The eight arms of a
developing exploration company
IAN FINCH
MANAGING DIRECTOR
TRAFFORD RESOURCES LTD
Dodging the doom and gloom soothsayers that have sprung up around mining circles of late,
Trafford Resources prefers the wisdom of adopting a long-term focus in its corporate vision.
The Perth-based mineral exploration company remains crystal clear about where it is going
and why, and it retains an unobstructed view about the strategy it is using to get there.
Still led by its founder and current Managing Director, Ian Finch, the company has travelled
a noteworthy path since it listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in June 2006. In 2010
Trafford Resources achieved a rare milestone indeed for an exploration company – it paid a
dividend to its shareholders.
Looking forward, Mr Finch analogises the company’s growth model with that of an octopus,
where the central head of the multi-commodity explorer will become increasingly expanded
and self-funded through its arms – its potential revenue streams. To tell us more is industry
stalwart and Trafford’s Managing Director, Ian Finch.
The octopus makes a handy illustration for Trafford Resources,
but not because the beak on an octopus’ head is the only hard
part of its body, allowing it to squeeze through tight places.
Neither is it because an octopus is considered highly intelligent
with flexible, adaptive behaviour. It is the arms of the octopus,
coming from a common centre, which provide a suitable graphic
representation of Trafford’s growth intentions. Each arm denotes
a different limb of the exploration company, which will feed
cash back to the head, allowing it to produce more arms, in turn
creating exponential growth.
The important aspect of the octopus analogy is that the entity
becomes self-feeding, or self-funding in the case of Trafford.
“
We have a clear vision of becoming a fully self-funded
exploration company, spending tens of millions of dollars on
exploration every year, drilling thousands of holes annually
rather than dozens, and rewarding shareholders in the process,”
explains Mr Finch.
Trafford has recently re-badged its corporate identity,
adopting a striking new logo in the form of a gryphon – an
emblem that is not only a geological formation, but also a
legendary creature with the wings of an eagle and the body
of a lion. The boldly coloured logo will provide visual strength
and distinction to a company with an undisputed track record,
whilst the octopus concept is a useful visual illustration of the
company’s determined vision for the future.
The unfolding Wilcherry Hill iron ore project in South
Australia is set to become one of Trafford’s major arms as it
progresses closer to production in what is an 80:20 joint venture
between IronClad Mining and Trafford Resources. Trafford had
discovered large quantities of high-grade magnetite iron at the
four Wilcherry tenements on the Eyre Peninsula, and as a result,
Trafford floated IronClad in 2007 as the development vehicle
to establish the iron ore operations at Wilcherry. The geology
of the area, with its ‘deep seated heat engine’ similar to the
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