The Team
Melanie Ross |
CA, AGIA, ACIS
Non-Executive Director & Company Secretary
Ms Ross is an accounting and corporate governance professional with over 18 years of experience in financial accounting and analysis, audit, business and corporate advisory services in public practice, commerce and state government. Ms. Ross is currently Director of a corporate advisory company based in Perth that provides corporate and other advisory services to publicly-listed companies. She is the Company Secretary for Celsius Resources Ltd, Great Boulder Resources Ltd and Ragusa Minerals Ltd. Ms. Ross holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Curtin University, West Australia and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand and an associate member of the Governance Institute of Australia.
Jason Bahnsen | BSc Eng (Mining) Queens University, Canada, MBA, University of New England, Australia
President & CEO
Mr. Bahnsen has over 30 years of experience in natural resources finance and operations in a broad range of corporate executive and mining engineering roles in the resources industry. He has held CEO and director roles for both private and publicly listed resource exploration and development companies including Northern Lights Resources Corp and Strata Minerals working in Canada, Australia and Indonesia. Previously, he had an eminent career serving as a resource investor banker for Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Bank, and Fox Davies Capital leading major international resource acquisition and equity market transactions. Working at Rio Tinto in business development, specifically, acquisition and divestments, Mr. Bahnsen was responsible for business planning and analysis of operation divisions along with the implementation of major mine feasibility projects. Before his investment banking career, Mr. Bahnsen held progressive roles at several Canadian and international companies in mining companies as mining planning engineer, project engineer and shift supervisor. Mr. Bahnsen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining from Queens University, Canada and a Master of Business Administration from the University of New England, Australia.
Sonny Bernales | BSc, P.Geo
Exploration Manager
Mr. Bernales has more than 35 years of experience working on grassroots to advanced-stage projects across a wide range of deposit types and commodities, primarily in gold and copper. Previously, he worked as for Mexican Gold Corporation as a Senior Geologist and Project Manager. Mr. Bernales has worked extensively in geologist roles for various mining companies in Canada, the Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, Myanmar, and Mexico. He holds a Bachelor of Science (geology) degree from Adamson University, in the Philippines, University of British Columbia and BCIT with certificates in the disciplines of geology and environmental engineering, and is a registered professional with the Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (EGBC).
Chris Hansen
Non-Executive Director
Mr Hansen is a multidisciplinary metals and mining professional, combining core technical fundamentals with a strong finance and project development mind-set. Having initially focused on building a solid technical foundation with industry majors such as Fortescue Metals Group and Barrick Gold, Mr Hansen later joined a preeminent London based mining private equity fund developing robust investment skills, project development expertise, market knowledge and strong industry relations. Since returning to Australia, Mr Hansen has leveraged his experience in both public and private markets, more recently having led mining business development activities for one of Australia’s largest private investment groups. Mr Hansen is currently the Managing Director & CEO of Greenstone Resources Limited. Mr Hansen holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Auckland, and an MSc in Mineral Economics from Curtin University.
Andrea Betti
Non-Executive Director
Ms Betti is an accounting and corporate governance professional, with over 25 years’ experience in accounting, corporate governance, finance and corporate banking. Ms Betti has a Bachelor of Commerce, Graduate Diploma in Corporate Governance, Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment, and a Master of Business Administration. She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand and an associate member of the Governance Institute of Australia. Ms Betti is currently a director of a corporate advisory firm based in Perth that provides corporate and other advisory services to public listed companies. Ms Betti has also held roles as Non-Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary for companies in the private and public listed sector, and continues to hold various roles in this capacity with publicly listed companies.