Mr. Gary O’Connor, is currently CEO and Chief Geologist and Director of the Company. He has over 30 years of experience in international mineral exploration and development. He is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM), a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geology, and holds a graduate degree in geology, geophysics and environmental studies from the University of Auckland.
Mr. O’Connor was Vice-President of Dundee Resources from 2007 to 2017 where he guided investment decisions with his technical due diligence on 200+ resource projects across all continents and covering gold, diamonds, base metals, bulk commodities and uranium.
From 2000 to 2007, Mr. O’Connor was Vice-President, Exploration of Gabriel Resources Ltd. where he directed the drill out and feasibility of the 16+Moz Rosia Montana gold resource, the discovery and scoping of the Rodu-Frasin gold deposit (~2Moz), as well as the drill out and scoping studies of the large (500+MMt) Tarnita and Rosia Poieni Cu-Au porphyry deposits. Mr. O’Connor was Vice-President, Exploration of European Goldfields from 2000 to 2003 where he was responsible for the discovery, drill out and scoping studies of a number of deposits in the belt including the Certej gold deposit (3Moz), the Teascu (0.5Moz) gold deposit, and Hanes gold deposits (0.6Moz).
From 1990 to 2000 he worked as District Exploration Manager for Freeport-McMoRan (“Freeport”) in Indonesia where he was responsible for exploration of the Papuan Belt. His successes include the discovery, drill out, resource estimation and scoping study of the Wabu Gold skarn deposit (12+Moz), the drill out of two large (500+MMt) Duwagu and Komopa Cu-Au porphyry deposits, the discovery of the Etna Bay Cu-Au porphyry deposit for which he received the Freeport President’s Award for exploration success, the discovery of the Mamoa Au-Cu porphyry system, as well as a number of epithermal gold, skarn and porphyry copper-gold projects including the Siduarsi Ni-Co laterite deposit (100+MMt @ 1.1% Ni, 0.12% Co). During his term at Freeport, Mr. O’Connor also worked on the due diligence which led to the revelation of the major fraud committed by Bre-X Minerals with its Busang gold “deposit” in Kalimantan, Indonesia.