Darren Koningen, BSc, PEng

CEO & Director

Darren Koningen has over 25 years of international mining experience. His expertise in metallurgy process design and operations has allowed him to make significant contributions to bringing three operating and profitable gold mines into production in the past twelve years.

Mr. Koningen was a founding member and VP Mine Development of Castle Gold Corp. and was integral in the development and commissioning of the El Castillo heap leach gold mine in Mexico. Castle Gold was subsequently acquired by Argonaut Gold Inc. in 2009 for C$130M.

He was President & CEO of NWM Mining Corporation after being asked by lenders to restructure the company in 2012. He led a new management team to fix operational issues, prepare a new production plan for a ramp-up to +60,000 oz/yr, and complete a resource expansion. NWM quickly became cash flow positive and the project was ultimately sold in 2015 at which point all debt was paid out in full as part of the acquisition. 

Mr. Koningen also acted as VP Project Development for GoWest Gold Ltd. and was a Senior Process Engineer (mining and metallurgy) with Kvaerner Engineering. Mr. Koningen holds a Bachelor of Applied Science, Mineral Process Engineering from Queens University.

Doug Ramshaw, BSc, ARSM

President & Director

Doug Ramshaw is a senior executive and corporate director with more than 25 years of experience in the mineral resource sector. His work has focused on mineral project evaluation, M&A and business development strategies supporting corporate growth.

Mr. Ramshaw previously worked as a mining analyst for an independent brokerage firm in London, UK and has served in various executive capacities for a number of publicly listed junior resource companies. Most recently, served as a member of the Board of Great Bear Resources. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mining Geology from the Royal School of Mines.

Ruben Padilla, PhD

Director

Ruben Padilla has over 35 years of diverse mining and exploration experience in precious and base metals, mostly based in the Americas. Mr. Padilla is currently President and CEO of Sable Resources, previously worked for 13 years with BHP, 7 years for Anglo Gold Ashanti, and has been independent consultant for over 13 years. He was part of the exploration teams that discovered 47 M ounces of gold including the Colosa and Gramalote s in Colombia and Windfall in Quebec, and participated in the concept development leading to the discovery of the La Escondida East copper deposit in Chile. Dr. Padilla holds a geological engineering degree from the University of Chihuahua, Mexico, and Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Arizona.

Bruce Durham, BSc, PGeo

Director

Bruce Durham has been involved in the mining and exploration industry for over 45 years. He was an integral member and leader of various exploration teams credited with the discovery of several significant mineral deposits including the David Bell and Golden Giant gold mines in Hemlo, Ontario and the Redstone Nickel and Bell Creek gold mines in Timmins, Ontario. Mr. Durham also served as President and CEO of Canadian Royalties when that company discovered several Ni-Cu-PGE deposits in the Raglan area of northern Quebec that were sold to a Chinese entity who is now mining them. Mr. Durham is a professional geologist in Ontario, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Western University and has held director and officer positions in more than a dozen public exploration entities.

Kevin Small, BSc. P.Eng

Director

Kevin Small has over 33 years of international mining experience as an operations leader to numerous mine operation and start-ups projects.

Most recently, his work has included President and CEO of Jerritt Canyon Gold while owned by Sprott Mining Inc.; Director of Mine Operations at the Beta Hunt mine in Western Australia owned by Karora Resources Inc. (formerly RNC Minerals); Mine Manager at the East Timmins operations (Taylor mine) of Kirkland Lake Gold; and Superintendent of Technical Services at St Andrews Goldfields.

Mr. Small holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering from Queens University.