Ian Gendall, CEO & President
Ian Gendall is an Exploration Geologist with a M.Sc. Exploration Geology degree from Rhodes University in South Africa. He has over 32 years’ experience in mineral exploration in South Africa, South America, Canada, Mexico and the USA. Ian has led and managed exploration teams and evaluated copper and gold projects for previous companies such as Gencor, Billiton, Anglo American, Antofagasta and more recently OceanaGold.
Ian and the Billiton Exploration team were credited with the major porphyry copper discoveries in SE Ecuador which was “farmed out” to Corriente Resources Inc., who were subsequently taken over by CRCC-Tongguan Investment Co., Ltd. for $679 million in 2010.
Ian has also spent time successfully doing exploration and managing projects for Junior Companies including Chapleau Resources, Magellan Minerals and Ryan Gold through 2005 to 2012. During his time with Chapleau and Magellan, he was involved in gold exploration in the Tapajos Gold Province of Brazil. Ian also oversaw and managed the resource estimation and preliminary economic assessment study for the Coringa gold project in Brazil which is currently with Serabi Gold. While he was VP Exploration for Ryan Gold Corp. in 2011-12, he was involved in a multi-million-dollar exploration programme covering more than 5000 km2 in the Yukon Territory of Northern Canada.
Ian is registered as a Pr. Sci. Nat., a qualified person in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 and is a member of various scientific organizations including the Society of Economic Geologists, Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits and the Geological Society of America.
James Stypula, Executive Chairman & Director
Mr. James (Jim) Stypula is a businessman with over 30 years of experience and a former investment advisor and financier of mineral exploration and development companies in North and South America. Mr. Stypula is currently a director of Ascot Resources Ltd. Mr. Stypula was the former Chairman of the board of directors of Magellan Minerals Ltd. after its merger with Chapleau Resources Ltd. where he served as CEO and director. Mr. Stypula was also one of the founding directors of Far West Mining Ltd. Mr. Stypula has acted on numerous board committees and has a wealth of business experience related to the mining industry, especially with respect to the small cap gold sector.
Scott Davis, CPA, CGA, Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Davis has 20 years of experience working with junior exploration public companies and has held several CFO positions with companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Scott is a partner of Cross Davis & Company LLP Chartered Professional Accountants.
David L. Pighin, Project Geologist
Mr. David Pighin has dedicated his working life to mining and exploration geology and has been actively involved in the industry for 53 years. He started his career with Cominco Ltd. (now Teck) as a professional Prospector and was promoted to Geologist in 1977. In 1989 after 24 years, Mr. Pighin left Cominco. Since 1989, Mr. Pighin became a consulting geologist and has worked for numerous junior exploration companies. He has worked in BC, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, New Brunswick as well as most of the western United States and Mexico. Mr. Pighin has planned and managed numerous exploration programs designed to find deposits of base metals, tungsten, moly, gold, diamonds and rare earth metals. During 1993, Mr. Pighin ascertained the designation of P.Geo.
Mr. Pighin has discovered the following significant exploration properties:
* The Fors Property (PB, Zn, Ag)
* The Cedar Property (Tungsten)
* The Vine Property (Pb, Zn, Ag, Au)
* The Streamboat Property (Pb, Zn, Ba)
* The Cross Property – discovered and recognized 4 Kimberlite pipes
* The Fen Property (Rare Earth Metals)
* The Boulder Gold Property (Au)
Mr. Pighin is a qualified person re: National Instrument 43-101.
Richard Zimmer, Director
Mr. Zimmer has a degree in Mining Engineering and an MBA and has over 40 years of Canadian and international mining experience including exploration, development and mine operations (both underground and open pit). In the past, Mr. Zimmer served as: President and CEO of Far West Mining Ltd.; VP and Project Manager for Teck’s Pogo project in Alaska and General Manager of Teck’s Tarmoola gold mine in Australia; Mine Manager of Teck’s Afton copper-gold mine in British Columbia as well as acting in several senior mining roles throughout his career. Mr. Zimmer currently serves as a director of Ascot Resources Ltd., Capstone Mining Corp., and Alexco Resource Corp.
William Bennett, Director
(*Audit Committee member)
Mr. William (Bill) Bennett was formerly a government MLA in British Columbia (“BC”) for 16 years in the Riding of Kootenay East. In addition to holding portfolios for Local Government and Tourism, Mr. Bennett was named BC Mines Minister three separate times over his 16 years. Mr. Bennett has a BA from the University of Guelph and a law degree from Queen’s University. Mr. Bennett is known across Canada for his knowledge of the mining industry in BC. He led the BC government’s efforts over many years to restore BC’s competitiveness for exploration investment, including having improved the BC Ministry of Energy & Mines permitting process and helping to launch BC’s First Nations mine revenue sharing program. There are few people in Canada who have such a strong combined knowledge of government processes, of the mining industry and of First Nations. Mr. Bennett also sits on the board of directors of Ascot Resources Ltd., Kutcho Copper Corp. and Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.
Carol Li, Director
(*Audit Committee Member)
Ms. Carol Li is a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant with over 20 years of financial and executive management experience, of which 14 years in mining. Ms. Li was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Ascot Resources Ltd. on November 2, 2017. Ms. Li was formerly Vice President, Finance for KGHM International Ltd. from 2012 to 2017 and Corporate Controller for Quadra/QuadraFNX Mining Ltd. from 2004 to 2012. Ms. Li became a director of Strikepoint Gold Inc. on June 3, 2019 as a representative for Ascot Resources as one of Strikepoint’s largest shareholders.
Don Njegovan, Director
(*Audit Committee Member)
Mr. Njegovan is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Osisko Mining Inc. He was a director of St. Andrews Goldfields until it was acquired by Kirkland Lake Gold in 2016 and is currently on the Board of Directors of Ascot Resources Ltd. and Cornish Metals Inc. He was formerly Managing Director of Global Mining at Scotiabank from August 2010 to June 2014. Mr. Njegovan is a mining engineer and has over 25 years of experience in the mining industry.
Allan Frame, Director of Business Development
Al Frame has been in the Financial Services and Securities as an Investment Advisor and Partner for the past 47 years. Al brings has considerable knowledge and contacts through the capital markets and has sat on and chaired several committees the Alberta Stock Exchange in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Al is a former director of public listed companies including Consolidated Ramrod and Ascot Resources and is presently President of a private mining exploration company, Tailwinds Exploration. Al has also recently been appointed to director of business development for Prismo Metals listed on the CSE.
Derek White, Advisory Board
Mr. Derek White brings over 30 years of international experience in the mining industry to this role. Mr. White is currently President and CEO of Ascot Resources Ltd. Before joining Ascot, Mr. White acted as a Principal of Traxys Capital Partners LLP, a private firm specializing in the mining and materials sectors. Prior to joining Traxys, Mr. White was the President and CEO of KGHM International Ltd. from 2012 to 2015 overseeing six mining operations and four large development projects in Canada, the United States and Chile. He also held the positions of Executive Vice President, Business Development/CFO from 2004 to 2012 of Quadra FNX Mining Ltd. Mr. White has held executive positions in business development, operations and finance with BHP Billiton Plc, Billiton International Metals BV and Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., in Vancouver, Toronto, London, The Hague, and Johannesburg. He is an ICSA Accredited Director and has served on a number of precious metal boards throughout his career. Mr. White holds an undergraduate degree in Geological Engineering from the University of British Columbia and is also a Chartered Accountant. Mr. White also currently serves as a director of MAG Silver Corp. and Orca Gold Inc.
Mark D. Kucher, Advisory Board
Mr. Kucher brings over 35 years of mining investment banking, company creation and shareholder wealth creation. He is currently the Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Bank of Nevis International.
While at British Swiss Investment Corp., Mr. Kucher created three gold royalty companies that were sold to Couer Mines, Anglo Gold Ashanti and Royal Gold at attractive multiples to the original investment. Mr. Kucher was also involved in the restructuring of Aurex Resources where it was merged with Cobre Mining and ultimately sold to Phelps Dodge Mining Company. Mr. Kucher served as the CFO of Princeton Mining during its restructuring and merger and build out of the Huckleberry Mine.
Prior to creating British Swiss Investment Corp., Mr. Kucher worked in investment banking with Sprott Securities, Alfred Bunting and Company and Burns Fry Ltd.
Mr. Kucher has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and a B. Comm (Hons) from the University of Manitoba.
Luke Alexander, Advisory Board
In 2018, Mr. Alexander founded Park Road Capital, a capital markets advisory group focused on the global Natural Resource sector. Prior to Park Road Capital, Mr. Alexander was a managing director at GMP Securities based in Vancouver. Before relocating to Vancouver, Mr. Alexander spent 12 years in London, UK, covering the Natural Resource sector. During his time in London he was a senior partner at GMP Securities Europe, Vice President at National Bank Financial where he helped establish their first equity trading desk in London, and an equity sales trader at TD Securities. Mr. Alexander began his career working in the private client group at BMO Nesbitt Burns.