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.
Janet O’Donnell
Chief Financial Officer
Janet O’Donnell is a career accounting professional with over 25 years of financial management experience largely within the mining sector.
Janet (Ms. O’Donnell) was formerly the CFO of Castle Gold Corporation, a Mexican gold producer, where her responsibilities included overseeing the company’s financial operation and was a senior member of the management team through the sale of the Company. Janet has worked closely in the past with the Minera Alamos team during the construction and operation of the El Castillo gold mine prior to its acquisition by Argonaut Gold.
Most recently she was the CFO of Gowest Gold.
Federico Alvarez, MEng
Chief Operating Officer
Federico Alvarez is a mining engineer with 35 years of experience within academia, government and the mining industry, primarily in Mexico. Mr. Alvarez joined Minera Alamos in 2011 as Vice President, Project Development and oversees all operations and mine planning.
Mr. Alvarez was Vice President, Operations for Argonaut Gold Inc. and its predecessor Castle Gold, where he supervised production at the El Castillo gold mine in Durango, Mexico and worked with the company’s JV partner on the El Sastre gold mine in Guatemala.
For 10 years Mr. Alvarez held the position of Director of Mining Affairs for the State of Guanajuato. He is widely recognized within Mexico as one of the top mining professionals in the country. Mr. Alvarez holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mine Engineering from Guanajuato University and a Masters degree in Mining Engineering from McGill University.
Chris Sharpe P.Eng
Vice President, Project Development
Chris Sharpe is a mining engineer with over 15 years of experience, the last five of which were with Centerra Gold. Prior to his 5+ years with Centerra, Chris’s career spanned time with Aurvista Gold, AuRico Gold and Wardrop Engineering. Chris holds a Bachelor of Mining Engineering degree from Dalhousie University.
Miguel Cardona, BEng, PEng
Vice President, Exploration
Miguel Cardona is a geological engineer with over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and underground and open pit mining operations. He has worked with numerous ore types including gold skarn, epithermal gold and silver and copper-zinc-gold deposits.
Mr. Cardona managed all exploration activities for Castle Gold, leading a three-fold increase in El Castillo’s gold resources from 400k oz to 1.2M oz prior to its acquisition in 2009. He also worked for Teck-Cominco and was part of the team that discovered the Los Filos and El Limon gold deposits in Mexico. Previously he was with Industrias Penoles at various project sites and mines throughout Mexico. Mr. Cardona holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geological Engineering and a Master’s degree in Planning and Systems from the San Luis Potosi University.
Carolina Salas, M.S.Met.
Vice President, Technical Services
Carolina Salas holds over 15 years of experience in the mining industry, 6 of which were spent with Peñoles in various roles. Ms. Salas was most recently with Outotec, one of the world’s largest mining process equipment suppliers, focused primarily on gold and copper projects. She has mining experience in design/ construction, operations, engineering, metallurgic and maintenance at various project sites throughout Mexico.
Prior to join Outotec, she was with Minera Columbia de Mexico, as Process Manager at the Lluvia de Oro gold heap leach project in Sonora. Ms. Salas was responsible for the oversight of all gold processing and recovery facilities as well metallurgical test work program and the design/ construction of new processing systems. Ms. Salas has a Master’s Degree in Metallurgical Science from the University of Sonora.
Victoria Vargas de Szarzynski, HBSc.(Economics), MBA
Vice President, Investor Relations
Victoria Vargas is the founder of Strat-Advice. Prior to founding Strat-Advice she was Vice President Corporate Communications and Investor Relations for Sierra Metals. With nearly 18 years of business experience, Victoria started her career at Kinross Gold Corporation.
Victoria joined Alamos Gold Inc. in 2004 and led the effort to increase investor exposure and positively upgrade the company from the TSX Venture to the TSX. She joined the company when Alamos was covered by 3 analysts and by the end of her tenure, Alamos was covered by 14 analysts.
Victoria’s experience also spans the full spectrum of Corporate Communications functions including media relations as well as managing the Company’s internal and external communications program with the investment community, government, shareholders and employees, in addition to maintaining disclosure and corporate governance policies. In addition, to the mining industry Victoria’s expertise expands to the clean technology industry and the EV sector. Victoria earned an honors B.Sc. in Economics and an MBA in Finance.