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.
Darren Blasutti
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development
Mr. Blasutti is a mining executive and professional Chartered Accountant with more than 25 years of mining finance and senior executive experience, focusing on identifying, acquiring and advancing mining projects and operations in the resource sector. His extensive experience includes Senior Vice President, Corporate and Business Development with Barrick Gold Corporation over an eleven-year period, where Mr. Blasutti led and executed the acquisitions of Homestake Mining and Placer Dome, the asset consolidations of the Cortez, Hemlo, and Porgera mines and the sale of 50% of South Deep mine. Mr. Blasutti has been a senior executive and board member of several mining companies, playing an instrumental role in a variety of transactions, including hostile acquisitions, project consolidations, material equity and debt financings, international bilateral tax agreements, reverse take overs, and the management of recently merged entities. Mr. Blasutti was previously the President and CEO of Americas Gold and Silver Inc., and a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the audit committee at Noront Resources Ltd. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors at Barksdale Resources Corp.
Kevin Small, BSc. P.Eng
Executive VP, Mining Operations
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.
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.
David Stewart, P.Eng.
Vice President, Capital Markets & Strategy
David Stewart, P.Eng. is a Mining Engineer with 15 years of progressive leadership in the mining sector spanning mine development and operations, sell-side equity research, and corporate development & investor relations.
David was most recently VP Corporate Development & Investor Relations at Omai Gold Mines Corp., where he led investor engagement, financing efforts, and corporate strategy initiatives through an increase in market capitalization from C$130M to over C$550M. Previously, he was VP Corporate Development and Shareholder Communications at a Canadian gold mine developer through the permitting, construction, and initial production ramp-up stages. David was an equity research analyst at Desjardins Securities and GMP Securities and has formally covered 23 companies ranging from small-cap explorers to large-cap gold producers.
David’s mining career began with Redpath Mining developing underground mine projects around the world, after which he worked at Barrick Gold’s Hemlo operation where he was responsible for mine design, capital projects, and expansion scoping study development. David is a licenced Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University.
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.
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.