George Jay Hambro, a former investment banker and the son of a stockbroker turned mining magnate, shuttles between his home in London, iron ore mines in Russia, corporate offices in Hong Kong and steel mills on the mainland.
It is little wonder he said he had a blocked nose and 'felt like an invalid' coming from minus-20 degrees Celsius weather in Moscow to humid and warm Hong Kong.
The 37-year-old Englishman is chairman of IRC, which has an operating iron ore mine in the Russian far east, another mine, with ore processing facilities being built and several projects under development or exploration. He said heading up a young mining firm was more satisfying than being a banker because it involved creating something for the long term, which entailed more risk, but also provided greater rewards.
IRC was listed in Hong Kong in October 2010, when it raised US$240 million. Still loss-making at the operating level last year, the firm could raise output five-fold in the next few years by bringing bigger and lower-cost new mines on stream.
Despite its operating mine being just 150 kilometres from the Sino-Russian border, a lack of transport routes means processed ore has to be hauled 2,600 kilometres by rail to the mainland. A bridge, due to be completed in 2016, would cut the rail distances to China by about a third, substantially reducing freight costs.
His father, Peter Hambro, is the chairman and a 4.6 per cent stake owner in the London-listed Petropavlovsk Group, a gold miner in the Russian far east. Petropavlovsk owns 65.6 per cent of IRC.
Previously a stockbroker, Peter Hambro teamed up with Russian Pavel Maslovskiy to set up Petropavlovsk in 1994.
