Board & Management

Mr. Shiraz Virji, Chairman of the Shalina Group. After having learnt the trade from his father he began a successful career as an exporter of spices and timber from Mombasa, Kenya. In 1971 he moved to London and opened a wholesale warehouse in Willesden, UK. In 1981 Mr. Virji, who’s family are of Indian origin, travelled back to India where he started a pharmaceutical business and began exporting generic medicines to Zaire, now Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He conceived the Shalina branded generics line of over one hundred products that now marketed in multiple Sub Saharan African countries under Shalina Healthcare Ltd. In 2001 he acquired several mining concessions in the DRC and built the first processing facilities of Chemaf an abbreviation of (Chemicals of Africa).

Mr. Virji spearheads the growth strategy of Shalina Resources, he has over 30 years of successful business experience in the DRC. He is based in DRC.

Mr. Abbas Virji graduated from Cass Business School in London with an honours degree in Business Studies. He has almost fifteen years of experience in international trading and business development in Europe, Africa and China.

He currently deals with the marketing of the cobalt and copper products from the business operations of the Group. He is based in Dubai. Mr. Abbas Virji is primarily responsible for negotiating the off-take contracts with all long-term strategic partners. Mr Abbas Virji also heads the pharmaceutical arm of the Shalina Group, Shalina Healthcare Ltd.

Mr. Sebastien Ansel graduated from Dijon University in France with a Masters Degree in Finance in 1996. He started his career at Ernst and Young in Luxembourg where he was employed as an auditor.

In 1997 he moved to the Whitehall Hedge Fund in Paris working as Portfolio Manager, he specialised in French Private Real Estate. . From 2000 to 2008 he held a position as Multi Fund Manager at the Russell Investment Group concentrating on European Equities.

In 2008 Mr. Ansel emigrated to Lubumbashi where he was appointed as Chief Financial Officer “CFO” for Chemaf SPRL. He was appointed in his current position in Shalina Resources Ltd in 2009 and he now divides his time between the DRC and the UK. Mr. Ansel is responsible for the implementation of financial strategies, policies, and processes throughout the organisation.

Mr. Clive Needham is Managing Director of CM Group, Isle of Man. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and maintains his Practising Certificate, he is authorised to perform audits.

Mr. Needham graduated from Liverpool University with a BA (Hons) degree in Accountancy. He worked for Wilkins Kennedy accountants in London for several years, qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1992, and then held a position at Fryers Bell & Co accountants in the Isle of Man before joining CM Group in 1996.

Mr. Tuneer Ghosh graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from Jadavpur University and immediately began working in a turnkey consultancy for various industries. He later joined Amal Products Limited where, among other activities, he enhanced the efficiency of the Company’s acid plants.

Mr. Ghosh joined Shalina Resources in 2002 as Technical Director where he was instrumental in forming the technical team. After a 2 year absence starting in 2006, Mr. Ghosh returned to the Shalina Group as Chief Operating Officer, COO, of Chemaf.

Mr. Ghislain Yumba graduated from Lubumbashi University with a degree in Polytechnics. He is a qualified mining engineer with considerable experience of working in the DRC Copper Belt. He has held a number of technical and supervisory positions at mines in the DRC for Gecamines who are the Government Mining Organisation.

Mr. Yumba joined Chemaf SPRL in 2003 as Head of Mining Operations. In 2008 he became General Manager of Mining for the Etoile mine. He now supervises all of the Companies mining activities.

Dr. T.M. Babu is a graduate in Geology from Sri Venkateswara University and holds a Master’s degree specialized in mineral exploration from Karnataka University. In 1989, he also completed his doctorate from Nagpur University in India, on tin and associated rare metal mineralization.

He has 39 years of work experience beginning his career at Department of Mines and Geology and Geological Survey of India from 1973 to 1999. Following this, he has worked with various institutions like United Nations, BRGM (France) and Coronation International (UK). His most recent engagement was at Wardrop-Canada and Global industries-Africa from 2006 to 2010 where he led the exploration strategy for copper, tin, gold, diamond, platinum and associated rare metals.

He has also contributed to several publications and books on tin, diamonds and platinum.

He received the National Mineral award of India and Geological Society of India award in 1994 in recognition of his mineral exploration work for tin and associated rare metals.

He joined Shalina Resources in 2011 as head of Geology and Exploration with responsibilities to ensure continued resource upgradation on all projects and mining concessions.