Maryse Belanger – Independent Board Chair
Ms. Belanger serves on the board of directors of Equinox Gold, where she is chair of its Environment, Social and Governance Committee and is a member of its Compensation and Nomination Committee. She has over 35 years of experience globally, with proven strengths in operational excellence and efficiency, technical studies and services. She has provided oversight and project management support through some of the mining industry’s key strategic acquisitions. Ms. Bélanger was appointed Chair of Adventus Mining’s board of directors in March 2024, prior to its sale to Silvercorp Metals in July 2024 for $235M. She was Interim CEO and Board Chair of IAMGOLD from 2022-2023, successfully overcoming financing and construction issues to advance the company’s flagship Côté Mine toward production. From 2016 to 2020, Ms. Bélanger was President, COO and Director of Atlantic Gold, where she guided the company’s Touquoy Mine through construction to production, and the eventual acquisition of Atlantic Gold by St. Barbara for C$722 million. From 2014 to 2016, she served as CEO and Managing Director of Mirabela Nickel Ltd. where she is credited with the successful turnaround of the Santa Rita mine in Brazil. From 2011 to 2014, Ms. Bélanger was a senior executive with Goldcorp where she was appointed Senior Vice President, Technical Services. Prior to Goldcorp, Ms. Bélanger was Director, Technical Services for Kinross Gold Corporation in Brazil and Chile. She was recognized twice by the Women in Mining UK “WIM (UK)” 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining Project as one the most inspirational Global Women in Mining. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology, a graduate certificate in Geostatistics and ICD.D designation.
Christian Kargl-Simard – Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Kargl-Simard has over 20 years of experience in the mining industry, having worked both in technical and finance roles. He recently sold Adventus Mining Corporation to Silvercorp Metals for $235M after starting with a $2M exploration focused asset base in December 2016. Prior to starting Adventus Mining, he worked for 10 years in investment banking roles at Raymond James Ltd. and Haywood Securities Inc. During his tenure in investment banking, Christian was involved in financings raising more than $7 billion, and he assisted in completing over 35 M&A transactions. Christian also worked for Dynatec up to its sale to Sherritt International Corp. in 2007, both in metallurgical engineering and corporate development roles. Christian holds a B.A.Sc. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of British Columbia. Christian is also non-executive chairman of Surge Copper Corp.
Haytham Hodaly – Independent Director
Mr. Hodaly is the Senior Vice President, Corporate Development of Wheaton Precious Metals and brings with him almost 30 years of experience in analyzing mining opportunities. He joined the company in 2012 and has since been involved with more than US$9 billion worth of streaming transactions. Prior to joining Wheaton Precious Metals, Mr. Hodaly had spent more than 16 years in the North American securities industry, most recently as Director and Mining Analyst, Global Mining Research, at RBC Capital Markets. Prior to this, Mr. Hodaly held the position of Co-Director of Research and Senior Mining Analyst at Salman Partners Inc., in addition to holding the titles of Vice President and Director of the firm. Mr. Hodaly is an engineer with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mining and Mineral Processing Engineering and a Master of Engineering, specializing in Mineral economics, both obtained from the University of British Columbia. Mr. Hodaly currently serves as a director of the Denver Gold Group since 2019, and Director of NEXE Innovations Inc. since 2020 and was formerly a Director of Goldsource from 2017 until its acquisition in 2024.
Patrick McGrath, Director
Mr. McGrath is a CPA with over 25 years of experience as a senior executive of junior resource companies including being former CEO/CFO of Cub Energy, which was a producing oil and gas company with peak production of 7,500 boe/day. Mr. McGrath was a founder and former Vice President of Finance of Adriana Resources Inc. (Sprott Resource Holdings Inc.), a development company focused on iron ore where he assisted in raising $50 million in debt and equity. Mr. McGrath has led corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, capital raises and joint ventures. Mr. McGrath has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Memorial University.
Frances Kwong, Chief Financial Officer
Frances Kwong is a financial professional with over 40 years of international experience from finance and strategy planning to management of financial systems implementation in mining and other industries. She has over 18 years of experience in the global mining sector, ensuring compliance with financial and regulatory requirements and has been involved in numerous financing as well as transactions both at asset and corporate level, serving as Chief Financial Officer of Adventus Mining for 7 years up to its $235M sale to Silvercorp Metals in the summer of 2024, Vaaldiam Mining Inc., and as senior consultant for a major mining-focused equity and royalty fund. Prior to the mining sector, Frances worked in the telecommunications and information technology industries. Frances is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a CPA, and holds a B. Soc. Sc. (Hons) degree from the University of Hong Kong.
Technical Team
Garfield MacVeigh – Advisor to Board of Directors
Garfield grew up in a mining family in Northern Ontario and graduated from Queen’s University at Kingston in 1972 with a B.SC (first class Honours) in geology. He has many years of successful exploration and development for base metal and gold deposits in Canada, USA and Central America. Contributed to discovery of the Hoyle Pond Gold Mine in Timmins with TexasGulf, and exploration and discovery of the large HW copper-zinc-gold-silver (VMS) deposit with Westmin Resources on Vancouver island. He spent several years (1983-1987, 1990-91) exploring and drilling the Blue Moon VMS massive sulphide deposits in Mariposa County, California. Most recently, he was a founding member and President and CEO of Constantine Metal Resources from 2006 until his retirement in 2022. He was intimately involved in the large Palmer- RW VMS deposit discoveries (2007) and subsequent AG deposit discovery in Southeast Alaska that continue to be explored/developed in a joint venture with Dowa Metals & Mining Ltd.
Christian Aramayo – Advisor to Board of Directors
Mr. Aramayo has more than 19 years of experience in the mining industry in North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa. Throughout his career, he has been closely associated with the practices that make for world-class mining operations and projects including challenging operations as Pueblo Viejo, Paracatu, Fruta del Norte and Tasiast. Mr. Aramayo is a Chartered Engineer who holds a Master’s Degree in Science from the University of Manchester (UK) in Decision Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Metallurgy. He is currently the COO of Kuya Silver. He was also a technical advisor to Adventus Mining’s board of directors.
Lawrence O’Connor, Technical Advisor
Mr. O’Connor, has extensive experience in permitting and mine start-ups. Mr. O’Connor was VP Operations at Western Goldfields (now owned by Equinox Gold) where he played a key role in the restart of the Mesquite mine in Southern California. Mr. O’Connor was formerly G.M. of Eldorado’ Gold’s La Colorada mine where he completed the feasibility and permitting for a major expansion of operations.