# Tim Benfield Chief Operating Officer ## Career chronology - **Current at cutoff; exact start date not independently verified in this audit: AIC Mines** — Chief Operating Officer. [Board and management]() (Relevant named person’s current issuer biography) - **Before or during AIC tenure as described by the issuer; exact dates not determined in this audit: Kingsgate Consolidated** — Chief Operating Officer; acting Chief Executive Officer. [Board and management]() (Relevant named person’s current issuer biography) ## Education and qualifications ### Mining qualification, MBA and professional fellowship [benfield_education] Dates of awards not disclosed · issuer reported · medium materiality Issuer disclosures report a mining-engineering diploma from Camborne School of Mines, an MBA from Murdoch University and AusIMM fellowship. Independent award or membership-register confirmation was not obtained. **Attribution:** Responsibility not applicable. Issuer-reported credentials; do not upgrade the diploma to a university degree. **Relevance:** Directly relevant technical and management training. [Board and management]() (Relevant named person’s current issuer biography) ## Contributions and company outcomes ### Operational improvement alongside financial stress [benfield_kingsgate_delivery] FY2015 · issuer reported · medium materiality Kingsgate FY2015 reported Challenger production up 7% and group cash costs falling from US$936/oz to US$833/oz. Benfield held operational leadership and acted as CEO for part of that year. These improvements coexisted with substantial losses. **Attribution:** Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Operations remit overlaps improvements; company reports do not isolate his personal contribution. **Relevance:** Evidence of operating experience with a mixed commercial outcome. [Kingsgate Annual Report 2015]() (PDF pp.4, 8–10, 22 and 36, results, suspension and management) ### FY26 guidance met; September production below plan [benfield_aic] FY26 and September 2026 quarter · issuer reported · high materiality Eloise delivered FY26 copper guidance for a third year, producing 13,064 tonnes in concentrate. The September 2026 quarter produced 3,072 tonnes consolidated, below quarterly guidance after delayed access to higher-grade ore and early plant cutovers. Company full-year guidance was maintained. **Attribution:** Role overlaps event; causation unproven. COO oversight overlaps delivery and cost pressures; outcomes belong to the whole operating team. **Relevance:** Relevant evidence for AIC production reliability and ramp-up discipline. [AIC Mines Annual Report 2026]() (PDF pp.4, 6, 15 and 45); [Quarterly Activities Report for the Period Ending 30 September 2026]() (pp.1–2 and 20, safety, production and leadership) ## Business failures and setbacks ### Large FY2015 loss and impairments [benfield_kingsgate_loss] FY2015 · issuer reported · high materiality Kingsgate recorded an A$147.1m after-tax loss and A$148.2m in non-cash impairments in FY2015, including Chatree and Bowdens. The report links the main impairment to weaker gold prices. **Attribution:** Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Leadership tenure overlaps; board capital allocation and external commodity prices prevent sole attribution. **Relevance:** Requires a balanced assessment of operating gains versus investment outcomes. [Kingsgate Annual Report 2015]() (PDF pp.4, 8–10, 22 and 36, results, suspension and management) ## Industrial safety ### Annual safety improvement followed by a September-quarter increase [benfield_safety] FY26 and September 2026 quarter · issuer reported · high materiality AIC reported that rolling TRIFR improved from 12.0 in June 2025 to 5.7 in June 2026, then increased to 6.2 per million hours by September 2026. Two September-quarter recordable injuries were disclosed, involving an elevated work platform and a hammer. **Attribution:** Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Operating responsibility overlaps the period; personal negligence is not established. **Relevance:** Both the annual improvement and subsequent injury-rate increase matter for critical-control oversight. [AIC Mines Annual Report 2026]() (PDF pp.4, 6, 15 and 45); [Quarterly Activities Report for the Period Ending 30 September 2026]() (pp.1–2 and 20, safety, production and leadership) ## Environmental record ### Chatree suspension during operating leadership [benfield_chatree] January–February 2015 · disputed · high materiality Chatree lost 44 operating days in early 2015 after local arsenic/manganese concerns. Mining resumed on 27 February. Kingsgate reported a scientific study found the mine was not the source; that study itself was not independently reviewed here. **Attribution:** Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Benfield was COO/acting CEO; suspension is documented, while causal contamination allegations remain distinct from an established personal breach. **Relevance:** A material test of stakeholder, environmental and operating-risk management. [Kingsgate Annual Report 2015]() (PDF pp.4, 8–10, 22 and 36, results, suspension and management) ## Suitability for the current role ### Strong technical fit with a mixed prior commercial record [benfield_fit] Assessment at cutoff · analyst inference · medium materiality The issuer describes mining engineering and operational leadership. Kingsgate disclosed losses and Chatree disruption during his operational-leadership period; direct personal responsibility for those outcomes is not established. **Attribution:** Responsibility not applicable. Inference from roles, outcomes and chronology, with no personal-misconduct conclusion. **Relevance:** Project-level results, capital efficiency and critical-control effectiveness remain incompletely attributed despite relevant experience. [Kingsgate Annual Report 2015]() (PDF pp.4, 8–10, 22 and 36, results, suspension and management); [Board and management]() (Relevant named person’s current issuer biography) ## Evidence gaps - Exact Aeon and Fetch tenure dates and independently measured project outcomes remain unconfirmed. - Chatree scientific report and complete Thai regulatory orders were not obtained; issuer claims are labelled accordingly. - Historical acting-CEO start day differs inside Kingsgate’s report; month-level tenure is used. - White Range development-study leadership is issuer-reported; original economic assumptions, delivered returns and exact Fetch tenure were not located in the targeted search. - No public incident-specific June-quarter corrective-action closure or independent critical-control effectiveness report was located. - The prior dossier and its earlier search logs were preserved separately. Prior search execution and citations not re-opened in this audit were not treated as independently verified; omitted claims require fresh source-level review.