Advisory for the whole journey. Watauga Pty Ltd · Sydney
Watauga is a Sydney-based advisory firm serving natural resources companies and their boards. We work where capital structure, governance and execution meet — and stay engaged through the cycle, not just the transaction.
Five disciplines. One accountable relationship.
Watauga works with a small number of natural resources companies through the demanding parts of the cycle — restructuring, governing, building and defending.
Balance sheet restructuring & capital stack optimisation
Debt that fitted the last cycle rarely fits this one. We help boards and owners reshape the stack so the balance sheet reflects the asset's cash flow and risk.
Refinancing and maturity management · creditor negotiation and workouts · stressed recapitalisations · royalty and stream structuring · capital-return policy
Corporate governance & staffing
Small and mid-cap boards are thin by necessity. We help build boards and executive teams capable of carrying the company through development, operations and change.
Board composition and NED search · chair and committee structuring · executive hiring · succession · governance frameworks · listing readiness
Shareholder activism & defence
We have sat on both sides of the register. We help shareholders turn a position into constructive change, and boards answer the substance of a challenge.
Campaign strategy · shareholder engagement · board renewal · vulnerability reviews · proxy support · settlement structuring
Project execution
Studies do not build mines; disciplined owners do. We bring owner-side operating judgement to the transition from study through construction, ramp-up and steady state.
Study review and value engineering · contracting strategy · owner's team design · schedule and budget governance · operational readiness
Financial analysis
Decisions deserve better than the promoter's model. We build and stress the numbers so boards can defend their decisions and investors can understand the downside.
Project and corporate models · independent valuation · peer benchmarking · scenario analysis · investment papers · transaction support
Built around the company, not the transaction.
Watauga combines senior attention with practical accountability. The relationship is designed to last beyond a single mandate.
Long relationships
We work with a small number of companies, stay through the unglamorous stretches and measure the relationship over years rather than a closing date.
Global perspective
Experience across Australia, North America and Asia brings a cross-border view of capital, governance and the operating realities of natural resources.
Aligned incentives
Commercial terms are structured for sustained engagement and, where appropriate, agreed outcomes — with senior accountability throughout.
P. Ryan Welker
Founder-led advice grounded in operating, financing and board experience.
Ryan has more than twenty years of natural resources experience as an operator, financier and director. He co-founded and chairs Vitrinite, a Queensland coking coal producer, and serves on the boards of ASX-listed, TSXV-listed and private resource companies.
His earlier career spanned natural resources advisory, structured finance and equity markets in the United States and Australia. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a BA (Hons) in International Accounting & Finance.
Producing coal platform operating in Queensland's Bowen Basin.
Board oversight across capital allocation, performance, governance and financing strategy.
Canadian-listed copper producer with operations in Chile and the United States.
North American uranium resource development platform.
Start the conversation.
Watauga works with a small number of natural resources companies and their boards. If the situation calls for senior judgement and sustained attention, get in touch.