Brent Butler
Position: President, CEO & Director
Mr. Butler is a geologist who brings over 28 years of international industry experience in exploration, resource modeling and mining. He actively engages in property acquisitions, development and divestment and has been involved in several mine developments, both open cast and underground mines. Mr. Butler has served on several boards of directors of listed companies in Canada and Australia. Recent roles include having worked for Kinross Gold Corporation for 8 years in Canada, USA, Brazil, Chile and Africa. Mr. Butler currently serves as a Director of TSX-listed Redhill Resources Corp. and ASX-listed Siburan Resources Limited. Mr. Butler holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Otago University of Dunedin, New Zealand and is an active member of the AusImm (1989), SEG (2001) and PDAC (2003).
John Proust
Position: Executive Chairman & Director
Mr. Proust has extensive resource company board experience and has successfully managed, directed and advised public and private companies regarding debt and equity financing, mergers and acquisitions and corporate restructuring since 1986. Highly regarded in the industry for his management skills and attention to detail, he has held and is holding senior operating positions and has served on the boards of numerous private and TSX Venture Exchange listed companies including current Chairman & CEO of Southern Arc Minerals Inc., and Chairman and director of Canada Energy Partners Inc. Mr. Proust is active in the New Zealand resource sector.
Harry Atkinson
Position: Non-executive Chairman & Director
Mr. Atkinson graduated as a Pharmaceutical Chemist and subsequently emigrated to Africa and established A.P.D. (E.A.) Limited, a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, veterinary and agricultural items, insecticides and African cosmetics and toiletries. Mr Atkinson is chairman of numerous companies involved in mining, pharmaceuticals, plastics, engineering, hotels and finance.
Harry Atkinson has been the founder and team leader in establishing 11 major installations throughout sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean area, in many cases in the most arduous political/security climates, and he remains the prime mover in the ongoing success of many of these important businesses. With his intimate knowledge of Africa, he oversees many successful business enterprises and has created many employment and enhancement opportunities for Africans across the continent. He has a good understanding of business in the African context throughout the sub-Saharan Africa and Indian Ocean areas.
Brian Richardson
Position: Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Richardson is a Chartered Accountant with over 26 years experience as a Chief Financial Officer and in various senior financial positions for a number of public and private companies. Mr. Richardson previously worked for Ernst & Young in Toronto and in Hong Kong and currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of TSX-listed Southern Arc Minerals Inc. (TSXV: SA) and CNSX-listed Bryant Resources Inc. (CNSX: BYR). Mr. Richardson also holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Michael Andrews
Position: Director
Mike Andrews is a geologist with over 31 years of research and mining industry experience in gold, copper, coal and iron exploration. He holds an honours degree in Geology from the University of Reading, and a doctorate in exploration geochemistry from the University of Wales.
Dr. Andrews is the President and Chief Operating Officer and a director of Southern Arc Minerals Inc, a TSX Venture Exchange listed company. He is also a director of Advance Concept Holdings Ltd., Paragon Resources (Hong Kong) Ltd., and Managing director of Pacific Goldfields Pty Ltd., Australian subsidiary of Advance Concept Holdings Ltd. Previously, he was director of Kingsrose Mining Ltd and director of Indonesian PT Natarang Mining and PT Paragon Perdana Mining. Kingrose Mining Ltd, operating the underground gold-silver Way Linggo Mine on Sumatra, is a highly profitable mine in which Dr. Andrews played an instrumental role in its original discovery, exploration, feasibility and development over a 20-year period. Dr. Andrews also held the positions of executive director and chief geologist of AuIron Energy Ltd and of Director Gold Operations for Meekatharra Minerals Ltd. in Indonesia. Between 1995 and 1998, Dr. Andrews managed the Teck-MM Gold Indonesian Joint Venture, an exploration portfolio of thirteen gold and copper projects in Indonesia. He has also previously held senior exploration positions with Ashton Mining Ltd, Aurora Gold Ltd and Muswellbrook Energy and Minerals Ltd. Dr. Andrews is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Cyrus Driver
Position: Director
Cyrus Driver is a chartered accountant and was a founding partner in the firm of Driver Anderson since its inception in 1981. He continues to be a partner in the firm of Davidson and Company LLP after merging with them in 2002. While providing general public accounting services to a wide range of clients, he specializes in servicing TSX Venture Exchange listed companies and members of the brokerage community. He also serves on the boards of several listed companies. His wide knowledge of the securities industry and its rules have enabled him to give valuable advice to clients within the industry with respect to finance, taxation and other accounting related matters. Mr Driver currently serves as director of Bellhaven Copper & Gold Inc, Cobra Venture Corporation, Orko Silver Corp, White Bear Resources and Aldrin Resources Corp. He is also CFO of Maxim Resources Corp, Mira Resources Corp., Nevada Exploration Inc. and Wind River Energy Corp.
David Stone
Position: Director
Dr. Stone is a mining engineer with over 26 years of consulting experience in the metal mining industry. His principal expertise is in mining rock mechanics, where he has provided designs and operational advice for both open pit and underground operations worldwide. He has also authored a number of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies based on his broad knowledge of current underground mining methods, capital and operating costs and project development requirements. Dr. Stone currently serves as the US representative on the International Minefill Council, and is past Chairman of the 7th International Symposia on Mining with Backfill, held in Seattle, Washington in September of 2001. Dr. Stone received a B.Ap.Sc. in Geological Engineering from the University of British Columbia, a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and an Executive MBA from Queens University. Dr. Stone is a licensed professional engineer in a number of US and Canadian jurisdictions, and is an active member of CIM, SME, NWMA and PDAC. Dr. Stone is a director of Formation Capital Corporation, President, CEO and a director of Boss Power Corp., ATW Ventures Corp., Skeena Resources Limited and Southern Arc Minerals Inc., all TSX Venture Exchange listed companies.
Kjeld Thygesen
Position: Director
Kjeld Thygesen is the managing director of Lion Resource Management, a London-based mining and corporate finance consultancy firm that is the advisor to several leading mining and natural resource funds, including Excelsior Mining Fund, Azure Energy Fund and Tiger Resource Finance Plc, an AIM-listed finance company. Mr. Thygesen has more than 31 years' experience in the mining investment business. Before founding Lion Resource Management in 1989, Mr. Thygesen held various positions with NM Rothschild & Sons and was an international mining research analyst at James Capel. Mr. Thygesen has also held the position of Director of Ivanhoe Mines since February 2001.
Michael O'Connor
Position: Manager - South Africa Exploration
Mr. O'Connor has been the resident director of Superior Mining Corp S.A. (Pty) Ltd. since 2004. He has a wide range of experience gained from having run his own successful consulting business for over 26 years. Michael is the managing director of Middelvlei Gold Investments, a gold investment company. He has has a post-graduate diploma from the London School of Economics, and has read for an MBA at the Witwatersrand Graduate School of Business.
Phil Snowden
Position: Senior Technical Advisor
Dr. Snowden was appointed as the Company's Senior Technical Advisor with the role of monitoring, overseeing and supervising the Company's South African ventures. Phil Snowden is the co-founder and former managing director of the global consulting firm Snowden Mining Industry Consultants, which was recently acquired by Downer Edi, a large Australian industrial company. Dr. Snowden has been involved in the mining industry for 36 years since graduating from the University of London (Zimbabwe campus) in 1970 and subsequently completed a doctorate in Archean tectonics in 1976. He lectured in structural geology at Rhodes University in South Africa for six years before joining Anglo American's gold division based in Welkom, where he developed a strong interest in the geology and mining of the Witwatersrand Reefs. In his role as a consulting geologist, Dr. Snowden has acquired a wide range of experience in most commodities globally and a particularly keen appreciation of the mining industry in southern Africa.
Hamish Campell
Position: Technical Advisor
Mr Campbell is an independent geological consultant who is a key contributor to our exploration and acquisition strategies. He has over 24 years of international mineral exploration, including 22 years in Indonesia and is well-known and highly regarded within the Indonesian mineral exploration community. He has held mineral exploration positions ranging from field geologist to exploration manager. As executive vice president, Mr Campbell heads Southern Arc's exploration programs in Indonesia. He has established and maintained both local and foreign-owned mining service companies, designed and implemented exploration programs, along with evaluation and assessment of joint venture and acquisition opportunities. Previously Mr. Campbell was a director of PT. Jasa Prima Raya (Jakarta), Indonesian exploration manager of Golden Valley Mines (Australia) and senior geologist of Meekathara Minerals (Australia). Mr. Campbell is a graduate of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, where he completed a Bachelor of Science degree. He subsequently received a MAusIMM designation from the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and is a member of the Indonesian Mining Association.
