Board of Directors

Stan Bharti, Chairman

 

Mr. Bharti is a professional engineer and is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes & Manhattan, Inc., a private merchant bank operating in Canada, the United States and Western Europe. From February 2002 to April 2006, he was Chairman and a director of Desert Sun Mining Corp., a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed mining company which was acquired by Yamana Gold Inc. He has over 25 years of experience in operations, public markets and finance. Mr. Bharti is also a director of several public and private companies

 

John Begeman, President and CEO, Director

 

Mr. Begeman is a mining engineer with over 30 years of mining experience. He is currently the President and CEO of Valencia Ventures Inc. and was previously the Chief Operating Officer of Zinifex Canada Inc. (formerly Wolfden Resources Inc.). In addition, he has served as Vice President, Western Operations of Goldcorp Inc.

 

Rene Bharti, Vice President, Corporate Development and Director

 

Mr. Bharti has held roles in several public and private companies, including those in the resource, and technology sectors. Previously, Mr. Bharti also served as Vice President of Business Development for a publicly listed resource company with gold assets in the former Soviet Union. Mr. Bharti holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from Queen’s University

 

Don Dudek, Director

 

Mr. Dudek has held increasingly senior roles with junior to senior exploration and mining companies over the past 25 years. Most recently, Mr. Dudek served as Exploration Manager for Aur Resources Inc. which provided him the opportunity to evaluate 100’s of grass roots to advanced projects in Latin America and Africa. During his career Mr. Dudek was part of the team that discovered 7 new base and precious metal deposits in Canada, one of which has been mined. He also supervised work at Aur’s high profile La Verde Cu-porphyry deposit in Mexico. Mr. Dudek hold a B.Sc Geology (Honors) from the University of Saskatchewan.

 

Bruce Humphrey, Director

 

Mr. Humphrey brings a lifetime of mining industry experience, including having served as a former Chief Operating Officer at Goldcorp Inc. and most recently as President and Chief Executive Officer of Desert Sun Mining Corp. prior to its sale to Yamana Gold Inc.

 

Pierre Peddigrew, Director

 

The Honourable Pierre S. Pettigrew has had a most distinguished career as a Canadian federal cabinet minister, serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister for International Trade in his last positions in public office. Mr. Pierre Pettigrew also served as Minister of Health, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of Human Resources Development and Minister of International Cooperation. As a cabinet minister, he chaired numerous working groups on difficult international trade issues and lead trade missions to China, India, Russia, Germany, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico, and other countries. From 1985 to 1995, he was an International Business Consultant with Deloitte.