TORONTO, Sept. 11, 2019 /CNW/ - GK Resources Corp. ("GK"
or the "Company") (TSX-V:NIKL) is pleased to announce a series of
appointments to its management team, board of directors and
advisory team.
The appointments are as follow:
- Mr. Anthony ("Tony") Polglase –
Independent Director of the Board
- Luis Azevedo –Director of the
Board
- Alan De'ath – Independent
Director of the Board
- Wagner Lourenco – Chief Operating Officer
- Alex Penha – Chief Financial
Officer
- Jason Kosec – Technical
Advisor
The Company also announces that Mr. Simon Dyakowski, Mr. Bill Morton and Mr. Shawn Smith will step down as directors of the
Board.
Ian McDonald, President & CEO
of GK, states: "I am delighted to welcome the new members of GK's
board of directors and management team. To be able to attract such
high caliber professionals to our Company speaks loudly about the
prospects of the Company. Their appointments bring in-depth
expertise, network and proven track-record in mining project
development, licensing, financing, construction and operations,
which will be instrumental as GK moves ahead with its strategic
plan to be a significant base metals' player.
I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank Simon Dyakowski, Bill
Morton and Shawn Smith for
their valuable contributions to the GK since the inception and wish
all the best in their future endeavors"
Tony Polglase's
experience
With 40 years multi-disciplined mining experience across 10
different countries, Mr Polglase is qualified in mechanical and
electrical engineering with an honours degree in Metallurgy from
the Camborne School of Mines, UK.
Mr. Polglase has extensive and hands-on experience in
Brazil, is fluent in Portuguese,
and was the key leadership figure in what has since been recognized
as Australia's most successful
Brazilian focused junior – Avanco Resources.
He has successfully transitioned Avanco from explorer to
developer to producer on time and budget for a very economic
~US$46 million of pre-production
capex. Operations continued without any "lost-time" injuries and
never missing a production target.
Avanco remained debt-free and was acquired by OZ Minerals for
~A$430m representing 130% premium to
the share price.
Previous employers include Iberian Resources, Ivernia Inc., Rio
Tinto, TVX and Ashanti Goldfields.
Luis Azevedo's
experience
Luis Azevedo has over 30 years of
mining experience in Brazil. He is
both a licensed geologist and lawyer, specialized in the Brazilian
Mining Code, and an independent board member of several TSX, AIM
and ASX listed companies.
He has built a very strong track record originating and founding
many companies with projects in Brazil that have ultimately been listed onto
the TSX, AIM and ASX, the most prominent being Avanco Resources,
which he started by assembling the land package, developing and
licensing to start-up of copper production in the prolific Carajas
region of Brazil. Avanco Resources
was ultimately sold to OZ Minerals for ~A$430 million in 2018. Luis and Tony Polglase worked together at Avanco
from IPO through to the sale to Oz Minerals.
Luis has also been an active spokesperson of the mining sector
in Brazil and works close with the
highest federal levels of all branches of the Brazilian government,
he is founder and CEO of Brasil Prospectors Association - ABPM.
He is currently the Managing Partner of FFA Legal, a legal firm
he founded with main office in Rio de
Janeiro, which is focused solely on natural resources
companies. Previously he has also worked for Western Mining,
Barrick Gold, and Harsco.
Alan De'ath,
experience
Alan has 40 years of international offtake marketing, logistics,
financial, corporate and operational experience in the mining
industry in a range of commodities. This included a 20-year career
with Rio Tinto PLC in senior marketing and financial roles around
the world.
Alan is currently a strategic offtake marketing and logistics
advisor to several clients in the mining industry and an
Independent Director of Corsa Coal Corp.
Throughout his career Alan has worked on a number of projects in
Brazil with Rio Tinto, TVX Gold
and more recently for the past 5 years with Avanco Resources until
its takeover by Oz Minerals in 2018.
Alan is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management
Accountants (FCMA) in the UK and Chartered Global Management
Accountant (CGMA) in the UK and USA.
Wagner Lourenço's experience
Wagner is a highly seasoned Mining Engineer with over 25 years
of experience in base metals mining and metallurgy industries,
particularly nickel production. He worked for 15 years with Nexa
Resources, where he was Director of Operations for the Nickel
Business Unit, comprised of three industrial complexes (mines and
processing plants) plus corporate teams.
He has also extensive experience on leading Feasibility Study
teams, involving dedicated engineering professionals for fleet
dimensioning, processing route, capex and opex estimations and
financial modelling.
As Director of Operations of Nexa Resource's nickel business,
Wagner had oversight of the following operations:
- Fortaleza de Minas -
Underground mine and processing facility to produce nickel in matte
exported to Norilsk refinery facility in Finland. Total of 10,000 tonnes of contained
Ni per year – 500 employees
- Niquelândia – 3.5Mtpa open pit mine with associated ammonia
leaching plant producing 20,000 tonnes of contained Nickel per year
– 1,500 employees
- São Miguel Paulista Nickel-Cobalt Refinery - producing 23,000
tonnes per year of refined Ni and Co plates – 500 employees
- Leadership of Corporate Office, including Marketing &
Commercial teams, Engineering & Technology Development,
Capex/Opex management teams.
Alex Penha's
experience
Alex has over 14 years of experience in mining capital markets
and mining industry, including Corporate Development, Equity
Research and Investment Banking. He has played key roles on M&A
transactions from origination to in-depth due diligence and
economic assessment for Board approval and introduction to the
capital markets in Canada.
Up until recently worked as Corporate Development advisor for
GrowMax Resources Corp. Past roles have also included VP Corporate
Development and member of the Board of Directors of Fertoz Limited
(ASX: FTZ), EVP Corporate Development, Board Director and Chair of
Audit Committee of Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV:SMY), VP Corporate
Development at Aura Minerals Inc. (TSX:ORA), General Manager,
Corporate Development at Rio Novo Gold (TSX:RN), Co-Founder and VP
Corporate Development at Rio Verde Minerals Development Corp.
(TSX:RVD).
Alex holds an MBA (York University,
Schulich School of Business), a B.Sc. Economics, (Rio de Janeiro
State University) and a Post-Degree in Corporate Finance (Getulio
Vargas Foundation, Rio de
Janeiro). Former Board Member of the Brazil-Canada Chamber
of Commerce (BCCC), also acting as Chairman of its Mining
Committee.
Jason Kosec's
experience
Jason has nearly ten years of experience in all facets of
mineral exploration. Upon completing his undergraduate degree in
Geology at Western University and a
Master in Earth and Energy Resources, Jason worked as a Project
Geologist at Trelawney Mining and Exploration, which was
subsequently sold to IAMGOLD for $608M in 2012. Jason then moved on to work as an
Exploration Geologist at a number of IAMGOLD properties. In 2015,
Jason was recruited to join Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd in the
earliest stages of new management control as Sr. Geologist and
Chief Mine Geologist, providing him
with a unique understanding of and contribution to the current
advanced understanding of the Cariboo project, culminating with his
taking over of the Corporate Development role in late 2017.
About GK Resources Corp.
GK Resources Ltd. is a mineral property exploration company that
completed its initial public offering on March 21, 2019. On March
25, 2019, the shares of the Company began trading on the TSX
Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") under the stock symbol NIKL.
Forward Looking Information
The information in this news release includes certain
information and statements about management's view of future
events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward
looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions
that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of
these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of
factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or
performance may differ materially from those anticipated and
indicated by these forward looking statements. Forward-looking
statements in this news release include, but are not limited to,
the Company's proposed use of the proceeds of its initial public
offering. Any number of factors could cause actual results to
differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as
future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations
reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give
no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking
statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the
Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update
or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results,
whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in
assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking
statements or otherwise.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES
PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX
VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR
ACCURACY OF THE RELEASE.
SOURCE GK Resources Ltd