Principals & Executives of Discovery Group

 

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John Robins, P.Geo.
Co-Founder and Principal of Discovery Group

John Robins is a professional geologist, prospector, and entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in the mining industry. In 2022 he was the recipient of the AME's Murray Pezim Award for his significant contribution to the financing of exploration and development projects over the last 20 years. He was also awarded the Spud Huestis Award in 2008 for having made significant contributions to mineral exploration in British Columbia and Yukon. 

Mr. Robins has been involved in several notable discoveries, including the 5M oz Coffee Gold deposit in Yukon, the Three Bluffs gold deposit in the Committee Bay greenstone belt, the Aviat / Churchill diamond districts of Nunavut, and the Great Bear project in north-western Ontario. Through his entrepreneurship, John has been instrumental in over CDN$3B in M&A activity and has generated over $1B in direct and indirect mineral expenditures throughout Canada, Latin America, and Australia. Notable recent successes include the sales of Great Bear Resources Ltd. to Kinross Gold Corp. for $1.8B, Great Bear Royalties Corp. to Royal Gold Inc. for $200M, and Kaminak Gold Corp. to Goldcorp for $510M.

John's outstanding strategic guidance, technical expertise, strong industry relationships, and steadfast adherence to ethical practices, underpin his status as a leading steward of the junior mining industry. He currently acts as Chairman of Elemental Altus Royalties and K2 Gold Corp. Mr. Robins is also a Director of Elemental Altus Royalties and Fireweed Metals Corp., and a Strategic Advisor to Defense Metals Corp., Kodiak Copper Corp., ValOre Metals Corp., and Prospector Metals Corp.

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Jim Paterson
Co-Founder and Principal of Discovery Group
Chairman & CEO, ValOre Metals Corp.

Jim is the co-founder and principal of Discovery Group and has 23 years of corporate development experience in the mining industry, including capital raises, acquisitions, joint-ventures, spin-outs, RTOs, and IPOs. He was a driving force behind $80 million in equity financing for ValOre Metals, which led to multiple discoveries at the Pedra Branca PGE project.

He was a long-standing and active director of Kaminak Gold Corp. (acquired by Goldcorp.) and founding director of Northern Empire Resources Corp. (acquired by Coeur Mining). He founded Corsa Capital in 2007, and a 2010 transaction created an industry-leading metallurgical coal producer with a C$250M market capitalization.

In addition to being the Chairman and CEO of ValOre Metals, Jim is a Director of K2 Gold and acts as a Strategic Advisor to Kodiak Copper and Prospector Metals.

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Rita Bennett​
Rita Bennett
President

Ms. Bennett brings over 20 years of professional and entrepreneurial experience in marketing, communications, and business administration. She has held senior positions such as Director and VP Marketing for marketing agencies and mining exploration companies, and specializes in content strategy and production.  Most recently, Ms. Bennett held the position of VP Corporate Communications for Great Bear Resources since 2017, until the Company’s acquisition by Kinross Gold for $1.8B in early 2022. As President, she currently oversees the marketing and communications functions for all the member companies of Discovery Group.

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Dave Prins​
Dave Prins
CEO, President & Director
FOUNDER OF COPPEREX

Mining executive with 30 years of experience, including 16 years with Placer Dome Mines including mining project valuations, development and operations. President & CEO Explorator Resources and Project Director to VP Operations for Pretium Resources Brucejack Mine in Northern BC whereby in 2017 was corecipient of the EA Scholtz award for contribution to mining in BC.

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Guy de Selliers​
Guy de Selliers
Executive Chairman, Defense Metals

Over his 45-year career, Guy has been involved in innumerable transactions across a multitude of sectors spanning all continents, including as both an advisor and principle within, equity, debt, M+A and political risk insurance. Some of the most notable activities relating to the natural resource sector include his involvement with SNIM in Mauritania over the last 40 years, Board Member and Adviser to Ivanhoe Mines over the previous 15 years and acting as a co/chairman on behalf of the EC of a committee created to facilitate the financing of large-scale Oil & Gas projects in Russia. As well as acting as an advisor to Rio-Tinto on the Simandou project, Guy has been the Executive Chairman of the Nimba project in Guinea, he was a Miga agent and advisor to MIGA clients, a strategic and financing adviser for the development of the Anaklia Port in Georgia, lead non-executive director of Norilsk Nickel, and a project finance advisor for the US$ 4bn limited recourse financing for Oyu Tolgoi alongside many others.

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Frederick Bell
CEO, Elemental Altus Royalties

Frederick co-founded Elemental Royalties in 2016 following his role as Managing Director of a listed gold exploration company, Goldcrest Resources plc, where he assembled a portfolio of gold licences in northeast Ghana to take to AIM. He has wide experience in the mining industry, including as General Manager of an ASX-listed uranium company from the age of 25. Frederick received the ‘Young Rising Star’ Award at Mines & Money 2018, read history at the University of Edinburgh and is on the Committee of Young Mining Professionals in London.

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Peter Hemstead​
Peter Hemstead, CPA, CMA
Interim President & CEO and Director, Fireweed Metals

Peter is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with over 25 years of finance experience and has a proven track record of providing strong financial leadership. Peter has extensive experience in financial management, corporate finance, project finance, treasury, commercial banking, marketing/sales, financial risk management, insurance, and tax planning. Since 2017, he has held position as the Chief Financial Officer of Bluestone Resources Inc. where he is a key executive in financing and moving the Cerro Blanco Gold Project toward production. Peter previously held a senior financial executive role for 10 years with Capstone Mining Corp., leading the financial team through the successful expansion from a development stage mining company to an intermediate copper producer.

Peter with a Bachelor of Science in Economics (Honours) from the University of Western Ontario.

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Anthony Margarit, P.Geo.
President, CEO & Director, K2 Gold

Anthony holds a BSc. Geology from Lakehead University and has over twenty-five years of management and exploration experience working with both major mining, and junior exploration companies. Over the course of his career, he has explored for a variety of commodities, and deposit types, on projects ranging from greenfields prospecting and project generation to managing multi-drill programs, and advanced development projects. This experience has given him exposure to a variety of exploration methods, as well as business management styles and techniques.

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Claudia Tornquist​
Claudia Tornquist, M.Eng., MBA
President, CEO & Director, Kodiak Copper

Claudia was formerly General Manager at Rio Tinto working extensively with Rio Tinto’s diamond operations in Canada and Australia. She also held the position of EVP Business Development for Sandstorm Gold, Director of Silver One Resources and former director of Kennady Diamonds, leading the $176m sale of the company to Mountain Province as chair of the special committee of the board.

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Rob Carpenter​
Dr. Rob Carpenter Ph.D., P.Geo.
President & CEO Prospector Metals

Over 30 years of corporate and technical mineral exploration experience. Co-Founder, President and CEO of Kaminak Gold Corporation and led the company through the discovery of the 5 million-ounce Coffee Gold Project. Completed his Ph.D. at Western University, London, ON.

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