be a problem.
Into the future
With a career that has spanned numerous jurisdictions from Malaysia and Indonesia to Africa, Hughes has navigated the complexities of different regulatory landscapes and managed to overcome challenges to keep moving forward.
With Reward, he is leveraging his extensive experience and unique insights to lead the company into the future.
His journey, from the child fascinated by rocks to the CEO navigating the complexities of the mining and chemical industries, serves as a testament to his perseverance.
He embodies the mantra that where passion and hard work meet, opportunity follows.
Footnote
Hughes’ ventures extend beyond the minerals space.
As founder of Algernon Therapeutics, a company focused on slowing down the effects of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease, he brings the same fervour and corporate acumen to the biotech industry as he does to mining.
He notes the similarities between the two fields, each serving a pressing global need. He speaks enthusiastically about the exciting animal trials underway at Flinders University in South Australia.
Hughes' overarching motivation, it seems, is to find solutions to global challenges. He is driven by the thrill of solving complex problems and contributing meaningfully to the world, whether that's in the form of novel mineral extraction technology or pioneering biotech.
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