City-born billionaire who's never on Rich List

THE Sunday Times Rich List, released once a year, always highlights the wealthiest people across the UK and lets us know exactly who in Wales has the most money.

- 

However, there's one man born in Wales who never appears on these money lists but who has, off his own back, built a billion-dollar mining empire thousands of miles away. And what's more, you've probably never heard of him.

Gren (Grenville) Thomas, now in his 80s, was born in Clase, Swansea, in 1941 when German bombers were streaking through the skies.

As he grew older, he loved calling into his great-grandmother’s busy pub, the Red Lion Hotel in Morriston, but crucially devoted a lot of his time to studying geology. He won a place at Cardiff University and in 1964 graduated with a degree in mining engineering.

After graduating, Gren made the move to Canada to seek his fortune, and boy did that decision pay off. After an apprenticeship at tough nickel mines in Falconbridge, Sudbury, Ontario, and then at the Giant Mines in Yellowknife in Canada’s North West Territories, he decided to strike out on his own and founded the Toronto-based Aber Diamond Corporation (named after Abertawe).