Raymond W. Threlkeld, President and CEO
Mr. Threlkeld is a seasoned mining professional with more than 30 years of experience in exploration, mine development, mine operations and executive management.
Mr. Threlkeld served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Western Goldfields Inc. from 2006 until May, 2009, where he led the team that acquired, developed and put into operation the Mesquite Gold Mine in California three months ahead of schedule and within 2% of budget. During his tenure the market capitalization of Western Goldfields rose from $12 million to over $300 million in less than 24 months. Western Goldfields was successfully merged into New Gold Inc. in June 2009.
Mr. Threlkeld also served as Chief Operating Officer of Silver Bear Resources Inc., where he was responsible for the geologic reforming of Silver Bear's Mangaziesky Project in Yakutia, Russia, which resulted in the discovery of a potential world-class silver mining district.
In 2004 and 2005 Mr. Threlkeld served as President of South American Operations for Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp., where he was responsible for the operation of the Cerro Bayo, Chile and Martha, Argentina silver-gold mines.
From 1996 until 2004, Mr. Threlkeld was employed with Barrick Gold Corp. in the capacity of country manager for Peru and Tanzania, rising to the position of Vice President of Project Development. During his tenure at Barrick he was responsible for placing more than 30 million ounces of gold resources into production in South America, Africa and Australia. Among his accomplishments with Barrick were the recognition and development of the Pierina Gold Mine, Peru and leadership of the teams that developed the Bulyanhulu Mine in Tanzania, the Veladero Mine in Argentina, the Lagunas Norte Mine in Peru and the Cowal Mine in Australia. Mr. Threlkeld also led the feasibility team which developed the Pascua-Lama gold-silver deposit, Chile/Argentina and the operation and eventual closure of the El Indio Mine, Chile. The closure program has set the standard for mine closures in Chile.
In addition to the management of more than $2 billion in gold mine development while with Barrick, Mr. Threlkeld oversaw the establishment of social development programs created in the respective countries which established Barrick as a world leader in mine-local community involvement.
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Nicholas J. Nikolakakis, MBA, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Nikolakakis is a financial professional with more than 15 years of corporate finance, accounting and senior management experience in the mining sector. Prior to joining Rainy River Resources in July 2010, he served as Vice President, Corporate Finance with Barrick Gold Corporation (“Barrick”). In that capacity he has been responsible for corporate finance activities, including capital raising in the public and private markets, management of the balance sheet and long term planning. During his tenure with Barrick, Mr. Nikolakakis has, among other things led Barrick’s project finance activities for its key development assets including a US$1 billion financing ; successfully negotiated a US$1.5 billion corporate revolving credit facility; served as a key member of the deal team which structured and executed numerous equity and debt capital markets transactions; and successfully negotiated key terms and conditions with a national government on a multi-billion dollar development project. Mr. Nikolakakis holds an Honours Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Geological Engineering from the University of Waterloo (1991) and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario (1994).
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Michael A. Mutchler, MBA, EJD, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Mutchler is a Mining Engineer with over 30 years of underground, open-pit, and mining project development experience. Mr. Mutchler comes to Rainy River Resources from Kinross Gold Corp., where he held the position of Vice President, Project Development Services. During his employment with Kinross, Mr. Mutchler also served as Operations Manager at the Round Mountain gold mine in Nevada, Mining Manager for the Cerro Casale feasibility study in Chile, and Project Manager for the Paracatu Mine Optimization feasibility study in Brazil. Prior to joining Kinross, Mr. Mutchler was employed by ASARCO Incorporated for 20 years. He rose through the ranks at ASARCO, from Mine Foreman to Underground Manager, and then to General Manager of the Tennessee Mines Division. Mr. Mutchler also held the position of Mine Manager at ASARCO's Ray Mine, a 90-million ton per year open-pit copper operation in Arizona. Mr. Mutchler has a degree in Mining Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines (1985), an MBA from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri (1998), and an Executive Juris Doctorate from Kaplan University, Concord School of Law in Los Angeles, California (2011).
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Kerry Sparkes, M.Sc., P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration
Mr. Sparkes is a registered Professional Geologist who received both his M.Sc. and B.Sc. (Hons) from Memorial University in Newfoundland and brings over 22 years of experience in the mineral exploration industry to the Rainy River management team. He has a proven track record and was instrumental in the discovery and delineation of the Voisey's Bay nickel deposits while working with Archean Resources Ltd. and Voisey's Bay Nickel Co. Ltd. Mr. Sparkes will be based in the Company's Toronto office.
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Gerald J. Shields, LL.B., Vice President and General Counsel
Mr. Shields is a principal of Providia Investment Group, which is engaged in the business of merchant banking. Prior to joining Providia in November of 2006 Mr. Shields spent approximately 27 years as a practicing lawyer, most recently as a partner with the Vancouver firm of Clark Wilson LLP where he was a member of the Corporate Finance and Securities Department. Mr. Shields has extensive experience in advising both public and private companies on a broad range of legal matters including equity financings, acquisitions and mergers, takeovers, commercial lending, commercial leasing, commercial leasing, corporate governance and general corporate and securities law. His clients included TSX and TSX-V listed companies as well as owner managed businesses. Mr. Shields was called to the Alberta bar in 1981 and the British Columbia Bar in 1987. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Western Ontario in 1979.
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Garett Macdonald, MBA, P.Eng., Vice President, Operations
Mr. Macdonald joined the Rainy River team in December 2009. Prior to joining Rainy River, Mr. Macdonald was Vice President of Operations for Canadian Arrow Mines Ltd. and held operating positions with Suncor Energy Inc. and Placer Dome Inc. Mr. Macdonald's experience has involved large open pit mining operations, civil construction and project evaluations. Mr. Macdonald is a mining engineer and has an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.
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Kyle Stanfield, P.Eng., Vice President, Environment and Sustainability
Mr. Stanfield brings extensive mining project permitting and environmental assessment experience to Rainy. Most recently he developed and led the mine permitting group at DST Consultants. He has particular expertise in the area of gold mining, having served as an environmental engineer with Placer Dome Inc. both at overseas and Canadian operations prior to joining a consulting practice in 2000. Mr. Stanfield served as Manager of Projects with Rescan Environmental Services where he successfully led a $10M environmental assessment of the Galore Creek copper-gold project in British Columbia. He also has extensive experience leading multi-disciplinary teams to complete environmental assessments and associated project permitting under the harmonized provincial and federal environmental assessment process. His experience includes working closely with First Nations communities in Northwestern Ontario, the Northwest Territories, and Northern British Columbia.
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Indi Gopinathan, P.Eng., MBA, CMA, Director of Investor Relations
Ms. Gopinathan brings extensive hands-on experience in both the capital markets and the mining industry to Rainy River. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Gopinathan served as an Equity Research Analyst with Scotia Capital Inc., where she specialized in the gold and precious metals sector. She also covered base metals companies as an Equity Research Associate with Versant Partners Inc. Ms. Gopinathan gained mining industry experience through her work with Falconbridge Ltd./Noranda Inc. (now Xstrata Plc.), where she last held the role of senior financial analyst within the copper group. A Professional Engineer, Ms. Gopinathan held positions early in her career as a project manager at the Brunswick Mine in Bathurst, NB and as a logistics specialist in Toronto. Ms. Gopinathan holds a B.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Queen's University. In addition, she holds the designation of Certified Management Accountant with CMA Ontario.
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Leo Berezan, Chairman of the Board
Mr. Berezan has established a successful career over the past thirty years in commercial real estate development and property management. He is an owner and manager of various real estate holdings, industrial warehouses and office buildings in British Columbia and in the Texas area. Mr. Berezan serves on the Company's Audit Committee.
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Dale C. Peniuk, Director
Mr. Peniuk holds a BComm from the University of British Columbia and is a chartered accountant.
Since early 2006, Mr. Peniuk has been providing financial consulting services to a number of mining companies, and currently serves on the board and as audit committee chair of Lundin Mining Corp. and Corriente Resources Inc., both of which are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and the American Stock Exchange in the United States. Until February, 2006, Mr. Peniuk was an assurance partner with KPMG's Vancouver office, specializing in the mining area, and the leader of KPMG's Vancouver office mining industry group.
In addition to his mining industry and auditing background, Mr. Peniuk has extensive experience assisting Canadian and foreign companies to register their securities in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere, and has been actively involved in the corporate finance area for his clients, including assistance with financings, due diligence on potential merger and acquisition opportunities, and divestiture transactions.
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Stuart A. Averill, P.Geo, Director
Mr. Averill is the founder and owner of Overburden Drilling Management Limited (ODM), a 30-employee heavy mineral laboratory and exploration service Company. Since 1974, Mr. Averill and his staff played critical roles in the discoveries of the Collins Bay "B" uranium mine, Saskatchewan, the Casa Berardi gold district, Quebec and in the original #17 and #433 gold zone discoveries within the Company's Rainy River Project, Ontario. In recognition for his outstanding contribution to the mining industry, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada and its members awarded Mr. Averill the Distinguished Service Award in 2003. Mr. Averill is an active member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Newfoundland, the Association of Applied Geochemists, Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum and an active, continuous member of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada for over thirty years.
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James Excell, Director
Mr. Excell is a Metallurgical Engineer with extensive senior executive, mine management and process engineering experience. His career includes more than three decades with BHP Billiton in Canada and internationally, where he was responsible for overseeing the management and development some of the world’s premier mining projects, including the EKATI diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, where he led the construction, commissioning and subsequent operation of the $700 million development. Mr. Excell has received numerous awards for his significant contributions to the business community at large and mining industry in particular, including Resource Person of the Year by the Alberta Chamber of Commerce, Businessman of the Year from the NWT Chamber of Commerce, and on behalf of BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc., the Viola R. MacMillan Developers Award for outstanding leadership in management and financing for exploration and development of mineral resources.
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Richard Pettit, Director
Mr. Pettit has over three decades of experience as a Chartered Accountant, principally with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PWC”). At PWC he was a senior partner of their Corporate Advisory and Restructuring practice and was responsible for managing large and complex corporate restructurings until he retired in June 2009. In addition to his experience in dealing with secured lenders and regulators, he has extensive director experience with volunteer boards and brings strong financial literacy as well as analytical and risk management skills to the Rainy Board. Mr. Pettit was awarded the designation of Certified Director by the Institute of Corporate Directors and is a Fellow of the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants.
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