Keith Barron, PhD
Dr. Keith Barron has been involved as an Exploration Economic Geologist and entrepreneur for over 40 years, in more than nineteen countries. His major expertise is in gold and precious gems, though he has considerable experience in base metals, uranium and industrial minerals. His doctoral thesis documented the world’s oldest epithermal gold-silver deposit at Springpole Lake in Canada. In 2001, he privately co-founded Ecuador gold explorer Aurelian Resources Inc., which was listed on the TSX-V in 2003 and made the colossal Fruta del Norte gold discovery in 2006. The company was bought by Kinross Gold in 2008 for $1.2 billion. He is President and Director of Firestone Ventures (TSXV:FV) and President of Potentate Mining in Montana, USA, the world’s second largest sapphire miner. He has served as a Director of several other listed companies. At the PDAC convention in March 2008 he was awarded the Thayer Lindsley International Discovery Award for his role in the discovery of the Fruta del Norte gold deposit and he was also jointly named the Northern Miner’s Mining Man of the Year 2008. He holds a PhD in Geology from the University of Western Ontario and a BSc. (Hons) in Geology from the University of Toronto.
Mr. Jonathan Kagan
Mr. Jonathan Kagan is an investment banker by training. He is the Managing Principal of Corporate Partners in New York. Previously, Jonathan was a Managing Director of Corporate Partners I, which he joined in 1990, and of Centre Partners Management LLC, where he managed the Centre Capital funds. He began his career in the investment banking division of Lazard in 1980 and became a General Partner in 1987. At Lazard, Jonathan helped head the corporate finance and capital markets areas. He has been a director of public companies and is a director of several private companies. Jonathan received an M.A. (1st Hon.) from Oxford University and an A.B., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard College.
Ms. Nathalie Han
Ms. Nathalie Han has over twenty years’ experience in investment management, deal structuring, financing, due diligence and investment research, especially in clean energy, oil and gas, and the natural resource sectors. She is the Managing Director and Founder of La Paix Capital AG – a Zurich-based specialist which provides investment advisory services in global energy & natural resources since 2016 to the present.
Nathalie worked for Craton Capital (Schweiz) AG in Zurich for over 5 years where she held roles as Principal Advisor of a renewable and sustainable resources fund and Board Director, evaluating equity investments and conducting industry analysis of several global sectors. Nathalie was also Consultant for Craton Capital (Johannesburg).
Prior to that, she worked as a Principal at OMERS Capital Markets in Toronto for eight years and spent two years with Capital International CDPQ (La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) in Montréal. Nathalie holds a MSc in Administration (Finance) from Concordia University and obtained her BCom, Joint Honours in Economics and Finance from McGill University. Nathalie is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Mr. Thomas Ullrich
Mr. Ullrich has over 30 years of experience in mineral exploration and geoscience. He has been the CEO and director of Aston Bay since 2016. Prior to that, Mr. Ullrich was Chief Geologist North America for Antofagasta Minerals plc, investigating the region’s copper potential through extensive property evaluations and management of drill programs in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Prior to Antofagasta, he was Senior Geologist for Almaden Minerals, where he managed the drill program for the team’s discovery of the Ixtaca Ag-Au deposit in Mexico. Mr. Ullrich also established the Ar-Ar geochronology lab at the University of British Columbia and studied the Candelaria Cu-Au mine, Chile, while at Queen’s University. Mr. Ullrich is also on the Technical Advisory Board for American West Metals Limited.
Mr. Warren Gilman
Mr. Warren Gilman is a mining engineer by training. He is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Hong Kong-based Queen’s Road Central Capital Ltd. Warren was Chairman and CEO of Hong Kong based CEF Holdings Ltd from 2011-2019 where he was responsible for one of the largest mining focused investment companies in Asia. Prior to that, he was Vice Chairman of CIBC World Markets. Warren was the Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific Region for CIBC for 10 years where he was responsible for CIBC’s activities across Asia. He also co-founded CIBC’s Global Mining Group in 1988.
During his 26 years with CIBC, Warren ran the mining team in Canada, Australia and Asia and worked in the Toronto, Sydney, Perth, Shanghai and Hong Kong offices of CIBC. He has acted as advisor to the largest mining companies in the world including BHP, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Noranda, Falconbridge, Meridian Gold, China Minmetals, Jinchuan and Zijin and has been responsible for some of the largest equity capital markets financings in Canadian mining history. Warren Gilman is a regular contributor to mining industry forums and discussions. Warren obtained his B.Sc. in Mining Engineering at Queen’s University and his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He is Chairman of the International Advisory Board at Western University, and serves as a director for NexGen Energy Ltd, Gold Royalty Corp and Los Andes Copper Ltd.
Mr. Francisco Freyre
Francisco Freyre is a seasoned strategic finance leader with multi-faceted global business experience in corporate finance, investor relations, manufacturing, and digital transformation. He joined WD Numeric in 2021, serving as Fractional CFO for companies in diverse industries such as oil and gas, medical cannabis, and tin mining. He spent 23+ years in the automotive industry across different positions, including IRO, CIO, CFO and CEO. Mr. Freyre also served in financial planning for a Mexican gold and silver mining company eventually acquired by a Canadian company. He has been a Mentor for startups in acceleration programs by MassChallenge since 2017.
Mr. Freyre holds a Master’s Degree in Finance from the Instituto Technológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, a Diploma in Private Equity and Ventura Capital from the Anahuac University and AMEXCAP and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Jean Paul Pallier, MSc
Mr. Pallier is a geoscientist with over 21 years experience in the mining industry. He has worked on gold exploration projects in French Guiana in the capacity of field geologist progressively through to Project Manager. Mr. Pallier contributed to the discovery and the development of Camp Caiman (1.6 Moz gold resource) and worked in Paul Isnard project (3.89 Moz gold resource) both in French Guiana. He has experience in Uranium exploration, having led an exploration team in Mongolia. He holds an MSc in Geology from Lorraine Université and a BSc (Maitrise) from the university of Oviedo (Spain) and UBO – Brest.
Carolyn Muir, BSc, CPIR
Carolyn is an investor relations professional with more than 19 years experience in the resource sector. She has been working with Aurania since December 2017 where she has been responsible for overseeing the Company’s investor and corporate communications efforts. Prior to joining Aurania, she was responsible for investor communications and corporate reporting in Canada for ASX-listed base metals developer, Heron Resources. Carolyn also held Investor Relations roles with several other TSX and TSX-V-listed companies in the resource sector. She has extensive experience in capital markets, shareholder relations, corporate communications, corporate reporting and capital raising. Carolyn holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Western Ontario and is a member of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI). She earned her Certified Professional in Investor Relations (CPIR) designation in 2022 through completion of the CIRI/Rotman School of Business CPIR program.
