Management
Miles Thompson BSc (Hons), FIMMM
Position: Chairman, CEO & Director
Miles Thompson, a geology graduate of the University of Bristol (UK), is the founder of Lara Exploration and has over twenty-five years experience working on natural resource projects in South America and around the globe, including precious and base metals, industrial minerals, oil and gas and renewable energy. Prior to founding Lara in 2006, Miles was Manager of Business Development for South African gold miner, Gold Fields Ltd, where his responsibilities included working on joint ventures and acquisitions in the Americas, Africa and Eurasia. Miles is also the co-founder of Reservoir Capital Corp. (REO.V), a renewable energy developer and mineral exploration business based in southeast Europe.
Position: President & Director
Andre Gauthier has over 30 years experience in the mining exploration industry. He has a very high reputation as an international explorationist, and had expertise in South America. Previously, Mr. Gauthier headed Cambior's operations in the Andes and Peru for 9 years and participated in the discovery of their "La Arena" gold deposit, among multiple other successes in acquisitions, discoveries and developments of precious metal and base metal projects. Mr. Gauthier started his career as project geologist with Sequim, then Falconbridge Inc. for 6 years where he was involved in the Lac Short gold mine discovery. He joined Noramco Inc. in 1986 as Exploration Manager, and in 1989 became International Exploration Manager for Cambior.
Mr. Gauthier was a key component in the creation and implementation of the Peruvian Stock Exchange, and is broadly experienced in managing a public company focusing on mineral resource exploration. He has been a director of the Quebec prospector association, and the Peruvian mining society, as well as president of the exploration and investment committee.
Michael Bennell BSc, MSc, MAusIMM
Position: Vice President Exploration
Mr. Bennell, a graduate of the University of Tasmania ( Australia), with a M.Sc. from the Cambourne School of Mines (UK), was until June 2006 Exploration Manager at the Crixás Gold Mine in Goiás State for AngloGold Ashanti Brasil Ltda. Mr. Bennell has a track record of exploration success for both gold and base metals in Australia, Brazil and West Africa. In Brazil he made the initial discovery of the Boa Vista nickel deposit in Goiás. In West Africa, working for BHP between 1988 and 1999, he was directly involved in the discovery of five gold deposits: Belahouro and Essakan in Burkina Faso, Kubi and Mampon-Aboronye in Ghana and Tongon in the Ivory Coast and worked on many other deposits in West Africa including the gold deposits of Morila and Syama (both in Mali), Fayalala in Guinea and the Syola laterite nickel deposit ( Ivory Coast).
Christopher MacIntyre
Position: Vice President of Corporate Development
Mr. MacIntyre's primary responsibilities include corporate and project finance, strategic development, and corporate communications. His promotion from Manager of Corporate Development to Vice-President of Lara Exploration Ltd. followed his promotion to Vice President Corporate Development from the role of Manager, Corporate Development with Reservoir Capital Corp. TSXV:REO in April 2010 and after his experience with Universal Power Corp. TSXV:UNX from October 2008 until March 2010. Mr. MacIntyre holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the Queen's School of Business at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
Kim Casswell
Position: Corporate Secretary
Since 1994, Ms. Casswell has been the Corporate Secretary of several public companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Ms. Casswell has played an important role in the growth of these companies and is familiar with regulations governing public companies in several jurisdictions.
David Miles
Position: Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Miles is a C.A. with a B.Sc. in geology, and has over 25 years experience in a large multinational corporate environment, where he has held various positions in corporate finance. He has extensive experience in the mining industry, as the CFO for a number of junior exploration companies which are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and whose exploration projects are located in Europe, Asia, Africa and Central and South America.
Helio Ikeda
Position: Project Manager
Mr. Ikeda was a founder of and is currently the Technical Director of Laras' Brazilian business Pan Brazilian Mineração Limitada. Mr. Ikeda is an exploration geologist and environmental engineer with over forty years experience in Brazil as an investor, consultant and manager. Previous experience includes work for CVRD, Billiton, Barrick and consulting for a wide range of clients, large and small. He is currently involved in a variety of exploration and environmental projects in the Amazon region as either investor or contractor.
