Leadership Team
Strategic visionaries dedicated to the long-term growth of the mining sector through disciplined investment and structural innovation.
Board of Directors
Rajesh Sharma, ICD.D
President, CEO & Director
Mr. Sharma brings extensive global leadership experience spanning mining, mineral exploration, metals, and international trade. Throughout his career, he has successfully led large-scale mining ventures, executed numerous investment and acquisition transactions, developed strategic stakeholder partnerships, and managed international businesses across multiple jurisdictions. He has lived and worked in Asia, Africa, North America, and Europe, and has served on the boards of numerous public and private companies. He held several senior leadership positions within the Tata Group, including serving as Chief Executive Officer and Director of various exploration, mining, and investment subsidiaries of Tata Steel in Canada and Africa. He also served as Executive-in-Residence at Investissement Québec, where he supported strategic investment and business development initiatives. Mr. Sharma holds engineering and management degrees and has earned the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.
Blake Rhodes
Chairman & Director
Mr. Rhodes is a seasoned mining executive with over 25 years of global legal, operational and corporate development experience. Mr. Rhodes retired from Newmont Corporation in 2022 where he served as Senior VP, Strategic Development, and as member of the executive leadership team. During his distinguished tenure at Newmont, he held several senior positions, including General Counsel, Senior VP of Indonesia, Senior VP Strategic Development, overseeing M&A. Mr. Rhodes played a key part in shaping Newmont’s global portfolio and executing complex, large-scale international transactions. Mr. Rhodes brings extensive transactional and international business expertise across key mining jurisdictions including Jakarta, Adelaide, Singapore and North America. He played a central role in several of Newmont’s most significant strategic initiatives, including the acquisition of Goldcorp Inc. and formation of the Nevada Gold Mines JV. Currently serves on the Board of Triple Flag Precious Metals Corp.
Ashwath Mehra
Director
Mr. Mehra is an economist by training and received his BSc in Economics and Philosophy from the London School of Economics. Mr. Mehra is the CEO of the ASTOR Group, a private investment and advisory business, working in the fields of Mining, Tech, Biotech and Real Estate. From 1990 to 2000, Mr. Mehra served as a Senior Partner at Glencore International AG where he ran the nickel and cobalt businesses and was responsible for establishing Glencore's operations in India. Mr. Mehra is also director of several companies, both public and private in both executive and non-executive roles, he was the co-founder of GT Gold Corp., which was sold to Newmont in 2021. Mr. Mehra is currently Lead Independent Director at Collective Mining Ltd. since 2021.
Charles Tarnocai, Ph.D
Director & Technical Advisor
Mr. Tarnocai is an experienced mining geologist and technical leader with a strong international track record in mineral exploration and project development. He served as a Director of GT Gold Corp, where he chaired the Technical Committee, bringing strategic insight to one of British Columbia’s premier exploration companies. Previously, Charles was Vice President, Corporate Development at Alamos Gold Inc., leading project evaluation, identification and acquisition initiatives across multiple jurisdictions. Earlier in his career he held the role of Chief Geologist at Oro Gold Resources Ltd. and was a Research Geologist with Placer Dome Inc. He holds a B.Sc. in Geology from Brock University and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Ottawa. Mr. Tarnocai currently the CEO and Director of Goldera Exploration Ltd., the spin-out entity of ERDA’s previously held exploration assets.
Francis MacDonald
Director
Mr. MacDonald brings over 15 years of experience in the mining industry as an exploration geologist by training and as a public markets executive. He currently holds the position of CEO and Director of Li-FT, a mineral exploration company engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of lithium pegmatite projects located in Canada. Mr. MacDonald was a Co-Founder and the Executive Vice President of Kenorland Minerals, a North American-focused exploration company that generates greenfield exploration opportunities across different commodities. Prior to co-founding Kenorland Minerals in 2016, Mr. MacDonald spent the majority of his career as a geologist with Newmont Mining Corporation where he was involved in regional exploration programs in Ethiopia, covering a large portion of prospective geology in the Tigray region, as well as in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, and the Hope Bay Project in Nunavut, Canada.
Jasper Bertisen
Director
Mr. Bertisen is a seasoned mining executive with over two decades of leadership experience in global mining investment and governance, with a strong background in the evaluation of mining projects from both technical and financial perspectives. He spent most of his career in mining private equity with Resource Capital Funds (RCF), overseeing due diligence and strategy execution for investments spanning exploration to production stage assets across various commodities and jurisdictions. As a former Partner at RCF, he oversaw an $800 million portfolio and contributed to more than $3.5 billion in capital raised. In addition to serving as investment committee member with RCF, he currently serves on the board of directors or advisory board of several mining and mining technology companies. Adjunct Professor at the Colorado School of Mines and dual M.Sc. degrees in Mining Engineering and Mineral Economics.
Arnab Kumar De
CFO
Mr. De, CPA, CGMA, CMA, MBA, is a strong seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience in financial management, financial planning, business optimization and strategy development. He is a principal of Resurgent Montreal Inc., a financial management consulting firm. Mr. De provides CFO and financial advisory services to several public and private companies in the mineral exploration sector among others.Â
Tara Asfour
Director of Investor Relations
Ms. Asfour is an experienced executive consultant with over 13 years of management, investor relations, communications and marketing experience, specialized in capital markets. As CDO for FairGreen Capital Partners and Managing Director of its Canadian division, Ms. Asfour has led over US$550 million worth of fundraising and strategic development initiatives. MBA, Certificates in Financial Markets from Yale and Alternative Investments from HBS. Ms. Asfour holds the Institute for Governance (IGOPP) Certification in Governance, Ethics in Business Environment and Corruption Prevention.Â
Management & Advisors
Sébastien Vézina
Corporate Secretary
Partner at BCF Business Law specializing in securities law, mining and natural resources, with experience spanning the full mining lifecycle. He advises public companies, boards and investors on financings, M&A, governance and strategic transactions, with extensive expertise in Québec’s mining sector.
Enrico Di Cesare
Titanium Technology Lead
Mr. Di Cesare holds a vast set of expertise related to mining, mineral processing, sales and operational management, having previously held the VP position with Danieli Wean United. Mr. Di Cesare has expertise in commercialization and implementation of new technologies; holds patent-filed IP for iron-making and ferro alloys, Ti-feedstocks and Ti-metal (3D printing quality) and lithium technologies.
Debra Chapman
Advisory Board
Ms. Chapman has over 35 years of experience in administrative and accounting services. Ms. Chapman has served as a director and senior officer for various public and private organizations. From 1991 to 2013, Ms. Chapman served as director of Fancamp, while also serving as Chief Financial Officer since 2010.Â
Dean Journeaux
Advisory Board
Mr. Journeaux is co-founder of NML and served successively as COO, President, CEO and Executive Vice Chairman, until a reverse takeover by Abaxx Technologies Inc. Mr. Journeaux held various engineering, operations and management positions with Quebec Cartier Mining Company (now Arcelor Mittal Mines Canada), MET-CHEM Canada Inc. and Director of Mag One Products Inc. BA of Engineering (Mining) McGill University. Mr. Journeaux is Member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, Association of Iron and Steel Engineers, SME, CIM.
François Auclair, M.Sc., P.GEO
Qualified Person
Professional geologist (PGeo) with +35 years experience, held numerous senior and strategic positions including CEO and Co-Founder of Algold Resources, CEO of Nimini Gold, GM of Tasiast SA. P.Geo, M.Sc., QP under National Instrument 43-101
Kit Spring, CFA
Strategic Advisor - Investments
Seasoned executive and investor, Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager at Bonanza Kings Capital, worked at EMX Royalty, over 20 years in institutional equity research (Morgan Stanley, Stifel, Morningstar, Neuberger & Berman)