People: Shearer relishing golden challenge

Tony Shearer, former boss of merchant bank Singer & Friedlander, is finding it ‘quite fun’ nursing South-East Asian gold play Triple Plate Junction back to health after the AIM-quoted company’s spectacular fall from grace over a failed mineral processing project in Zambia.

He replaced veteran wheeler-dealing Australian entrepreneur Ian Gowrie-Smith as chairman last summer after a shareholder revolt and has lately presided over a successful £2.5 million funding to support promising gold ventures in Vietnam and Papua New Guinea.   

‘This is what I’ve done for many years,’ comments Shearer, ‘taking a company with good assets but specific issues and turning it round.’ He stresses that most of Triple Plate’s current projects are joint ventures with major international mining groups, such as Australia’s Newcrest and Newmont of the USA.

Shearer, whose other interests include chairing legal fees insurer Abbey Protection, is no doubt finding his corporate finance skills helpful in handling Newmont. The US group recently indicated that it was contemplating a bid approach for Triple Plate, but at a price that Shearer and his board dismissed as a ’substantial undervaluation’ in the light of the company’s current aspirations.