On the eve of Tivan’s first AGM, the company’s founder reflects on NT heritage

AGM’s are uncommon in the Territory, but on Friday Tivan will buck that trend and host its first in Darwin. Read how a boardroom coup revived a flawed project.

A year on from his bloodless takeover of struggling critical minerals company TNG, Grant Wilson, executive chair of the renamed Tivan, is just days away from hosting the company’s first annual general meeting.

For the best part of a decade TNG had phaffed about trying to develop the Mount Peake vanadium-titanium project without success, amid a “revolving door” of board appointments.

Enter Mr Wilson, a former hedge fund manager, who saw an alternative future for the company and last year organised a boardroom coup that saw 99.3 per cent of shareholders back his takeover.

Tivan executive chairman Grant Wilson in Alice Springs last week.

Buoyed by overwhelming shareholder support, Mr Wilson told an extraordinary meeting in January he planned to “reset, review and renew” the company and deliver “the hardest reset possible in terms of board culture.”

True to his word, he followed the company rebrand by announcing Tivan would develop a large-scale vanadium electrolyte plant at Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct and had finalised a dramatic $20m purchase of the high-grade vanadium and titanium Speewah project in the East Kimberley.

Tivan’s seminal year did not end there.

Mr Wilson announced he would headquarter the company in Darwin, made high-profile appointments to the Board and on Tuesday, announced a path-breaking alliance with CSIRO to commercialise the TIVAN+ critical minerals processing technology.

Mr Wilson also signed an agreement with Larrakia Energy to support Tivan’s development of vanadium redox flow batteries at Middle Arm and publicly questioned the commitment of miners to partner genuinely with traditional owners criticising “the bare minimum” approach.

His energy and candour will be on full display in Darwin on Friday when Tivan’s first AGM takes place at Charles Darwin University.

AGMs are rare in the Territory but for Mr Wilson, this one is like returning home.

He was raised in Alice Springs in the early 1980s, attending Bradshaw Primary.

His father worked as an engineer in the construction of the Yulara resort and his mother taught at Sadadeen high school and his experiences in the town are seared into his head and heart.

“Everything starts in Alice for me,” he said.

“It was a tough place back then. My experiences with the town camps cast a long shadow. It’s why I am committed to making a difference.

“For Tivan, our work on country started with listening. There is not enough listening. From there we have evolved from traditional concepts of ‘free, prior and informed consent’ to genuine inclusion and participation.”

Mr Wilson completed a Batchelor of Commerce and Law with first class honours at Australian National University, and MSc in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics.

A snapshot of his career shows a rapid rise through the highest echelons of global finance, including Bankers Trust, Government of Singapore Investment Corp, Civic Capital – his own multi-billion hedge fund in New York – and Exante Data.

He was a columnist for the Australian Financial Review through the pandemic, before securing Tivan.

“The legacy achievements for Tivan will be to deliver a large-scale renewable value chain – from mine to the grid – all based on sovereign capabilities, and to forge a progressive, principle-based pathway with traditional owners,” he said.

“These are big ticket items. I have said ‘everything will change’ and I mean that sincerely.”