Board of Directors
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Rudolph de Bruin, Co-Chairman
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Krisztian Toth, Co-Chairman
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Bradford Mills, Vice Chairman
Brad Mills is Managing Director and Principal at Plinian Capital Ltd., a private mine investment company. Mr. Mills is also currently serving as Executive Chairman of Mandalay Resources Corporation, a Canadian based mining company listed on the TSE, involved in the discovery, development and production of mineral commodities including gold, silver and antimony in Australia and Chile. Mr. Mills was previously Executive Chairman of West African Minerals Corporation, an iron ore development company listed on AIM, and Chief Executive Officer of Lonmin Plc, a major platinum and platinum group metals (PGM) producer from 2004 to 2008. Prior to that, he was President at BHP Billiton’s Base Metals Division. He is also a former non-executive director of Norilsk Nickel, a major producer of nickel and palladium and has served on the boards of several companies including Magma Copper Company, Echo Bay Mines, Rio Algom, Nimini Holdings Limited and Helio Resources Corp.
Mr. Mills is a Stanford University graduate, with a B.Sc in Geology and an M.Sc in Minerals Economics. He has in excess of 30 years of experience in the natural resources industry, and has worked in a wide variety of capacities including strategy, corporate transformation, information systems, communications, ore body development and worldwide exploration.
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Nejib Abba Biya, Director
Nejib has over 30 years of leadership experience in technology, finance, mining and energy. He is the founder and Chairman of Rift Geothermal, currently developing an initial 300 MGW power plant with TMGO and Corbetti in Ethiopia. He Co-Founded Allana Potash Corporation a company with potash assets in Argentina and Ethiopia before listing the company on the Toronto Stock Exchange and later selling it to ICL (Israeli Chemical Ltd), one of the largest potash and speciality chemical companies in the world. Nejib also Founded EGC gold which he listed on TSX (now East African Metals). The company is due to start construction of its gold mine in Northern Ethiopia in the fourth quarter of 2020.
After his departure from Toshiba, where he served as Vice President in the office systems division, he purchased two ailing office equipment companies, Office Solutions and Canadian Business Systems and built them into highly profitable companies before selling them to multinational corporations. Office Solutions was acquired by Danka Business Systems, a multibillion dollar US company and CBS was acquired by Pitney Bow (the largest mailing equipment manufacturer and distributor in North America) in 2004. Nejib then exited the office equipment industry and joined Forbes and Manhattan, a merchant bank as a Vice President where he launched several mining projects. He has served as Vice President of Aberdeen International and Avion Gold Corp among others. Nejib graduated from Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.
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Mike Beck, Director
Mike Beck, a co-founder of Circum Minerals, is the founder and Managing Director of Regent Advisors LLC, a corporate finance advisory and investment firm. He has advised on equity and debt financings for private and public companies in the natural resources sector, including LSC Lithium Corp., Cobalt 27 Capital Corporation, Signet Petroleum Limited, West African Minerals Corporation, Polo Resources Limited, Direct Petroleum Exploration Inc., Titanium Resources Group, Copper Development Corporation, UraMin Inc., Diamond Fields International Ltd., Weda Bay Minerals Inc., Regent Pacific Group Limited and CCEC Ltd.
Mr. Beck was a Managing Director at N M Rothschild & Sons (Washington) LLC, with responsibility for the firm's mining, oil and gas advisory and investment activities. Prior thereto, Mr. Beck was the founder and President of Librion Group Inc., a corporate finance boutique. He also was with the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, where he oversaw the structuring and financing of a large number of natural resource projects in Africa. Mr. Beck has also been a founder or co-founder of a number of companies listed on the Canadian, Australian and London stock exchanges. He has an M.S. in Engineering from Princeton University and a B.S. (High Honors) in Engineering from Rutgers University.
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Luke Knight, Director
Luke commenced his career in the mining sector in 1997 working as a Manager for New Projects with the Olympus Mining Group and Miranda Minerals Ltd. His activities saw him supervise mineral exploration projects in various countries in Africa and South America. Luke, was a founding member of Platmin Ltd and the COO of its South African operating subsidiary. His responsibilities included the acquisition of mineral rights, liaison with government regulatory bodies, environmental management, human resources, accounting, payroll and all other tasks involved with the day to day operations of the company and its administration. Luke joined AMED Funds, a Luxembourg based private equity fund focused on investments in the mineral/commodity space in Africa as a director responsible for portfolio monitoring. Luke brings a wealth of experience in the management of exploration and development projects in Africa.