People (January 01, 2008)

Vancouver-based ABACUS MINING & EXPLORATION has named Thomas A.McKeever the chairman of the company.He takes up the challenge of developing the company’s Afton copper-gold project near Kamloops, B.C.

Vancouver-based AMERA RESOURCES has named Peter C. Ellsworth as new vice-president exploration to direct the company’s efforts in Latin America.At the same time, Amera announced that Dr. David Terry has agreed to become a director of the company.

Francois-Philippe Champagne, a graduate of the University of Montreal, is the new strategic development director for AMEC of Vancouver. Prior to joining AMEC, he was group vice-president and senior counsel at ABB in Switzerland.

Toronto-based ATLANTA GOLD has shuffled its head office as it prepares its gold mine in Idaho for production. Warren Holmes is now executive vice-chairman and director; William Baird is president and CEO; and Ernest Simmons is COO. Bruce Thorndycraft retains his role as vice-president operations and general manager of the project.

Mario Caron is now CEO of Toronto’s AXMIN INC. Former CEO Dr. Jonathan Forster has become the company’s head of exploration.

Calgary-based BOXXER GOLD has asked Elmer B.Stewart to assume the position of president and CEO of the company. Stewart has been involved in the development of two underground and three heap leach gold mines during his career, and he has exploration experience for uranium, gold, copper-gold and base metal deposits.

Patrick Soares is the new president and CEO of Vancouverbased BRETT RESOURCES. He replaces Thomas Hasek, who will continue to sit on the board. The company also announced the appointment of David M. Stone to the position of vice-president.

CANPLATS RESOURCES of Vancouver has made a pair of senior appointments.Bruce Youngman is now president and COO, and Tom Turner is senior consultant for the company’s Camino Rojo project in Mexico.

Cam Birge, a former president of Industrial Minerals Inc.,has been named president and CEO of Ottawa-based AMEX GOLD MINING.

Steve Lang has joined Torontobased CENTERRA GOLD as vice-president and COO. He comes to the post from a similar role at Stillwater Mining.

DYNACOR GOLD of Montreal has appointed Jean Martineau its president and CEO, Pierre Monet, vice-president and CFO, and Ivan Quiroz, vice-president operations Peru. The company has three gold properties in Peru.

DYNASTY GOLD CORP. of Vancouver has named a new vice-president of exploration. He is Larry Corne who has over 30 years of experience in the Americas, Europe and Asia.He was recently employed by Barrick Gold as regional manager for Mexico and Central America.

Paul Hbert will be the new executive director of the FEDERATED SCHOOL OF MINES. Hbert, who is currently the executive director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Sector Council (MiHR) in Ottawa, will assume the position, which is based at the Barrydowne, Ont., Campus of Cambrian College, on Feb. 25, 2008. The Federated School of Mines was established in 2006 by Cambrian College and Northern College -Haileybury School of Mines.

FNX MINING of Toronto has announced the resignation of Anthony Makuch from the position of senior vice-president and COO at the end of February 2008. Vernon Baker will become the vice-president of Sudbury mining operations, effective Feb.1.He will reside in Sudbury, Ont.

Robert (Bob) Powers is the new vice-president mining at Vancouver’s GOLD-ORE RESOURCES. Most recently he was on the team that reopened the Aljustral zinc mine in Portugal, and he has experience in several Canadian gold and base metal mines.

Cecil D. Andrus, former Idaho governor and U.S. secretary of the interior, is joining the board of Vancouver-based FORMATION CAPITAL. Formation is developing a cobalt mine in Lemhi County, Idaho, and operates the Sunshine hydrometallurgical facility in Shoshone County, Idaho.

LAKE SHORE GOLD has named R. John Haflidson as manager of its Timmins operations. The company has also completed the move of its head offices to Toronto from Vancouver. Phil Wright has taken over as president and CEO of Vancouverbased LUNDIN MINING. He is a graduate of the Harvard School of Business.

Jim Mustard has joined Vancouver-based MANTLE RESOURCES as president.Mustard is a geologist and professional engineer with extensive exploration, development and operating experience in North and South America. He was vice-president and senior mining analyst at Haywood Securities until recently. Peeyush Varshney has stepped aside as president but remains Mantle’s chairman and CEO.

Ron Caldwell, a long-time employee of the MINING ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA in Vancouver, has won the B.C. Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Excellence in Safety.

Vancouver’s NEW GOLD has named Ron Allum the general manager for its New Afton gold-copper project. He has headed successful block caving operations at the San Manuel copper mine in Arizona and the Questa molybdenum mine in New Mexico.

VIKING GOLD EXPLORATION of Toronto has two new officers. George Supol has become the CFO and George Werniuk is in the new vice-president position. Supol has extensive experience as a chartered accountant and IT specialist. Werniuk is a professional geoscientist with a background in mineral exploration in Canada and Central Asia. Since 1993 he has been running his own writing services company. Viking is currently advancing the Morris Lake gold project north of Yellowknife, NT.