MANAGEMENT
PETER LAIPNIEKS - CEO; Director
Peter has over 40 years of experience as a management consultant, senior government official, president, and officer of numerous public companies. He is presently CEO of Westkam Gold Corp. (TSXV: WKG) He has implemented investor relations strategies for over 30 public companies. As an Executive Director with the Government of British Columbia, he was responsible for three branches with an annual operating budget of $13,000,000 and 100 employees in five cities. Peter has a Masters degree from University of Alberta
COLE MCCLAY - President; Director
Mr. McClay has over 10 years of senior management experience including in the development of corporate strategy, operations, and marketing. He has been instrumental in raising venture capital and providing consulting on operations for international mining, exploration, agriculture, and healthcare businesses. Cole has supervised management teams from business start-up through to whole company acquisition. Mr. McClay is currently the CEO of Benjamin Hill Mining Corp. (CSE: BNN) and sits on the Board of Directors for Tarachi Gold Corp. (CSE: TRG). He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Royal Roads University.
BORIS CORDOVEZ VARGAS - Country Manager – Colombia
Mr. Cordovez was a member of the Board of Directors of the Federation of Colombian Coal Producers (FENALCARBON) for 10 years, and currently sits on the board of the Association of Railway Engineers of Colombia (AIFC). Boris was the operator of a thermal coal mine in Cesar, Colombia with CERROL S.A. for 3 years, and founder of C&ENER SAS, a company focused on the development of mining and energy projects. Together with Vale Do Rio Doce, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, they explored nearly 800,000 hectares in Colombia for various resources. He has acted as a consultant for infrastructure projects such as Puerto Sinú, Alternate Airport of Villavicencio. He studied International Trade at Tadeo University and completed is Master's Degree in Multimodal transport.
CAMILO CORDOVEZ AMADOR - VP Finance
Camilo has been in investing banking for the last 14 years as Managing Partner of PrimeCap S.A.S. and Investment Banking Associate of Yun Capital, NYC. He brought projects to the firms in sectors such as energy, transportation, agriculture, infrastructure, and real estate. He worked as an investment advisor in equity funds for Professional de Bolsa in Colombia, with AUM of $700m. With Colombian Mineral Resources PLC made a listing at ISDX London for US$ 75M market cap. Most recently with C&ENER S.A. as a financial consultant, commodity broker as manager of business development in Mining and Infrastructure. Camilo holds a Bachelor degree in Finance and Business from the EU University of Barcelona. He was certified in International Corporate Finance from Columbia Business School NYC and Private Equity Funds from EAFIT University.
JUAN CARLOS ZÚÑIGA VERA - Technical Advisor
Geologist specialized in management and development of geological-mining projects. 32 years of experience in the entire value chain of the industry, Titling, Formalization, exploration, mapping, and auditing in government, private and multinational companies. He holds a Master of Science Degree in Geology from the Krivoi Rog Ukrainian University and MBA from Santo Tomas University of Colombia and other studies in evaluation of mining resources, Minex, Arcgis 10, English, NLP, Diploma in research and development, project evaluation, appraisals and mining environmental legislation.
LORNE WARNER - Special Advisor
Lorne Warner is a registered professional geologist with over 30 years’ experience in underground and open pit mining mineral exploration. He has worked for Noranda Exploration and Placer Dome Inc. and has been the Vice President of several junior mining companies. Lorne is based in British Columbia but has worked throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. Lorne is currently a Director, and VP Exploration for Tarachi Gold Corp. in Mexico and a Director of Indigo Exploration Inc. working in West Africa. Lorne graduated from the University of Alberta in 1986 with a BSc. in Geology.
GERMAN ANDRES GARCIA QUINTERO - Mining Engineer
Mining Engineer from the Francisco de Paula Santander University (UFPS), Cúcuta Norte de Santander, Specialized in environmental engineering from the Industrial University of Santander (UIS), Bucaramanga Santander, with more than 6 years of experience in the exploitation of underground coal mines. He worked for coal producing companies in the Norte Santander region, holding positions as resident mining engineer and then mine manager for Minas La Aurora, technical advisory engineer for the Cooprocarcat mining cooperative for more than 3 years reaching production ceilings of 5000 tons / month.
ELVIRA VERA BOLAÑO - Social And Environmental Manager
Social worker graduated from the Industrial University of Santander (UIS), Specialist in Family Law-National University of Colombia (UNAL). With more than 11 years of work experience in which she has been able to perform in different areas of Social Work within the public and private sector, Elvira has led community processes in different municipalities of the departments of Santander, Meta and Magdalena Medio area. Much of the professional experience has been in the coordination of social, educational and community projects for the development of projects in oil and mining, in which interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work teams have been led with excellent results and positive community impact. Before joining AION MINING, she has worked as a social professional in the company Business and Quality Services, in the environmental compensation project of the company Ecopetrol S.A for the Orinoquía region.
DANIEL ESCOBAR PINZON - Junior Geologist
Junior Geologist graduated from the Industrial University of Santander, with experience in the Oil and Gas industry and with skills developed in Structural Geology, Field Geology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Sedimentology and Petrophysics. He has skills in Technical and GIS geological software. In 2020 he was on the winning team of the Imperial Barrel Award regional Latin America and the Caribbean (IBA LACR) organized by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). He has participated in different geology courses and symposia where he has developed different technical and soft skills. He currently works as a Junior Geologist for AION MINING CORP.