The leader you want already has the job.
Founder’s record: two hundred and twenty-eight senior placements in forty-three countries · In mining search since 2007 · Every search run by the founder
Retained executive search for mining companies and their owners: the board, the executive team, and the general managers, country managers and project directors who run the operation. The founder, Paul Templeton, runs every search himself.
A career of mandates across six continents.
A representative selection of completed mandates.
View the coverage as a list
Who calls us
The team beneath you
General managers, country managers, project directors and functional heads, found among people already doing the job and assessed so you can defend the choice to your own executive team. A qualified shortlist within five to six weeks and completion in three to four months, with notice periods the main variable.
Paul Templeton has appointed general managers of mines, smelters and refineries across Australasia, the Americas, Africa and Europe; a Technical Centre of Excellence team in the United Kingdom for a mining major; and a Liberian operator that returned for its deputy CFO, project director and technical leadership.
General manager and executive search →The leadership of a portfolio company
Chief executive, board and operating appointments for portfolio companies, made quickly and defensibly, with an assessment that satisfies the investment committee as well as the board.
His appointments include chief executives and non-executive directors for private equity-backed gold and base-metals producers in the United Kingdom, and a chief executive for a private equity-backed industrial-minerals producer in Kazakhstan.
Search for private equity owners →The chair, the directors and the chief executive
Chair, non-executive and chief executive appointments, run without a public brief while the incumbent is in post, with board mandates charged as a fixed fee agreed before the search starts.
He has appointed chairs in the United States and the United Kingdom, and chief executives in gold, coal, steel, base metals and industrial minerals.
Board and executive committee search →The person you brief is the person who delivers.
You brief Paul Templeton, and he runs the search. He assesses every candidate himself and manages the offer. His clients are mostly mid-tier producers and private equity-owned junior miners.
The people a mining business most wants are usually running an operation today and not answering advertisements, so they are reached by a confidential, direct approach.
Paul Templeton has worked in talent management since 1998 and in retained executive search in mining since 2007, including a period at Korn Ferry. He spent fourteen years at a boutique search firm, where he built the mining practice and became part of the leadership team that bought out the founder. He has completed two hundred and twenty-eight senior placements across forty-three countries.
Much of his work has centred on remote, complex and emerging operations, where the hard judgement is whether a candidate will succeed in that setting.
His clients have ranged from the largest diversified majors to the junior explorer with a single asset, and include the investors behind both.
A representative selection of searches completed by Paul Templeton. After its chief executive appointment, one steel and iron-ore major in Liberia returned for its deputy CFO, project director and technical leadership. Client identities are confidential.
One sector. Leadership only.
We place leaders at every senior level, from the board to the general manager who runs the asset, and Paul Templeton runs every search personally.
Country & Regional Leadership
General managers, country managers and regional presidents who answer to a government, a community across the fence and your head office at once. The appointment that decides whether this year's plan is delivered at the asset.
Project & Technical Leadership
Programme and Project Directors and senior technical leadership for greenfield, brownfield, and the mine-related infrastructure that brings an asset into production: rail, power, ports, and water. These roles decide whether a capital project is delivered on time, on budget and to reserve.
Board & C-Suite
Chair, non-executive and chief executive appointments, and the CFO and COO beneath them. Successions run in confidence while the incumbent is still in post, with internal candidates assessed against the external market on the same criteria, so the committee can defend its decision either way.
- Chair & Non-Executive Director
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Development & Sustainability Officer
- Regional President
- Country Manager
- General Manager · Asset
- VP Operations
- Head of External Affairs
- Programme & Project Director
- Study & Construction Director
- VP Projects
- Head of Technical Services
- Processing & Metallurgy Director
Mining and metals, critical minerals and the energy transition, from junior explorers to tier-one majors.
Built to keep the appointment from failing.
Brief
Paul Templeton meets whoever owns the appointment, whether the chief executive, the head of HR or the chair, and defines the gap in the team before any specification is written.
Longlist and Shortlist
A longlist of the people doing the job today, including those who would never answer an advertisement, narrowed to a qualified shortlist.
Assessment
Paul Templeton assesses every shortlisted candidate himself and checks references on each. Where needed, psychometric testing is provided through several specialist mining assessment firms.
Close & Transition
Offer, notice and transition through to the first months in post, with a written replacement guarantee. Completion is expected in three to four months.
Guides and analysis for mining leadership.
Written from senior search work across mining, critical minerals and the energy transition.
What clients ask first
Cost
Executive appointments about one third of first-year compensation, staged across the search. Board mandates on a fixed fee agreed before the search starts. A written replacement guarantee on every retained search.
Time
A qualified shortlist in five to six weeks, and completion in three to four months, with notice periods the main variable.
Remote sites
Much of the founder's work has been in remote, complex and emerging operations, where the hard judgement is whether a candidate will succeed in that setting.
Confidentiality
Direct, confidential approaches with no advertising, so the search stays private inside your own company as well as outside it.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Templeton Global Search?
Templeton Global Search is a founder-led executive search firm that works only in natural resources: mining, critical minerals and the energy transition. It handles board, C-suite, country and project leadership appointments, mostly for mid-tier producers and private equity-owned junior miners. Its founder, Paul Templeton, has worked in talent management since 1998 and in retained executive search in mining since 2007, and has completed two hundred and twenty-eight senior placements. The firm's market map of mining executive search firms compares its founder-led model with the global generalists and the sector specialists.
What sectors does Templeton Global Search cover?
One sector only: natural resources. That means mining and metals, critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper and rare earths, and the energy transition. Within it, the firm places leaders at four levels: board and C-suite, country and regional leadership, and project and technical leadership.
Where does Templeton Global Search work?
Worldwide. Paul Templeton has completed senior mandates in forty-three countries on six continents, and the firm runs regional practices for Africa, the Americas, Australasia, Eurasia and the FSU, and the Middle East and Europe.
Begin a conversation.
A board seat, a country leader, a project director: whatever the mandate, your enquiry reaches Paul Templeton directly and gets a personal reply.
The founder handles every enquiry and runs every search himself.
paul@templetonglobalsearch.comAn executive considering a move? Share your details confidentially. Candidate approaches receive the same discretion as client mandates.