Argonaut Funds Management is a high conviction investor in the Australian resources sector that operates two open resource funds;
Argonaut Funds Management is part of the Argonaut Group, which provides corporate advisory, research and stockbroking services to retail, high net worth and institutional clients. The group is based in the tier 1 mining jurisdiction of Western Australia and is recognised as a leader in the resources space.
Argonaut operates independently from the broader Argonaut Group with strong governance and compliance structures in place.
The group has a rigorous three stage investment process:
Read on to learn more about our investing and operations teams.
Investment Team
David Franklyn joined Argonaut in 2019 and has over 25 years of financial markets experience. He spent nearly ten years as Head of Research at a leading small companies stockbroker and another 10 years as Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of a boutique funds management business. David is also an experienced business executive, having held senior roles in both ASX-listed and unlisted companies.
David is Portfolio Manager of the Argonaut Natural Resources Fund and Argonaut Global Gold Fund.
John began his career as an exploration geologist with Newmont. He subsequently moved into the finance sector and has had in excess of 30 years’ experience as a mining / research analyst with responsibility for company coverage across multiple commodities and operating jurisdictions. John has worked for a number of well-known investment houses including as Head of Research at CIBC World Markets. John was a Mining Analyst with Hartleys. Most recently, John was a Director at Argonaut in Metals & Mining. John holds a BSc Geology, a Grad Diploma in Business and a Master of Science (Geology).
Dianmin is a mining engineer with more than 35 years’ experience in metal mining. He has had a wide range of roles in mining technical, production and management in Australia, China and Canada. Dianmin held executive roles with Sino Gold (GM), Citic Pacific Mining (COO), CaNickel (CEO) and Norton Goldfields (MD and CEO), and served as NED for a number of publicly listed companies in Australia and Canada
Lee is Managing Director and Co-Founder of Fivemark Partners, providing strategic, corporate financial and business development advice focused on the listed Australian mining sector. Prior to starting Fivemark Partners, Lee spent 10 years at Macquarie, beginning as a mining / research analyst and ending as Head of Australian Mining Research.
Prior to joining the Argonaut Funds Management investment team, Luke completed internships in PwC’s Financial Advisory division, Deloitte’s Consulting team, and a boutique advisory firm. Luke holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Finance and Economics from University of Western Australia.
Marketing & Operations Team
Jenna has over a decade of experience in marketing / capital raising / client service in the finance industry. Most recently, Jenna worked as Vice President in the Alternative Asset Management business of The Blackstone Group, managing capital raising campaigns for Blackstone’s GP Stakes and Seeding business, and external hedge fund managers.
Alison is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years’ experience. She commenced her career with PwC in Perth and held several senior finance positions at various companies across Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand before joining Decmil Group Limited in 2007 where she held the role of CFO & Company Secretary. After leaving Decmil in 2021, Alison worked as a consultant for various companies assisting with ASX listings, mergers and business improvement projects before joining Argonaut as the CFO & Company Secretary in August 2022.
