Yes, I agree with your interesting research. It's complicated but Exchange Minerals, with whom JDR is doing a deal, is ridgey didge.
I took you advice and did some more reading. It seems that in 2009 Exchange Minerals was owned by a Mick * (maybe it still is, but the company is elusive).
"These days * is based in Belgium, and he commutes via train to his London office.
His Exchange Minerals Limited is either incorporated in the United Arab Emirates - if a recent prospectus for the ASX-listed East Coast Minerals is to go by - or the Channel Islands - according to Britain's Companies House.
The group provides corporate advice and fundraising services to a range of local mining outfits and appears - or has appeared - on the top 20 investor lists of ASX and AIM-listed companies. It has a website but details are scarce. The Australian used the global database of information provider Dun & Bradstreet to attempt to find out more about the firm.
However, a search failed to recognise the company as "credit active", meaning that it has never applied the type of credit that warrants another entity running a credit check. Even most small businesses have credit reports.
Other firms with proven, or alleged, links to * are similarly elusive."