As a newly formed company the focus is on building a dedicated management team to further de-risk the project.
Mr. Di Trapani commenced his career in public practice before transitioning to the mining industry in progressively finance roles with BHP Billiton, Norilsk Nickel and Mantra Resources. He is currently completing his role as Chief Financial Officer at MAG Silver where he matured the business and reporting processes from developer/explorer to producer level and led multiple strategic improvements to the Juanicipio Joint Venture with Fresnillo PLC. He also served as Chief Financial Officer at Galiano Gold, where he was a key member in the financing, operational readiness, construction, operations and eventual joint venturing of the Asanko Gold Mine in Ghana, West Africa. He has been at the forefront of numerous debt and equity financings, complex contract negotiations and has played a pivotal role in transformational merger and acquisition transactions, including the recent sale of MAG Silver to Pan American Silver for $2.1 billion. He holds an Honours Bachelor of Accounting Sciences and is a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Mr. McCunn is a Metallurgical Engineer with more than 30 years of experience in the international mining sector and an established track record operationally. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of Great Pacific Gold, a leading gold-copper development company focused on Papua New Guinea. As an executive, Mr. McCunn has had a leadership role putting three different mines into production, raised over $600 million in equity and debt financing from US and Canadian capital markets and completed over $ 1billion in merger and acquisitions transactions. He has been the Chief Executive Officer of several NYSE and TSX listed companies, including Galiano Gold most recently. He holds a B.A.Sc. in Metals and Materials Engineering and Masters of Business Administration (MBA).
Mr. Taylor is a structural and economic geologist and mining entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience with both producers and exploration companies. He is currently CEO of Aquitaine Metals Corp., a high-grade gold and strategic metals exploration company focused on advancing its 100% owned Limousin project in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. Formerly he was President and Director of Great Bear Resources Ltd. from December 2010 until it was acquired by Kinross in December 2021 for $1.8 billion. He is also currently Chair of Kodiak Copper Corp. and formerly a geologist with Imperial Metals, Inc., a TSXV company from 2004 to 2009. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science honors degree in Earth Sciences in 2000, and a Master of Science degree in Structural Geology from Carleton University in 2003.
Ms. Tornquist is an experienced mining executive whose background includes business development, business evaluation, M&A and financing, at both multi-national companies and in the junior sector. She is currently CEO of TSXV-listed Kodiak Copper. Formerly, she was General Manager at Rio Tinto working with Rio Tinto’s copper operations and also held the position of Executive Vice President Business Development for the streaming company Sandstorm Gold. She is also a director of American Lithium and 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. She has a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich and an MBA from INSEAD.
Mr. Noriega is the Chief Financial Officer of Hochschild Mining plc since his appointment in December 2021. He is actively involved in the definition and execution of Hochschild’s growth strategy and has led several financing and M&A transactions. He joined the company in March 2007 and before his current role as CFO, he served as Head of Group Finance with responsibility for financial planning and controls, treasury, corporate finance, tax and accounting. Prior to joining Hochschild, he worked in various finance roles for Dell Inc., Union de Cervecerías Peruana Backus & Johnston and Del Mar Fishing Company. He is a graduate in Business Administration from Universidad del Pacifico and holds an MBA from the University of Texas.
Mr. Hochschild served on the board of Hochschild Mining plc as a Non-Executive Director between 2022 and 2023, before assuming his current role of VP of Planning and Business Development. In this role, he led the negotiations which resulted in the acquisition of the Monte do Carmo project from Cerrado Gold Inc. Prior to Hochschild, he previously worked as a Mergers and Acquisitions Associate at Forum Brands, a Venture Capital backed e-commerce aggregator founded out of Stanford University. He holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.Sc. in Management Science and Engineering, both from Stanford University.