Management and Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board

Mr. Lamb has over 25 years experience in the mining operations and project development industry. William served as Chief Executive Officer of Lucara Diamond Corp. (“Lucara”) from May 2011 to February 2018 before retiring from Lucara. During that time, Mr. Lamb played an integral role in taking Lucara’s flagship Karowe mine from feasibility through to a steady state, world class, operating diamond mine. Under Lamb’s leadership, the Karowe mine evolved into one of the world’s highest margin diamond mines and the foremost producer of large, Type IIA diamonds in excess of 10.8 carats, including the historic 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona (second largest gem diamond ever recovered) and the 813 carat Constellation (sold for a record USD$63.1 million). Lamb was a champion through both autogenous milling and the use of X-ray transmission sorters to preserve large, high value stones and to create a simpler, more secure and efficient flowsheet. Mr. Lamb has a NHD in Extraction Metallurgy for the Technicon of the Witwatersrand, and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School.

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Over the last 25 years, Mr. Hilditch has developed a successful track record of mergers & acquisitions in the mining sector through numerous public company transactions. He been responsible for capital raising, negotiating, and directing all aspects of managing a public company. Valuations of transactions initiated/completed with Mr. Hilditch’s involvement exceed $500m and he has been involved in capital raising of over $200m. Mr. Hilditch’s transactions include:

  • founder, CEO and Director of Terraco Gold Corp., a gold royalty and exploration company that sold/merged (August 2019) with Sailfish Royalty Corp. (TSXV:FISH).
  • founder and CEO of Landen Capital Corp. that merged with now resulting Sama Resources Inc., (TSXV:SME) a base metals company focussed in West Africa in a joint venture with Robert Friedland’s HPX. Mr. Hilditch served as a Director of Sama.
  • founder of Summit Point Uranium that went public as URZ Energy in 2017, where he served as Chairman of the Board. URZ and was sold/merged in 2018 to Azarga Uranium (TSX:AZZ) where he currently is a member of the Board.
  • Until 2010, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Salares Lithium Inc., which was acquired by Australia based Talison Lithium Limited ($340m merger), the world’s largest lithium producer and a TSX listed company prior to it being taken over in a $840 million bid transaction.

Mr. Hilditch is the President and owner of Rock Management Consulting Ltd., a private mining management services and consulting company. Mr. Hilditch graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management, majoring in Finance.

Mr. DeLong has over 40 years of experience in the metals mining industry. His primary area of expertise is in the understanding and implementation of state and federal regulatory and statutory requirements for the development of mineral resources in the United States and Canada. Mr. DeLong is President and Principal Scientist of Reno, Nevada based EM Strategies, Inc. where he specializes in the assessment of properties to determine permit acquisition strategies and critical paths forward.

Mr. DeLong is a Commissioner appointed by the Governor for the Nevada Commission on Mineral Resources (currently Chairman) and has extensive regulatory compliance experience with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Clean Air Act (CAA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), as well as various state regulatory programs. Mr. DeLong is also an expert in interpreting and implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for precious metal and development projects in the Western U.S.

Mr. DeLong holds two Master of Science Degrees from the University of Idaho, one in Geology in 1986 and the other in Resource Management in 1984, which he obtained while a Fellow at the Institute for Resource Management. He also received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geology from California State University at Chico in 1980. Mr. DeLong is a Professional Geologist in California and Idaho, as well as a Qualified Professional Member in environmental and permitting with the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America.

Director

Cyndi Laval is a partner at Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP and specializes in mergers and acquisitions, mining law, corporate finance, securities and business law. Cyndi was the Leader of the Firms’ National Corporate Finance, M&A and Private Equity Practice Group from 2014 to 2018 and the Co-Leader of the Firms’ National Mining Practice Group from 2015 until 2017. She acted as Vice-Chair of both the 2017 and 2015 Canadian Public Target M&A Deal Points Studies of the American Bar Associations Business Law Section (M&A Committee).

Cyndi was named Vancouver “Lawyer of the Year” for Mining by the Best Lawyers in Canada in its 2017 edition. She has also been named one of Vancouver’s 30 leading lawyers by the National Post and is recognized as a leading lawyer by Legal 500 Canada, The Best Lawyers in Canada (M&A, Mining and Securities Law), Lexpert/ROB Special Edition on Canada’s Leading Corporate Lawyers, Lexpert’s Leading Canadian Lawyers-Global Mining, Who’s Who Legal: Mining, Who’s Who Legal Canada, Lexpert/ROB Special Edition on Canada’s Leading Infrastructure Lawyers, Corporate Lawyers, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Corporate Finance and Securities, Corporate Mid-Market and Mining), Latinvex – Latin America’s Top 100 Female Lawyers, and the International Who’s Who of Mining Lawyers.

Cyndi was a member of the TSX Venture Exchange’s Local Advisory Committee from 2006 to 2013 and an instructor of the TSX Venture Exchange Rules and Tools Corporate Governance Workshop from 2004 to 2010. She has also given lectures at several other conferences and seminars.

Director

Dr. Tom Patton (Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc., P. Geo.) has spent his entire career in the exploration industry as a field geologist, consultant, and executive at both junior and senior mining companies. He held senior positions at Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration and Kennecott, where he served as Senior Vice President of Exploration & Business Development. As the President and COO of Western Silver Corp., Tom led the exploration team that discovered the Peñasquito silver-gold-lead-zinc deposit in Zacatecas, Mexico. Subsequent to the discovery, Glamis Gold bought Western Silver for US$1.2B in February 2006 and shortly thereafter was acquired by Goldcorp in August 2006 for US$8.6B The Peñasquito Mine is currently Mexico’s largest producer of both gold and silver.

Tom is currently a Director and Co-Chairman of Lion Copper & Gold (formerly Quaterra Resources, Inc.). He is a Member of the Society of Economic Geologists and the American Institute of Mining & Metallurgical Engineers. He graduated from the University of Washington with M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees.

Director

Mr. John Schaff (B.Sc.) has worked for over 30 years in the exploration industry for both junior and senior mining companies. John has actively participated in numerous discoveries including Kennecott’s Gemfield, Midway, and Castle Au deposits in Nevada and the Whistler Cu-Au deposit in Alaska; Rio Tinto’s Eagle Cu-Ni deposit in Michigan, the Tamarack Cu-Ni deposit in Minnesota, and the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories, Canada; and Noranda’s Lynne VMS deposit in Wisconsin. Mr. Schaff’s experience also includes having worked with Coeur Mining, where as Exploration Manager he was an integral part in the discovery of the C-Horst deposit located in the highly active Bare Mountain Mining District near Beatty, Nevada. In 1987 John received his Bachelor of Science (Geology) from Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota. John is currently working as the Vice-President Exploration for Avidian Gold.

Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary

Mr. McKenzie is a mining industry professional with more than 15 years of experience. He brings a varied knowledge of finance, tax, accounting, auditing and public markets.  Mr. McKenzie has held the position of Chief Financial Officer or Director for numerous publicly listed companies. Mr. McKenzie has been directly involved in corporate transactions (which include mergers, acquisitions and financings) in excess of $0.5B. Mr. McKenzie’s transactions include:

  • Chief Financial Officer of Terraco Gold Corp., a gold royalty and exploration company that sold/merged (August 2019) with Sailfish Royalty Corp. (TSXV:FISH).
  • Chief Financial Officer and Director of Summit Point Uranium that went public as URZ Energy in 2017. URZ and was sold/merged in 2018 to Azarga Uranium (TSX:AZZ).
  • Until 2017, Chief Financial Officer of Sama Resources Inc., (TSXV:SME) a base metals company focussed in West Africa in a joint venture with Robert Friedland’s HPX.
  • Until 2010, Chief Financial Officer of Salares Lithium Inc., which was acquired by Australia based Talison Lithium Limited ($340M merger) (TSX:TLH), the world’s largest lithium producer and a TSX listed company prior to it being taken over in a $847 million bid transaction.

 

Mr. McKenzie holds a Bachelor of Technology in Accounting from the British Columbia Institute of Technology and is a Chartered Accountant.

Exploration Manager

Mr. Sulfrian is a geologist with over 35 years of experience in precious metals and energy minerals exploration and development. He has extensive experience at Barrick’s Goldstrike Mine, serving as Senior Geologist and Drilling Supervisor from January 1992-December 2002. As District Geologist, he supervised Barrick Gold Corp.’s Western US office in Reno from 1987-1991. Mr. Sulfrian held the positions of both Chief Geologist and Chief Chemist for Western States Minerals Corporation from 1981 – 1987. As Chief Geologist there he co-discovered the original Post Oxide and Deep Post portions of the Goldstrike Mine. Mr. Sulfrian has successfully led his consulting firm, ZyMin Corporation, since 2003.

Technical Advisory Committee

Mr. Wilton has direct practical experience related to reduced intrusion-related gold systems having worked with Kinross Gold at the Ft. Knox Mine, as Chief Geologist, and with Victoria Gold at the Eagle/Dublin Gulch Deposit (now mine), as Vice-President Exploration. Ted is a senior-level geologist with an extensive range of technical and managerial experience from “greenfields” to advanced-stage mineral exploration, development, and production-related geological programs, primarily for gold and uranium. He is a graduate of the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology with a BGS degree in Geology and Mineral Engineering and is a Certified Professional Geologist with the AIPG. In addition to his extensive experience working in the United States, Mr. Wilton has wide-ranging geographic experience including Australia, New Zealand, Russian Far East, Southwest Pacific region, and Latin America. Mr. Wilton has managed exploration programs that discovered eight ore deposits containing more than ten million ounces of gold, in the Jerritt Canyon district of Nevada, Sulphur District, Nevada and in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.