Leadership
Lewis Black
Director, President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Black is currently a Partner of Almonty Partners LLC and has over 10 years of experience in the tungsten mining industry. From June 2005 to December 2007, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Primary Metals Inc. (“PMI”), a former TSX-V listed tungsten mining company. Mr. Black also formerly served as head of sales and marketing for SC Mining Tungsten, Thailand.
Daniel D'Amato
Director
Mr. D’Amato is currently a Partner of Almonty Partners LLC and has extensive experience in the finance industry specializing in portfolio management and private equity. He began his career on Wall Street with Bear Stearns where over nearly a decade he became Managing Director. In 2005, with business partner Lewis Black, Mr. D’Amato co-founded Almonty. From June 2005 to June 2007, he served on the board of directors of Primary Metals Inc., an TSX Venture Exchange listed tungsten mining company, of which Almonty was the majority owner.
Mark Trachuk
Director
Mr. Trachuk is a lawyer and is a Partner in the Business Law Group at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto. He practices in the area of corporate and securities law with an emphasis on mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances. Mr. Trachuk is the chair of Osler’s International Practice Group and is the former chair of Osler’s Corporate Practice Group and Corporate Finance Practice Group. Mr. Trachuk holds a B.A. from Carleton University, an LL.B. from the University of Ottawa and an LL.M. from the London School of Economics. He also holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. Mr. Trachuk is called in Ontario, British Columbia and England and Wales.
Dr. Thomas Gutschlag
Director
Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Rohstoff AG (“DRAG”), a public company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange which identifies, develops and divests attractive resource projects in North America, Australia and Europe, with a focus is on the development of oil and gas opportunities within the United States, as well as metals such as gold, copper, rare earth elements, tungsten and tin.Dr. Gutschlag is a qualified economist with a degree in economics from the University of Heidelberg and a doctorate from the University of Mannheim.
Michael Costa
Director
Mr. Costa serves as Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Goodman & Company Investment Counsel Inc. In this role, he acts as Portfolio Manager, managing a portfolio of opportunistically invested assets, with a core focus on Canadian capital markets. From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Costa served as director with UBS Securities Canada and was responsible for managing the Fundamental Investment Group’s Canadian investment portfolio. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Costa served as Vice President at both Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York and Goldman Sachs Canada Inc., in Toronto. From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Costa was a member of the Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group (“GSSSG”), a multi-strategy principal investment platform within Goldman Sachs. During this time, he successfully sourced, structured and executed both public and private debt and equity principal investments on behalf of the firm. In 2006, Mr. Costa moved to Toronto to become one of three founding members of the Canadian Special Situations Group (“CSSG”) within GSSSG. Mr. Costa was promoted to Co-Head of CSSG. Mr. Costa began his career at Goldman Sachs in 2003 on the distressed/high yield desk. He graduated cum laude with honours in Economics from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.Mark Gelmon, CPA, CA
CFO
Mr. Gelmon obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of British Columbia and subsequently attained his Chartered Accountant designation in 1995 and is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. Mr. Gelmon has provided his expertise to several TSX Venture Exchange listed companies in the capacity of director, chief financial officer and consultant. His background as a CPA, CA, provides the Company with the necessary skills required for financial management, reporting operating results to the Board of Directors, liaison with financial institutions, and compliance with today’s complex regulatory reporting requirements.
Marion McGrath
Corporate Secretary
Marion McGrath has been actively engaged in the securities industry for over 30 years specializing in corporate governance and compliance of issuers listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Ms. McGrath is the owner of iO Corporate Services Ltd., which company provides corporate and accounting services to various publicly-traded Canadian companies. Prior to organizing iO Corporate, Ms. McGrath was a senior paralegal with a Vancouver-based securities law firm.