Board of Directors

Richard Warke

Richard Warke is a global business executive with more than 35 years of experience in the international resource sector. In 2005, Mr. Warke founded the Augusta Group of Companies which founded, managed, and funded three world class mineral discoveries until 2018. Ventana Gold, discovered the La Bodega gold deposit in Colombia, now reported to host over 10Moz of gold, Augusta sold the company for $1.3B in 2011. Augusta Resource advanced the Rosemont copper project in Arizona through drilling, feasibility and permitting to become one of the largest copper deposits in United States, it was sold for $667M in 2014. Arizona Mining discovered the Taylor deposit and grew the Hermosa-Taylor deposit into one of the top five primary zinc deposits globally, largest in United States, prior to its sale for $2.1B in 2018.

Currently, Augusta Group is comprised of private businesses and public companies that currently includes Titan Mining Corporation, Augusta Gold Corp. and Highlander Silver Corp. Titan Mining operates a zinc mine in New York State, Augusta Gold is developing a gold mine in a prolific mining district in Nevada, and Highlander Silver Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of exceptional silver-gold-polymetallic projects in the Central Andes. In addition, in 2017 Mr. Warke co-founded Equinox Gold which has now become a mid-tier gold producer and one of the fastest growing gold companies in the Americas growing to over a $3.0B market cap with mines in US, Mexico and Brazil.

During the course of his career, Mr. Warke has established a reputation for building successful companies by generating pioneering transactions in the mining sector through prudent investing in earlier stages of the mine cycle. His specialization is surfacing value through award-winning exploration efforts and rapidly advancing projects with consistent access to low-cost capital through exploration, feasibility, and permitting to point of sale or into production. His expertise, combined with his extensive relationships across the global mining sector, have resulted in rapid growth and a proven track record of success making him a widely-recognized strategic partner and a sought after industry expert for commentary on business, mining and related topics.

Matthew Rowlinson

Matthew Rowlinson has extensive experience from senior executive roles in Glencore’s copper department over the past eleven years. Since 2021, Matthew served as Head of Copper Business Development where he was jointly responsible for the strategic direction of one of the largest copper portfolios in the sector and developed deep knowledge of the industry and global inventory of projects.

In this role, he successfully executed multiple public and private M&A transactions, highlighted by Glencore’s consolidation of the global scale MARA project. Matthew joined Glencore in 2013 as an asset manager for Latin America and was subsequently appointed Chief Financial Officer for Copper Americas. He began his career with Ernst & Young as an auditor of multinational mining and financial companies and is a qualified Chartered Accountant that holds an MBA from the University of Bath, UK.

Donald Taylor

Donald Taylor has over 30 years of domestic and international mineral exploration experience taking projects from exploration to mining. He is the recipient of the 2019 Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration’s Robert M. Deyer Award and the 2018 recipient of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's Thayer Lindsley Award for the 2014 discovery of the Taylor lead-zinc-silver deposit. Mr. Taylor has worked extensively for large and small cap companies, including Arizona Mining, BHP Minerals, Bear Creek Mining, American Copper and Nickel, Doe Run Resources, Westmont Mining Company, Titan Mining, and Augusta Gold Corp.

Hans Wick

Hans Wick has decades of experience in the financial services and investment sector, with his most recent role as the Managing Director of a Swiss private bank. As a senior financial services and investment professional, Hans benefits from an in-depth knowledge of the sector and a wide network of contacts which he applies to his mandates and lends to the boards of directors he serves on. Over the course of his banking career, Hans has also been active in the mining sector for decades as an investor and advisor to numerous companies.

Rodrigo Borja

Rodrigo Borja is a senior lawyer with decades of experience in Ecuador, including as the Chief Legal Officer (“CLO”) of several foreign companies with operations in the mining and oil sectors. In the mining sector, Rodrigo was CLO of Kinross’ Ecuador subsidiary, where he managed all legal aspects of the company. He led the negotiations with the Ecuadorian state for the Mining Exploitation Contract for the Fruta del Norte project and the investment contract that protects foreign investment. Rodrigo is currently a partner with AVL Abogados where he leads its mining practice. 

Prior to this, Rodrigo was the CLO of the Brazilian oil company Petrobras, responsible for all legal aspects of its operation from 2002 to 2010. He was also a member of the Executive Committee, as well as an alternate member of the Board of Directors of OCP Ecuador, Ecuador’s main oil pipeline.