A geologist by training, he describes himself as an "operations guy" who loves to get his hands dirty.

After getting his geology degree from the University of Auckland, Lawson started out his career with Jubilee Mines/Xstrata Nickel before working for Silver Lake Resources at Daisy Milano.

He then joined Northern Star Resources around the same time it had acquired the Paulsens gold mine, initially being Paulsens' geology manager before working his way up to principal geologist for the company.

When Northern Star decided to sell the Plutonic gold mine to Superior Gold, Lawson joined Superior as chief geologist.

He left Superior in late 2017 and was looking for another role as an exploration manager.

Recruiter Rowley Pennock suggested he go for a managing director role, which is how he ended up joining Marindi Metals as MD in April 2018.

The company had been in the public eye in 2017 due to its highly public dispute with Kidman Resources over the world-class Earl Grey lithium deposit (now owned by Wesfarmers and SQM) - a battle it lost.

The court case was costly for Marindi from both a financial and reputational perspective and when Lawson arrived, things seemed pretty bleak.

"We don't have any resources," he told a February 2019 conference.

"Without being narcissistic, the asset we have is me."

Lawson said the early days at Marindi were tough.

"I was hamstrung from the start," he told MNN this week.

He spent a while "cleaning the house" by reducing the company's cash burn, refocusing it as a gold explorer and eventually recapitalising and changing its name to Firefly Resources.

Even still, in the first half of 2020, the company had a market capitalisation of just $3 million.

"I was kind of brought up in the house of struggle," Lawson said.

"You don't make or break until your feet are in the fire.

"I love being told ‘you're in the deep end' - everything I've been involved in has been like that."

The turning point for Firefly was when it acquired the Yalgoo gold project in July 2020 for $2.9 million in shares.

The project's Melville deposit had a historical resource of 140,000 ounces at 1.6 grams per tonne with upside.

The exploration success that followed allowed the company to raise $6 million in October to ramp up drilling.

It upgraded the Melville resource in March to 196,388oz.

Lawson further rationalised the portfolio, divesting the Forrestania gold project and demerging the company's manganese projects into Firebird Metals.

Firebird completed a $5.5 million IPO and listed on the ASX in March.

It was the best-performing resources IPO of the June half, rising by 205% and is currently worth slightly more than Firefly.

Last month, Firefly agreed to a $43 million scrip takeover by producer Gascoyne Resources.

Firefly shareholders will own 33% of the enlarged company, with Yalgoo to be an ore source for Gascoyne's Dalgaranga plant 110km away.

"Firefly wasn't originally at top of our list, but quickly moved up when we saw the excellent work done by Simon and his team at consolidating the ground at Yalgoo, which has been highly fractured in the past," Gascoyne CEO Richard Hay said.

Lawson admits a takeover wasn't part of his plan and he had a vision to make Firefly a "real player" with a 500,000oz resource.

However, he said the takeover was logical and created value for shareholders after a tough negotiation.

"I learnt from Bill [Beament] that it's not the right deal until both of you are uncomfortable," Lawson said.

Lawson counts Peter Langworthy, who he worked with at Jubilee, as one of his mentors.

He describes Jacqui Coombes as his "unofficial aunty".

"She taught me the only thing you have is your name so if you go out there and do a shit job, that's all you've got," Lawson said.

Not known for his subtlety, Lawson admits he is opinionated and "can be offensive".

However, he said he likes to lead by example.

"I love seeing people achieve and succeed," he said.

"That has become so important to me now - even more so than me [achieving]."

Lawson will become a non-executive director at Gascoyne and will be involved in the spin-off of Firefly's projects outside Yalgoo, Firetail Resources.

He is also looking at other project opportunities in the exploration space.

"Both my parents are artists so it's weird I'm a geo," he said.

"I just loved science and I love being outdoors."

Lawson has lived in Busselton with his wife and two kids, aged 11 and 12, for the past eight years, and commutes to Perth for the working week.

Firefly Resources managing director Simon Lawson is a nominee for New and/or Emerging Leader of the Year in the 2021 MNN Awards.