Affinity Gold Corp. Announces Founding of Strategic Advisory Committee
MAPLE GROVE, MN--(Marketwired - Mar 27, 2014) - Affinity Gold Corp. (OTC Pink: AFYG) (
"The Strategic Advisory Committee has been specifically comprised of those who are thought leaders, industry executives, former government leaders, entrepreneurs and investors who bring with them diverse expertise and international experience across finance, mining & engineering, law, social and environmental responsibility, clean energy technologies & applications and business development & growth strategies, all within the extractive industries," stated Mr. Sandberg, President & CEO.
Mr. Sandberg went on to state, "I can't express enough how pleased and grateful I am to have the support and commitment from such a world-class team of industry leaders and experts. This sends a clear message to our shareholders, investors and the general investment community by having such a distinguished group of industry leaders collectively stand among their peers and endorse our Company through their support and participation in our Strategic Advisory Committee. I want to personally and sincerely thank all of our founding committee members."
Mr. Sandberg will further summarize the Strategic Advisory Committee details on the Company's monthly shareholder & investor conference call being held Friday, March 28th, 2014 at 2pm EDT. On the upcoming call, the Company will have Mr. Raziel Zisman, founding member of the Strategic Advisory Committee, as a guest and who will share a bit about himself and his thoughts on future of the Company.
STRATEGIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
CARLOS LORET DE MOLA
Carlos Loret de Mola is a trained mining geologist that has managed family mining affairs in Peru since 1973 to date. That includes Compañia Minera Huampar S.A. and several smaller mining activities surrounding Huampar that were merged into IMASE (Inversiones Mineras Alto del Santa Eulalia) to further transfer mining assets and liabilities into a venture called Nueva Condor S.A. Nueva Condor was then exchanged for shares of Oroperu Resources (New Oroperu Resources). After the prices crisis of year 2000 Nueva Condor was re acquired by Carlos Loret de Mola and today is currently being acquired by Trevali Resources, a junior Canadian company that owns Minas de Santander.
During the 70's Huampar was consolidated to produce over 400 tons a day of sulphide ores to produce zinc, lead and copper concentrates with values of gold and silver. During the 80's Carlos Loret de Mola also participated on the board of state owned companies, acting as CEO of Minas de Condestable S.A. a medium size copper producer (later bought by TRAFIGURA) and serving as director of Centromin a mineral complex (ex Cerro de Pasco Corp) and MINPECO (a state trading company) both privatized in the 90's.
During the 90's Huampar retreated tailings to survive the price and political crisis of the moment, to finally be negotiated to Oroperu Resources as Nueva Condor S.A. Carlos Loret de Mola was kept as a directing officer by Oroperu until the buyback operation in 2001. Nueva Condor S.A. went through a chapter 11 process (Proceso Transitorio INDECOPI) to be acquired by Trevali Resources by 2011.
From 2002 to 2006, Carlos Loret de Mola was appointed Executive President of the National Council for the Environment-CONAM (today the Ministry of Environment) and President of the National
Environmental Fund - FONAM, serving under President Alejandro Toledo (2001 - 2006) both tenures.
After leaving governmental positions Carlos Loret de Mola has been actively promoting the sustainable development of the extractive industries in Peru (specially mining) and participating on the board of many companies related to such efforts. Until very recently Carlos Loret de Mola has been an external director for Fundacion Tintaya (2003-2012)
Through 2013, Carlos Loret de Mola acted as an advisor to XSTRATA on issues related to their ability to lower impact on the development of their Bambas project in the provinces of Grau and Cotabambas in the Apurimac Region and Chumbivilcas and Espinar provinces in the Cusco Region, Peru. Carlos Loret de Mola has been assigned to the committee for Promoting Sustainable Land Management in Las Bambas promoted by UNDP and having as executing partners, Xstrata Trust Fund, Provincial Governments and the Ministry of Environment.
RAZIEL ZISMAN
Raziel Zisman is Executive Chairman of Alicanto Mining Corp., a private project-generating company with offices in Canada and Colombia, and of Fenix Geoconsult Ltd., a consulting company providing consulting and technical exploration services in Colombia, Armenia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also serves on the board of directors of Advanced Explorations Inc., a resource development company focused on developing its Roche Bay and Tuktu Iron Ore Projects in one of the world's largest developing iron ore districts, the Melville Peninsula in Nunavut.
He has a background in corporate and securities law as well as in merchant banking, having provided corporate finance advisory services and access to private and public capital to early stage companies.
Raziel grew up in Lima, Peru and studied development economics at Sussex University in the UK, followed by studies in Canada where he took a law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School as well as graduate degrees in economics, environmental studies and law. After clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada, he worked in the Toronto office of a leading American law firm, mostly in cross-border financings and mergers & acquisitions, gaining experience in the mining, energy, forestry and transportation sectors, and at major Canadian business-law firms, working primarily in the mining and natural resource sectors. He is a member of the bars of Ontario and New York.
He is a Director at the Canadian Council for the Americas (CCA) and is also a Director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), where he also serves as a member of the Aboriginal Affairs and Securities committees.
CLAY HOES
Mr. Clay Hoes was most recently President and CEO of Forbes Royalty Corp., leading the development and launch of a natural resource royalty company which was placed on hold for the time being and may not launch due to the market. Clay provides due diligence and financing for producing resource companies - oil and gas, mining and industrial minerals.
Mr. Hoes served as a Portfolio Manager of RiverSource Investments, LLC. His industry experience covers industrial stocks on both the buy-side and the sell-side. Prior to joining American Express Financial Corporation in 1999, Mr. Hoes was a Vice President, Portfolio Manager, and Senior Metals Research Analyst at Scudder Kemper Investments in New York, covering global base metals, precious metals, and building materials. Before that, he served as a Precious Metals and Mining Analyst at Everen Securities. Mr. Hoes was also a Precious Metals Project Finance and Credit Analyst at Mocatta Metals Corp. He served at Pennzoil Oil and Gas as a development geologist, responsible for prospecting, drilling analysis, reservoir analysis, economic analysis, and budgeting. Mr. Hoes began his investment career in 1993. He has been a Director of Belo Sun Mining Corp. since December 6, 2010.
In 1995, he was ranked by the Wall Street Journal as the number one Analyst for performance in the steel industry stocks. In 1997, Mr. Hoes was ranked by Brendan Wood International as the most knowledgeable institutional investor in precious metals stocks. He holds a B.A. degree in Economics and Geology from Hobart College and an M.S. in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines.
DON MCCOY
Mr. McCoy has 35 years experience in Hard Rock mining and Surface mining in the West as well as interspersed with commercial drilling and blasting. His specialties include opening of small vein precious and base metal mines, drilling and blasting Surface and Underground mines and quarries, and Blast Vibration Monitoring.
Mr. McCoy currently serves as the Operations Manager for Quartz Hill Mining Company, which is involved in exploration and development projects. He also currently serves as the Rocky Mountain Division General Manager of A&A Drilling and Blasting, Inc. responsible for drilling and blasting operations in Colorado.
Previously, he served as the Safety Supervisor at Ames Construction, Inc. for the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mines. For the past 27 years, Mr McCoy has been the President of Geo-Kinetics Services, Inc. Geo-Kinetics Services, Inc., a mining and commercial blasting consulting company. They are currently contracted to a privately held, Canadian precious metal mining company. Their duties include project management, mine design, permitting, exploration project design, mine development and production, staff screening, hiring and corporate strategies. Their primary consulting specialties include mass rock blasting, seismographic monitoring, underground mine development and open-pit production.
Mr. McCoy received his Associates Degree from Glendale Community College with an emphasis on science and mathematics. Mr. McCoy is a member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME), International Society of Explosives Engineers (ISEE), Geological Society of America (GSA) and Colorado Mining Association (CMA).
SEBASTIAN WAHL
Based in Lima, Peru, Mr. Wahl is a motivated, analytical and result-driven business executive, partner and adviser with a successful background of establishing profitable business relations in Europe, the Middle East and South America. Sebastian currently operates as COO for British Mining company responsible for the construction, operation and management of a gold and silver processing plant and refinery in the north of Peru.
As a Director - Commodity Trader, Sebastian unites sellers and acts as broker between small and medium producers and institutional buyers with W. Merchant. W. Merchant is located in Lima, Peru, a country that is one of the leading producers of gold, silver, copper and zinc. They are focusing on precious metals such as gold and silver.
Mr. Wahl is also the current Director of international trade & relations at Mayfair & Bond in the United Kingdom who provides a strategic pathway for investor client relationships while providing capital investment and financial security through management.
Mr. Wahl is experienced in working with high profile decision makers and ultra high net worth individuals in the Swiss financial industry with the primary focus on capital placement and business development.
Mr. Wahl has excellent communication, negotiation, management, closing and turn around skills and the ability to develop mutually beneficial business opportunities, as well as maintain them. He enjoys being a part of business networks, as well as managing new business strategies and relationships. Sebastian maintains close personal and professional relationships in the banking, commodity and mining sector. He is a passionate relationship manager, business developer and strategist. Mr. Wahl holds a Graduate degree in finance and marketing from the Graduate Business School of Administration B.Sc. in Zürich, Switzerland, speaks Fluent in English, German (mother tongue), Swiss German and good at speaking French and Spanish. Sebastian enjoys cricket, organizing fund-raising activities and is a member of high profile alumni and social clubs.
JUAN PEDRO (J.P.) VAN HASSELT
Senior attorney specializing in Corporate Law, Mr. van Hasselt has over 20 years of experience developing businesses in leading U.S., Peruvian and multinational organizations. His experience includes mergers and acquisitions in Latin America and resulting taxation implications. He has a concentration in Corporate Law, Competition Law, Negotiations, Foreign Investment, Mining, Energy and Patent and Trademark Law. Mr. van Hasselt is bilingual, important in Cross-cultural negotiations, and has his Master in Comparative Law and experience in developing businesses in leading organizations in Peru and around the globe.
Mr. van Hasselt is currently the Manager of Legal Affairs (CLO) Chief Legal Officer for Haug, S.A., largest construction and metal mechanics company in Peru, servicing mainly the mining and oil industries, with responsibility on legal operations and corporate affairs. He is the main negotiator on all-important contracts with domestic and foreign clients. Mr. van Hasselt is the leading negotiations strategist with most large mining companies.
As Alumni Leader in Peru for The George Washington University (Washington, DC), Mr. van Hasselt directed the Global MBA to select Haug S.A. to conduct a Business Strategy program, which took place May '13.
Mr. van Hasselt holds his law degree from The George Washington University, National Law Center, Washington, D.C. He has been quoted and published in several articles and publications: ANDA News, Sintesis, and IP Worldwide. Mr. van Hasselt spoke in Lima Peru, 2007, on "Environmental Trusts" for the New York State Bar Association, along with many other speaking engagements. Mr. van Hasselt is fluent in Spanish and English and has a working proficiency with French.
About Affinity Gold Strategic Advisory Committee:
The Strategic Advisory Committee was founded in March 2014 for the purpose of engaging and providing the Company's Executive Management and Board of Directors with expert guidance, knowledge, insights into current and emerging trends and opportunities as well as access to key resources to further support the Company's overall business development and growth strategy. The Advisory Committee will further act as an external sounding board on a range of topics such as corporate social responsibility, sustainable development, water, energy, climate change, security and human rights. Additional information regarding the Strategic Advisory Committee can be found on the Company's website (www.affinitygold.com).
About Affinity Gold Corp.:
Affinity Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company engaged in the acquisition and development of near-term precious mineral production properties within Peru. Affinity Gold Corp.'s primary focus is on developing assets that have demonstrated historical production, contain documented and reliable data and can reasonably begin producing within 12-18 months at a cost of less than $900 per gold equivalent ounce.
For further information please refer to the Company's filings with the SEC on EDGAR available at www.sec.gov
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release may include "forward-looking statements" regarding Affinity Gold Corp., and its subsidiaries, business and project plans. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and section 21E of the United States Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Where Affinity Gold Corp. expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is believed to have a reasonable basis. However, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Affinity Gold Corp. does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.