Mr Pole is an economist with a broad financial management background in the mining, oil and aviation industries. He was one of the founders, and first Chairman, of European Nickel plc. Previously Mr Pole was a Director of Titan Resources NL, producing nickel concentrate for its customer Western Mining (now BHP Billiton) which, through Pacific Ore Technology, developed the Bioheap bacterial leaching process for nickel and copper sulphide ores.