Managemenrt

& Directors

GIFFORD A. DIETERLE,
President, Treasurer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company.

Mr. Dieterle was appointed President in September 1999. He holds an M.S. Degree in Geology from New York University. Prior to that, he was lecturer in geology at the City University of N.Y. (Hunter Division) and was a consulting geologist engaged in the geological evaluation of oil and mineral properties.

JOHN BROWNLIE,
Chief Operating Officer and Director,

JOHN BROWNLIE has worked for us since May 2006 and is in charge of supervising the construction, start-up and operation of the mine. Mr. Brownlie provided team management for mining projects requiring technical, administrative, political and cultural experience over his 28 year mining career. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Brownlie was a consultant providing mining and mineral related services to various companies including SRK, Oxus Mining plc and Cemco Inc. From 1995 to 2000, he was the General Manager for the Zarafshan-Newmont Joint Venture in Uzbekistan, a one-million tonne per month heap leach plant which produced over 400,000 ounces of gold per year. From 1988 to 1995, Mr. Brownlie served as the Chief Engineer and General Manager for Monarch Resources in Venezuela, at both the El Callao Revemin Mill and La Camorra gold projects. Before that, was a resident of South Africa and associated with numerous mineral projects across Africa. He is also a mechanical engineer and fluent in Spanish.

JEFFREY W. PRITCHARD,
Executive Vice President, Secretary and Director,

Joined the Company in 1997. He has been in the marketing/public relation’s field since receiving a Bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York. Jeff previously served as the Director of Marketing for the New Jersey Devils, and as the Director of Sales for the New York Islanders. He also was an Executive Vice President with Long Island based Performance Network, a marketing and publishing concern.

ROBERT RONINGEN,
Senior Vice President, Director,

Has been engaged in the practice of law as a sole practitioner since 1962 and is a Minnesota licensed, self-employed consult geologist in Duluth, Minnesota. He has worked in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Guatemala as a geophysicist. He has earned both a B. A. in Geology and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Minnesota.

IAN A. SHAW,
Director,

Is a member of our Board of Directors and the Board’s Audit Committee. He has been Managing Director of Shaw & Associates since 1993. Shaw & Associates is a corporate services consulting firm specializing in corporate finance, regulatory reporting and compliance with clients that are typically public companies in the resource industry. Since April 2006, Mr. Shaw has been the Chief Financial Officer of Centenario Copper Corporation, a corporation with copper properties in Chile. From 2000 to 2003, he was Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Defiance Mining Corporation (formerly Geomaque Explorations Inc.), a company operating gold mines in Mexico and Honduras. Mr. Shaw has over 30 years of experience in the mining industry during which time he was an officer of the following companies: Blackhawk Mining Inc., Curragh Inc. and Sherritt Gordon Mines Inc. He currently is a director or officer of the following public companies: Metallica Resources Inc., Pelangio Mines Inc. and Unor Inc. Mr. Shaw is a Chartered Accountant and received a B. Comm. from Trinity College at the University of Toronto in 1964.

JOHN POSTLE,
Director,

is a member of our Board of Directors and the Board’s Audit Committee. He is Consulting Mining Engineer associated with Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., an entity in which he was a founding partner in 1985 and a former principal. Mr. Postle provides mining consulting services to a number of international financial institutions, corporations, utilities and law firms. He worked for Cominco Ltd (1965-1970), Falconbridge Ltd (1970-1975) and D.S. Robertson and Associates (1976-1985) at a number of open pit and underground operations in both operating and planning capacities. Mr. Postle is a Past Chairman of the Mineral Economics Committee of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (“CIM”), and was appointed a Distinguished Lecturer of the CIM in 1991. In 1997, he was awarded the CIM Robert Elver Mineral Economics Award. He is currently Chairman of a CIM Standing Committee on Ore Reserve Definitions. Mr. Postle has a B.A.Sc. Degree in Mining Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 1965 and a M.Sc. Degree in Earth Sciences from Stanford University in 1968.

MARK T. NESBITT,
Director,

is a member of our Board of Directors and the Board’s Audit Committee. Since 1988, he has been a natural resources attorney in Denver, Colorado specializing in domestic and international mining transactions, agreements, negotiations, title due diligence, corporate and general business counsel. Mr. Nesbitt has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver School of Law's since 2001, is an active member of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, having served as a Trustee from 1987 to 1993, and from 2003 to the present, co-chairman of the Foundation's Mining Law and Investment in Latin America, and Chairman of the same institute in 2003, and Chairman of the Foundation's first Land and Permitting Special Institute in 1994. He also has served continuously over the years on the Foundation's Special Institutes Committee, Long Range Planning Committee, and numerous other committees. Mr. Nesbitt is a member of the International, American, Colorado and Denver Bar Associations, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, International Mining Professionals Society (Treasurer since 2000), and the Colorado Mining Association. He is also a former Director of the Colorado Mining Association and past President of the Rocky Mountain Association of Mineral Landmen. He received a B.S. degree in Geology from Washington State University in 1968 and a J.D. from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1975.

ROGER A. NEWELL,
Director,

has been in the mining industry for over 30 years. Previously, he served as Exploration Manager/Senior Geologist for the Newmont Mining Company and later served as the Exploration Manager for Gold Fields Mining Company. And then Vice President Development, for Western Exploration Company. He holds a Ph.D. in mineral exploration from Stanford University.

CHRISTOPHER M. CHIPMAN,
Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Chipman has been our Chief Financial Officer since March 1, 2006. Since November 2000, Mr. Chipman has been a managing member of Chipman & Chipman, LLC, a consulting firm that assists public companies with the preparation of periodic reports required to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. The firm also provides outsourced financial resources to clients assisting in financial reporting, forecasting and accounting services. Mr. Chipman is a CPA and, from 1996 to 1998, he was a senior accountant with the accounting firm of Grant Thornton LLP. Mr. Chipman was the Controller of Frontline Solutions, Inc., a software company (March 2000 to November 2000); a Senior Financial Analyst for GlaxoSmithKline (1998-2000); and an Audit Examiner for Wachovia Corporation (1994-1996). He received a B.A. in Economics from Ursinus College in 1994. He is a member of the American and Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

SCOTT HAZLITT,
Vice President – Mine Operations,

has been a geologist since 1974. He has been providing geological consulting services to the Company since November 1999. From 1995 to 1999, he was chief Geologist for Getchell Gold Corp. Mr. Hazlitt received a B.S degree in Geology from Fort Lewis College in 1974 and a M.S. degree in Economic Geology from Colorado State University in 1985.