TNG said the highly-regarded titanium dioxide industry specialist had more than 40 years of experience in the global titanium dioxide industry.

The appointment followed a number of other senior management changes as TNG continued to expand its management team to ensure it had the right blend of skills and expertise to manage delivery of the billion-dollar Mount Peake project in Australia.

TNG said Stephen had a strong background both in research and development and manufacturing in the titanium dioxide industry, including as site director of three large manufacturing sites. He spent most his career working in a range of different positions with Cristal Inorganic Chemicals and its predecessors, acquired by Tronox, one of the world's leading vertically integrated producers of high-quality titanium products and zircon.

Stephen was site director for the Bunbury chloride plant in Australia, the Le Havre sulphate plant in France and the Stallingborough chloride plant in the UK. More recently he worked for Cristal Pigments in its office in Baar, Switzerland. He was appointed managing director of Cristal Inorganic Chemicals Switzerland in 2014, and returned to Bunbury, WA in 2017, serving as a board member for Cristal's Australian company from 2017 to 2019 until the takeover by Tronox.