Management

Miles Thompson BSc (Hons), FIMMM
Position: Chairman and CEO
Mr. Thompson was the original founder of Laras' Brazilian business and has been involved in mineral exploration in Brazil and South America for twenty years as a project generator, consultant and manager for both large and small companies. Mr. Thompson worked as a contractor to Lac Minerals and then Barrick between 1993 and 1996 and then worked with MRDI (now AMEC) on the privatization of CVRD in 1996. From 1997-1998 he was the Brazil representative for Newcrest and in 1999 became the Brazil representative for Gold Fields. In the same period, he provided property deals that established three Canadian-listed junior companies in Brazil. Mr. Thompson joined Gold Fields as an employee in 2000 initially as Senior Geologist then later Manager Business Development, in which role he initiated the acquisitions of the Cerro Corona copper-gold deposit in Peru and the Bolivar Gold assets in Venezuela. Based in Johannesburg (2004) and Oxford (2005) he worked on joint ventures and acquisitions in Africa, Canada, Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Mr. Thompson is a geology graduate of the University of Bristol (UK).

Andre Gauthier
Position: President

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).

Dr. Craig Bow PhD, MAIPG, FSEG
Position: Technical Advisor
Dr. Bow is a precious-metals-oriented geologist with over 25 years experience in North American and international exploration. Dr. Bow has worked for Gold Fields Exploration as a Senior Geologist and Exploration Manager, North America as well as for Newcrest Resources as Exploration Manager, South America. Prior to Newcrest, he directed the Cyprus Amax entry into Cu/Au exploration in north/central Peru and Colombia (Rio Blanco and Murindo porphyry projects) and contributed to the evolution of the StillwaterPGE project from an initial exploration stage to positive production decision. Dr. Bow is also a Director of Radius Gold.
  
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.

Paulo Fragomeni
Position: General Manager
Mr. Fragomeni was a founder of and is currently the Managing Director of Laras' Brazilian business, Pan Brazilian Mineração Limitada. Mr. Fragomeni is a geology graduate of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, with a post-graduate Diploma in Mining Engineering from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. He has over thirty years experience in Brazil as an investor, consultant and exploration manager, including work for the Brazilian Geological Survey, Sumitomo, Nippon Mining and Multiquartz, his own industrial minerals business.
  
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.