ValOre Announces Appointment of Darren Klinck as Director; Ian Pritchard and Luis Azevedo as Strategic Advisors
June 1, 2021
Vancouver, B.C. ValOre Metals Corp. (“ValOre”; TSX‐V: VO; OTC: KVLQF; Frankfurt: KEQ0, “the Company”) today announced the appointment of Darren Klinck to the Board of Directors and Ian Pritchard and Luis Azevedo as strategic advisors. Brian McMaster and Luis Azevedo have resigned as Directors. These appointments add significant corporate and project related experience to the team responsible for advancing ValOre’s 100%-owned Pedra Branca Platinum Group Elements (“PGE”) Project in northeastern Brazil.
“With these additions, the growing strength of ValOre’s team is highly evident. We are very honoured to have Darren, Ian and Luis fulfilling roles where their respective skills and expertise will have an immediate tangible impact on the success of ValOre,” stated Jim Paterson, ValOre’s Chairman and CEO. “We thank Brian and Luis for their service as board members for the past two years as representatives of Jangada Mines PLC, a significant ValOre shareholder. As Jangada advances the neighbouring Pitombeiras Vanadium Project and Jangada’s shareholdings in the Company have reduced over time, it now makes sense for these two gentlemen to step down from ValOre’s Board of Directors. We look forward to celebrating project-related successes for both Pedra Branca and Pitombeiras over the coming years as these will directly benefit the shared local communities.”
Darren Klinck – Director
Mr. Klinck is an accomplished mining executive with a wide range of management experience working throughout Australasia & The Americas. He was President & CEO of Bluestone Resources following the acquisition of the Cerro Blanco gold project in Guatemala in 2017 where he led the team that financed and advanced the project through resource expansion, feasibility and engineering phases of the project development. Prior to that, Mr. Klinck spent more than ten years with OceanaGold as a member of the Executive Committee that achieved significant growth and business expansion to become a multi-mine, international gold mining company growing from a sub-$100M CAD market capitalization to greater than $3B CAD market capitalization. At the end of his tenure there, he was Executive Vice President & Head of Corporate Development for OceanaGold Corporation responsible for overseeing the capital markets as well as the mergers and acquisitions strategy. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Klinck has been instrumental in negotiating both equity and debt financing packages totalling more than $800m and has significant experience leading teams in emerging markets with a strong focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and community engagement programs as well as extensive government relations activities. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary.
Ian Pritchard – Advisor
Mr. Pritchard has over 30 years of experience in project and operations management in the mining industry both in North America as well as internationally, including, in particular, Brazil. Mr. Pritchard’s mining experience includes the management of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, engineering, procurement and construction management projects. He has held senior executive positions at various organizations worldwide including SNC-Lavalin and De Beers Canada. Importantly for ValOre, Ian maintains a strong working relationship with ValOre’s team in Canada and Brazil and serves as an excellent mentor for this dynamic group as they advance the Pedra Branca project.
Luis Azevedo – Advisor
Mr. Azevedo is a licensed lawyer and geologist with over 35 years of international experience and over 25 years of business and mining experience specifically in Brazil.
He is a Managing Partner at FFA Legal Ltda., Non-Executive Director of Harvest Minerals, Jangada Mining, GK Resources and Talon Metals and previously worked for Western Mining Corporation, Barrick Gold Corporation and Harsco Corporation. Assembled land packages in Brazil resulting in IPOs of Canadian companies, including: Rio Verde, Paringa, Avanco, and Beadell.
In 2019, he was appointed Vice President of the newly formed Mining Council of the National Confederation of Industry (“CNI”) in Brazil, a major industry association that includes over 27 federations, and 1,250 unions.
Qualified Person (QP)
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Colin Smith, P.Geo., ValOre’s QP and Vice President of Exploration.
About ValOre Metals Corp.
ValOre Metals Corp. (TSX‐V: VO) is a Canadian company with a portfolio of high‐quality exploration projects. ValOre’s team aims to deploy capital and knowledge on projects which benefit from substantial prior investment by previous owners, existence of high-value mineralization on a large scale, and the possibility of adding tangible value through exploration, process improvement, and innovation.
In May 2019, ValOre announced the acquisition of the Pedra Branca Platinum Group Elements property, in Brazil, to bolster its existing Angilak uranium, Genesis/Hatchet uranium and Baffin gold projects in Canada.
The Pedra Branca PGE Project comprises 39 exploration licenses covering a total area of 39,987 hectares (98,810 acres) in northeastern Brazil. At Pedra Branca, 5 distinct PGE+Au deposit areas host, in aggregate, a current Inferred Resource of 1,067,000 ounces 2PGE+Au contained in 27.2 million tonnes grading 1.22 g/t 2PGE+Au (CLICK HERE for ValOre’s July 23, 2019 news release). All the currently known Pedra Branca inferred PGE resources are potentially open pittable.
Comprehensive exploration programs have demonstrated the "District Scale" potential of ValOre’s Angilak Property in Nunavut Territory, Canada that hosts the Lac 50 Trend having a current Inferred Resource of 2,831,000 tonnes grading 0.69% U3O8, totaling 43.3 million pounds U3O8. For disclosure related to the inferred resource for the Lac 50 Trend uranium deposits, please CLICK HERE for ValOre's news release dated March 1, 2013.
ValOre’s team has forged strong relationships with sophisticated resource sector investors and partner Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. (NTI) on both the Angilak and Baffin Gold Properties. ValOre was the first company to sign a comprehensive agreement to explore for uranium on Inuit Owned Lands in Nunavut Territory and is committed to building shareholder value while adhering to high levels of environmental and safety standards and proactive local community engagement.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
“Jim Paterson”
James R. Paterson, Chairman and CEO
ValOre Metals Corp.
For further information about, ValOre Metals Corp. or this news release, please visit our website at valoremetals.com or contact Investor Relations at 604.653.9464, or by email at [email protected].
ValOre Metals Corp. is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: discoverygroup.ca
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This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Although ValOre believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements have been based on factors and assumptions concerning future events that may prove to be inaccurate. These factors and assumptions are based upon currently available information to ValOre. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results or events and cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. A number of important factors including those set forth in other public filings could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the future operations of ValOre and economic factors. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release and, except as required by applicable law, ValOre does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. ValOre undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of ValOre, or its financial or operating results or (as applicable), their securities.