The Company’s five founders are Benoit Desormeaux, John Jentz, Martin Milette, Richard Roy and Sylvain Duchesne.
Benoit Desormeaux, CPA – President and CEO and Director
Benoit Desormeaux is a proven mining CEO, having risen through the ranks of SEMAFO from 1997 to 2020, including as CEO, COO and CFO. He also has over 12 years of board experience, including as audit committee chair, with public and private companies and charitable organizations. During his career, Mr. Desormeaux established a reputation for value creation, respecting guidance and timelines and delivering on commitments. He has a strong operations background, having operated four mines in three West African countries, and a proven ability to take exploration and development projects through the full cycle of technical studies, permitting, financing, construction and operations. Mr. Desormeaux has excellent mining capital markets experience, having participated in multiple equity and debt financings and various M&A transactions. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA).
John Jentz, CPA – Non-Executive Chairman and Director
John Jentz is a mining professional with over two decades of operational, board of director and investment banking experience. His last operational role was head of strategy and corporate development for SEMAFO Inc., a gold mining company which sold for $1.6 billion in 2020. His last board role was chair of the audit committee and chair of the nominating and compensation committee for North American Palladium Ltd., which sold for $1.0 billion in 2019. Mr. Jentz holds an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Business Administration from McMaster University. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA).
Martin Milette, CPA – CFO and Director
Martin Milette held the position of Chief Financial Officer of SEMAFO Inc., a gold mining company which was sold for $1.6 billion in 2020, for 15 years. During his career at SEMAFO, Mr. Milette oversees all aspects of the Finance and IT functions of the company, including multiple equity and debt financings and M&A transactions. Previously, he worked as Senior Manager, Assurance and Advisory Services at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he was principally active in the high-tech and mining sectors. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA).
Richard Roy, P.Geo – Geological Consultant and Director
Richard Roy brings over 30 years of experience in the mineral resource industry across three continents, including extensive experience with underground and open pit mine geology. Richard has held the position of Vice President New Ventures with Endeavour Mining Corporation upon the completion of the $1.6 billion acquisition of SEMAFO Inc. in March 2020. Mr. Roy spent almost 11 years with SEMAFO Inc. (as the Exploration Manager and subsequently holding the position of Vice President Exploration), where he focused on target selection and prioritization, and was part of the acquisition team looking at opportunities of a variety of grassroots to late-stage level projects. Mr. Roy has designed and implemented successful exploration programs and mine feasibility programs in Mexico and North America, working for companies such as Aur Resources, Placer Dome, and several other junior companies. He has been involved in the discovery of several gold deposits that ultimately reached the mining stage. Mr. Roy has worked with various geological environments and commodities including precious and base metals located in diverse challenging environments such as the Canadian Arctic and African desert. Mr. Roy holds a B.Sc. in Geology from Concordia University in Montreal and is a member of the Ordre des Géologues du Québec.
Sylvain Duchesne, P.Eng – Vice President, Process and Engineering
Sylvain Duchesne is a 30+ year mining engineer including VP Construction & Engineering and Director of Metallurgy at SEMAFO from 2005-2020 where he successfully completed multiple construction, engineering and metallurgical projects and their related technical studies (DFS, PFS, PEA) all on-time and on-budget. He is a relied upon team member for complex technical processing and metallurgical issues. He holds a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering with a focus on mineral processing and is a member of the Quebec order of engineers.
Carly Burk – Director
Ms. Burk practices corporate securities law at a boutique law firm in Toronto. Ms. Burk holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Southampton, a Certificate of Qualification from the Federation of Law Societies and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Carleton University. Ms. Burk serves as an officer and/or director of several public and private entities.
Chris Irwin – Corporate Secretary
Chris practices securities and corporate/commercial law and has been the President of Irwin Professional Corporation since August, 2006. He advises a number of public companies on a variety of issues including continuous disclosure and regulatory issues; reverse-takeover transactions, initial public offerings and takeover bids. Mr. Irwin also advises boards of directors, including independent committees. Mr. Irwin is a director and/or officer of several public companies including: Seafield Resources Ltd.; Laramide Resources Ltd.; Roscan Minerals Corp.; Canada Lithium Corp.; Trelawney Mining and Exploration Inc. and Ursa Major Minerals Incorporated. Mr. Irwin has served as a member of the independent committees for both Trelawney Mining and Exploration Inc. and Seafield Resources Ltd.