Leadership Team

Mr Lai has long and deep links to the mine on Christmas Island. He first arrived on the island in 1978, and not long after, joined the UCIW he worked to deliver improved conditions to the island’s ethnic work population.

His drive, work ethic and passion saw him progress quickly to supervisory roles within the company. When the Australian Government closed the mine in 1987, Lai along with the late Gordon Bennett and others, fought to reopen the mine over a three year period, for the purpose of providing jobs for Christmas Islanders, for without jobs there was no other economy or prospects for local residents to maintain a livelihood.

Since the beginnings of Phosphate Resources, Lai has performed in key roles including chairman and director, and over the past two decades, he has been the managing director for the company.

Lai provides long-term and strategic oversight of the company steering it through challenging times including the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis. Lai has driven the company’s diversification strategy, that has allowed the business to not solely rely on its core phosphate trade.

In 2004 he was awarded the Centennial Medal by the Federal Government for his contributions to Christmas Island and its community.

Mr Gan joined Phosphate Resources in 2016, after spending 11 years working in senior roles for Coca Cola Amatil. He is a chartered accountant with a diverse background in supply chain management, commercial management and sales.

Mr Gan is a director of the WA Return Recycle Renew (WARRRL), the scheme coordinator for WA’s container deposit scheme.

Mr Gan provides leadership to PRL Group’s operational functions and business units based on Christmas Island, including Christmas Island Phosphates, CI Maintenance Services, Indian Ocean Oil Company, and Indian Ocean Stevedores.

Mr Gold joined Phosphate Resources Limited in 2013 and became Group Chief Financial Officer of CI Resources Limited in 2015. He holds a Master of Science and Bachelor of Accounting, Wits University, South Africa. A chartered accountant with global experience in South Africa, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. He had over 18 years of experience with a big four accounting firm before joining the company.

Mr Gold is responsible for financial matters including regulatory and management reporting, cashflow management, budgeting and forecasting, and financial analysis to enhance commercial decision making. He has a strong focus on risk management and improving processes to ensure consistency and integration of financial and commercial information.

Mr Adrian Gurgone is an experienced Chartered Accountant and MBA with significant executive management, investment, board and business leadership experience. He held senior roles with Deloitte Consulting along with a UK top-tier consulting firm, prior to establishing and running a successful national management consultancy and investment firm in 2007 for over a decade, advising multinational and mid-cap organisations globally.

His experience encompasses executive management, investment, strategy, financial and business analysis, risk management and corporate governance across a range of industries including mining, energy and resources. Adrian has held several directorships on private sector and not for profit boards.

Mr Ramanathan Krishnan career in the Fertilizer industry has spanned over 40 years including a variety of market-facing seniorroles with Chemical Company of Malaysia before he joined PRLin 1999.

PRL Global  benefits from Mr Ramanathan’s depth of fertilizer industry experience and knowledge both at a local and international levels as the company continues on its growth path towards becoming a vertically integrated Fertilizer business with interests in mining, trading, logistics and specialty fertilizers.

As the sales and marketing lead for Christmas Island Phosphates since 1999, the Company achieved record sales under his guidance. In more recent years he helped establish Phosphate Resources Malaysia (PRM) as a fully-fledged Fertilizer company with a network of warehouses across Malaysia.

He has also successfully completed a Bachelor of Business in Business Administration degree with Royal Melbourne Institute & Technology (RMIT) and a Diploma in Management from the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM).