# Damian Spring Executive Director & CEO ## Career chronology - **Since 2023-07-01: Santana Minerals Limited** — Executive Director & CEO. [Our team]() (Management/director profile; current role) ## Business failures and setbacks ### Fast-track decision slipped; substantive consent remained undecided [smi_damian_spring_fasttrack_delay_and_open_consent] FY2026–2027 projected decision · documented · medium materiality The official expert-panel index records a processing suspension requested by the applicant, effective 26 June 2026, confirmation of resumption on 17 August, and a later resumption minute on 16 September. The FY2026 annual report says the final consent was still outstanding and decision timing had moved from October 2026 to January 2027. As of the evidence cutoff, the application remained active: applicants answered several information requests, a conditions writer was appointed and the panel received an appointed groundwater expert report on 5 October. This is a material schedule/regulatory risk, not a refusal or a finding of personal misconduct. **Attribution:** Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Spring was CEO and applicant representative during the consenting process; no source attributes the delay or requests to personal failure. **Relevance:** Permitting schedule and unresolved consent are central execution dependencies for the CEO and project economics. [Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project expert panel correspondence and minutes]() (Minutes 38, 45 and 52; process status through 30 September 2026); [Bendigo-Ophir Gold Project reports and advice]() (RFI register through 29 September and expert groundwater report received 5 October 2026); [Santana Minerals Limited Annual Report 2026]() (Chairman’s Letter, p. 3) ## Suitability for the current role ### Role alignment; record remains incomplete [smi_damian_spring_role_fit] Evidence cutoff 2026-10-09 · analyst inference · low materiality The reviewed issuer profile confirms this current role. The short public profile supports a preliminary role-alignment observation only; independent evidence on delivered outcomes and full tenure is insufficient for a broader performance judgment. **Attribution:** Responsibility not applicable. This is an analyst assessment of the documented role and experience, not a claim of responsibility for a company outcome. **Relevance:** Role alignment matters to execution in the current position, but the reviewed evidence does not establish full delivery or control outcomes. [Our team]() (Executive or management profile: Damian Spring; current role and available career detail) ## Evidence gaps - Full dated employment chronology, independently verified education and concurrent board interests were not established from the opened sources. - The grouped adverse-topic search was preliminary; person-specific regulator, court, safety, environmental, insolvency, fraud and governance checks remain incomplete.