2020 Early Confirmed Speakers

Providing creative social performance strategies and tactics to obtain social acceptance from local stakeholders.
At the core of my successful approach is to demonstrate that the benefits offset the impacts in the development of a mining exploration and production project. The social and environmental changes will render a better condition for all.

Ani Markova is a Senior Executive with over 20 years of capital markets involvement and more than 25 years of overall work experience with predominant focus on qualitative and quantitative financial analysis, capital allocation and marketing. Ms. Markova is an award-winning portfolio manager and has spent more than 15 years investing in the global mining sector and commodity markets while at AGF Investments Inc. Throughout her investment career, she has been engaged with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics and integration of such factors in investment decision-making processes. Ms. Markova is currently an independent director of SilverCrest Metals Inc. and Golden Star Resources.  Ms. Markova holds an MBA from George Washington University in Washington DC, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Canadian Investment Management (CIM) and Corporate Board International (CDI.D) designations.

David is the founder of Aerecura Capital an investment company that focusses on opportunities in the metals, mining and natural resources sector.
David has been involved in finance and investment in the mining sector since 2001, most recently as President and CEO of Aberdeen International, a publicly traded mining-focused investment company until 2016.
During 7 years with Aberdeen, David spearheaded a number of important investment initiatives, generating strong returns during the last bull market, and capitalizing on opportunistic transactions during the recent downturn for natural resources.

Diego is a seasoned investment banker with over 25 years of experience in the provision of a broad array of sophisticated financial and advisory services for natural resources.
Founding partner and MD of Natural Resources SA, an investment banking boutique, where Diego leads the Mining & Natural Resources practice. Since 2012, he has strengthened his focus on mining foreign investment helping foreign investors entering or currently working in Argentina, by screening opportunities, providing local support and direct interaction with the federal and provincial governments and regulators.
Since 2016 he has started to invest in precious and energy metals, where he combines his international approach as speaker in mining investment conferences, with a deep knowledge of mining provinces.
An active member of the Argentine institutional community, he is also the President of Auscham the Argentine Australian Chamber of Commerce (www.auscham.com.ar).
He was advisor to Board of Puente (www.puentenet.com.ar) in natural resources. Puente is the top argentine investment bank, awarded in 2017 as best capital market house in Latam by Global Finance.
Prior he worked as Corporate Finance Director for Criteria Investors (broker dealer).
He was also the Business Development Manager of KPMG Argentina, where he had an active role in advisory and M&A transactions.
Before he was the CFO of Recovery SA, a Soros Fund Management subsidiary, specialized in acquiring and servicing non performing assets across Latin America. (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Dominican Republic).
He has also worked as commercial banker at Bank of America and BBVA.
Education and Academic background
He is a Capital Markets Chartered Advisor from Argentine Banks Association.
Additionally, he holds a Master in SME Management from IAE, a Master in Finance and a Degree in Business Administration, both from Argentine Catholic University.
He is a visiting lecturer at the Master of Finance (since 2007), School of Economic Sciences, San Andres University.
Member of the Advisory Board of Mines & Money Americas and Mines & Money Melbourne.
Diego is member of the Energy, Resource Efficiency & Sustaintability task force of the B20 Argentina, business chapter of the G20
Diego is speaker in a wide array of international mining conferences, like Mines & Money Americas, IMARC Melbourne, Latin America Downunder, Mining Cumbre, etc.

Mr. Nolan is Vice President, Government Affairs, for Noront Resources, a mining company developing a nickel/copper deposit in the “Ring of Fire” region of Northern Ontario. He is also a board member of a diamond exploration company with active properties in Canada and Africa, and the president of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada — the first Aboriginal person to hold that post.
As a youth growing up in the Missanabie Cree First Nation (from the Bear clan), Mr. Nolan experienced the positive impact that gold mining had for members of his community. Later in life, he would serve nine years as Chief.
Throughout his long and varied career as a prospector, entrepreneur, politician and executive, Mr. Nolan has learned first-hand the importance of working closely with Indigenous communities that were in close proximity to the projects he was working on. He made it a priority to hire and train a local labour force, creating direct benefits for the community and for his company.
Today, Mr. Nolan is considered one of the leading experts in building relations between indigenous communities and exploration companies in Canada and Latin America. He continues to advise many companies on best practices for building positive working relationships with indigenous communities. He is committed to continuing greater dialogue between communities and the mineral industry here at home and internationally.

Gord joined IAMGOLD in December of 2007 and brings over 20 years of industry experience to the position of COO. In his previous role, Gord was responsible for technical management and development of three major copper projects in South America as well as oversight of the large scale Antamina and Collahuasi mines. Prior to this role, Gord served as the General Manager and Operations Manager at Lomas Bayas in Chile and Antamina in Peru as well as holding Engineering Management positions at the Brunswick and Bell Mines in Canada. He also spent several years as a Manager within the Business Development group for a multinational metals producer and provided technical analysis for global acquisition opportunities. Gord graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1987 with a Double Major in Mining and Mineral Process Engineering.

Mr. Bebek is Executive Chairman and Director to the Company. Mr. Bebek has over 18 years experience in financing, foreign negotiations, and acquisitions in the mineral exploration industry. His understanding of the capital markets and ability to position, structure and finance companies that he has been associated with has been instrumental in their successes. Mr. Bebek was formerly the President, CEO and cofounder of Cayden Resources Inc., which was sold to Agnico Eagle Mines Limited for $205 million in November 2014, and a co-founder of Keegan Resources Inc. (now Asanko Gold Inc.). Mr. Bebek is a cofounder, Co-Chairman and Director of Torq Resources Inc. (formerly, Stratton Resources Inc.) and serves on the advisory board of Gold Standard Ventures Corp.

Jamie’s asset management career commenced in 1999 after several years as a design engineer within the industrial manufacturing sector. He has extensive experience across a variety of mandates covering the North American and Global marketplace, including resources and precious metals, all-cap and small-cap, hedge funds and alternative investments. In addition, Jamie has managed various institutional mandates for clients based in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North American. Throughout his career Jamie has been acknowledged for his achievements, winning numerous awards for the investment performance of the various mandates he has managed and co-managed. Jamie holds a MSc Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), as well as an Honours B.Comm from McMaster University and a diploma in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Mohawk College in Canada

Jon is a 14-year veteran of Bay Street, spending his time there exclusively on the sell side. Originally, he trained as a physicist, and worked as a post-doc at the Chalk River Nucleat Laboratories of AECL and with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Jon completed his MBA at Queen’s University with an emphasis in marketing. He worked in the areas of critical materials with Byron Capital Markets in Toronto from 2009 to 2013, and has become a recognized expert in such areas as lithium, the rare earths, fluorspar and tin. Jon has been an invited speaker internationally on all of these topics, and more. His technical background includes work on rechargeable batteries, fuel cells and both wind and solar power .
Basically, Jon is a research scientist who enjoys grappling with and pulling maximum value out of imperfect information. And if he can help it, this is the only time you will see him wearing a tie.

Justin Machin is a Vice President at Denham Capital, responsible for analysis, origination, structuring, execution and monitoring of its Mining investments. He rejoined Denham in 2018 and has 11 years of experience in the Mining Sector.

In addition to his prior experience in Mining Private Equity at Denham, Justin spent several years with Waterton Global Resource Management in Toronto. Previously, he also spent a number of years in Mining Investment Banking, working as an Associate in the Mining Mergers & Acquisitions Team at Standard Chartered and as an Analyst in the Mining Corporate Finance Team at National Bank Financial.

Justin holds an Honours Business Administration degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

Keith Spence is President and Partner of Global Mining Capital, which is engaged in Private Equity investments and M&A in the mining sector. The company arranges M&A transactions and co-invests with Asian and other partners in mining projects globally. An investment banker, he held senior positions in mining finance and capital markets at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Capital Markets and Bank of Montreal (BMO) Capital Markets. He has been involved in numerous international financings.
A Geologist, he has worked in the Canadian North, China and internationally. He is a member of the Board of PDAC and was also on the international Board of China Mining, and the Canadian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (CIM). He is quoted in international press and media on international mining investments. He has a Hons. B.Sc. in Geology from Western University, an MBA from the Ivey School of Business; and is a graduate of the Global Management program at Harvard University.

Mr. Godoy joined Newmont in 2012 as Group Executive, Technical Services and was promoted to Vice President, Resource Evaluation and Mine Planning in 2017. With over 20 years of experience, Mr. Godoy holds a PHD in Strategic Mine Planning from the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre in Australia. He and his team lead the development of resource models, mine plans and ore control strategies that maximize ore body value and consistently deliver predictable outcomes to the business across the Newmont value chain. As the regional leader of Ore Evaluation Services at Golder Associates, he previously led the provision of Resource and Reserve Estimation for the mining industry in South America. He served on their board and managed a series of mining feasibility studies for clients such as BHPB, Codelco, and Antofagasta Minerals.

Maria Smirnova has 20 years of investment experience. She first joined Sprott Asset Management LP in 2005 as a research associate supporting the metals and mining team. She currently serves as Lead Portfolio Manager of Sprott Silver Equities Class and Co-Portfolio Manager of Sprott Gold and Precious Minerals Fund. Prior to joining Sprott, Maria served as a Product Development Analyst at Fidelity Investments. Ms. Smirnova holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto. She has been a CFA® charterholder since 2002.

Founded in 2006, Pacific Road is a mining focused investment manager headquartered out of Sydney Australia. Pacific Road manages two institutional private equity funds with total commitments of $800 million. Having made over 20 public and private investments into gold, coal, base metals, diamonds, industrial minerals, and mining service companies, Pacific Road is focused on control-oriented strategies with substantial potential for long-term cash flow generation. Pacific Road is an industry leader in Responsible Investment, and a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.
As Managing Partner of Pacific Road, Matt is involved with all aspects of investment operations. Prior to joining Pacific Road, Matt had two decades of experience building, buying, financing and selling mines and mining companies.
Matt holds an MBA from Wharton and a Bachelors of Geology from Princeton. Grandson of a metallurgist, Matt got his start in mining as a geology field hand during college.

Michelle Romero is Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability for Pretium Resources Inc. with responsibility for community affairs, ESG, enterprise risk management, and human resources.  Ms Romero joined Pretivm in 2011 as Director, Investor Relations shortly after it was formed to advance the high-grade gold Brucejack project in northwestern British Columbia.  Over the next nine years Brucejack evolved from early-stage exploration through permitting, financing and construction to ultimately become one of Canada’s most profitable mines.  As a member of the management team during this period, Ms Romero’s duties expanded in scope and scale to support the ramp up to commercial operations and a workforce of 1,000 employees.  She was responsible for the negotiation of Pretium’s community agreements, and establishing the platform for community relations.  Ms Romero holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and a Master of Library Science degree from Rutgers University, and the Chartered Director (C.Dir.) designation.

As a C-Suite executive and sustainability advisor to the global mining industry, I help companies navigate the complex external landscape associated with running a successful mining business.

I’ve worked in the trenches in some of the most complicated jurisdictions in the world and in the boardroom for the world’s leading gold mining company.

I am a pioneer of ESG Management, with superior networking and leadership skills. I am able to build deep, trusting relationships with diverse stakeholders.

Every mining operation is different. I have a track record of designing pragmatic, context-specific sustainability strategies and partnerships which reduce overall risk, improve business outcomes and create a strong and durable social license to operate.

Ultimately, I provide company executives, Boards and investors with the confidence that their mining investments are protected and their sustainability programs are creating value.

Dr. Remi Piet is a Senior Director at Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) and co-leader of the firm’s Natural Resources and Infrastructure Practice. Remi leads political and other risk analysis activities for the mining, energy and infrastructure sectors in Latin America. Be it a snapshot country and counterparty risk analysis ahead of an asset purchase or the on-going monitoring of on-the-ground risks for miners and energy players, Remi leads the design and execution of bespoke engagements for natural resources companies and investors.
Remi has worked on projects in more than 60 countries across Latin America, Asia and Africa and taught at several universities including the University of Miami, HEC (Paris) and Qatar University. In addition, for nearly a decade Remi led the development of a French multinational in Latin America, overseeing operations in South and Central America as well as in the Caribbean. He has traveled and worked in 24 LatAm markets since 2002.
Remi received a PhD in Political Economy from the University of Miami, a MBA from Laval University (Canada) and a Masters in Economics for Developing and Transitioning countries from Universite Paris La Sorbonne.

Anthony (Tony) Makuch holds a Bachelor of Science Degree (Honours Applied Earth Sciences) from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, and both a Masters of Science Degree in Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration from Queen´s University in Ontario. He is a professional engineer (Ontario) with over 35 years of management, operations and technical experience in the mining industry, having managed numerous projects in Canada and the United States from advanced exploration through production.

Prior to joining Kirkland Lake Gold, Mr. Makuch was President and CEO at Lake Shore Gold Inc., from 2008 until its acquisition by Tahoe Resources on April 1, 2016, where he became the Executive Vice-President and President of Canadian Operations. Between January 2006 and March 1, 2008, Mr. Makuch was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for FNX Mining Company Inc. From 1998 to December 2005 he held progressively senior positions with Dynatec Corporation, including VP, Operations. From 1992 to 1998, Mr. Makuch worked with Kinross Gold Corporation at a number of their North American operations; which included his role as General Manager of the Kirkland Lake Operations at the Macassa Mine and Timmins Operations – Hoyle Pond Mine.