Management
Mark T. Brown, CPA, CA
Chairman
Mr. Brown is the President of Pacific Opportunity Capital Ltd., headquartered in Vancouver B.C. Pacific Opportunity is a financial consulting and merchant banking firm active in venture capital markets in North America. Mr. Brown has assisted in the successful establishment of several private and public companies. In the mining and mineral exploration sector, Mr. Brown has played key roles in the success of Rare Element Resources Ltd., Sutter Gold Mining Ltd., Portal Resources Ltd., Pitchstone Exploration Ltd., Animas Resources, and other junior exploration companies. His corporate activities include merger and acquisition transactions, financing, strategic corporate planning, and corporate development. Prior to joining Pacific Opportunity, Mr. Brown managed the financial departments of two TSE 300 companies, Miramar Mining Corp. and Eldorado Gold Ltd. Mr. Brown has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1993, while working with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Vancouver.
Paul Kuhn
President & CEO
Mr. Kuhn joined Avrupa Minerals in July 2010 after working with Metallica Mining in Oslo, Norway since August 2008. He has more than 35 years of experience in the minerals exploration business in North America, Central Asia and Europe. He earned an A.B. Degree from Dartmouth College, US, in 1978, and an M.S. Degree from the University of Montana, US, in 1983. Mr. Kuhn has worked in a variety of geological terrains, exploring for gold, silver, base metals, uranium, and phosphate deposits, and has spent time as a production geologist in the deep underground mines of the Coeur d`Alene Mining District, historically one of the world’s most important silver districts. Mr. Kuhn has managed successful exploration programs in the US and Turkey, and was involved in a number of base and precious metal discoveries in Turkey, including the Taç and Çorak polymetallic deposits, the Cerattepe Cu-Au volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, the Altıntepe epithermal Au deposit, the Diyadın Carlin-style Au deposit, and the Karakartal porphyry Cu-Au deposit. Mr. Kuhn was also involved with the original mapping and description of the Çöpler porphyry Au deposit (a 10 million ounce gold deposit now being mined by Alacer Gold).
Paul Dircksen
Director
Mr. Dircksen has over 35 years of experience in the mining and exploration industry, serving in executive, managerial, and technical roles at several companies. He has a strong technical background, serving as a team member on ten gold discoveries, seven of which later became operating mines. Mr. Dircksen has held senior management positions with a number of resource groups including Orvana Minerals, Lacana Gold, The Cordex Group, Brett Resources, and the Bravo Venture Group. He holds an M.S. in Geology from the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada.
Mr. Dircksen is currently the President and CEO of Timberline Resources Corporation which is listed on the NYSE Market Exchange under the symbol “TLR” and on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “TBR”. Timberline holds a 50-percent carried interest ownership stake in the Butte Highlands Joint Venture in Montana, USA. Timberline Resources focuses on exploration and development of precious metal deposits in the western United States.
Frank Högel
Director
Mr. Högel currently serves as the CEO of Peter Beck Performance Funds GbR and sits on the advisory board of Concept Capital Management. Concept Capital is an asset management company focused on evaluating and investing in Canadian resource companies through equity investments, convertible bonds and gold, silver and copper off-take agreements. Mr. Högel has a MBA with a focus on financial management, banking, and international business and management from the University of Nürtingen, Germany. He also sits on the board of several other public companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Dr. Paul Nelles
Director
Dr. Paul Nelles was one of the founders of the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Innomatik Exploration Kosovo LLC (IEK) and is currently a non-executive director of IEK. Dr. Nelles is the CEO of Peshter Mining Company JSC that holds the Slivovo licenses in which the Company has 25% interest. Dr. Nelles graduated from TU Berlin in 1972 with a degree in mining engineering and obtained a PhD in mineral processing in 1975. He worked internationally in base metal mining for Metallgesellschaft between 1975 and 1991, at which stage he held the position of General Manager Project Development. In 1991 he was employed as technical director and appointed to the executive board of DESTAG, a leading dimension stone producer and worldwide trader. He was subsequently appointed CEO of the company. Dr. Nelles joined Normandy LaSource in France, as executive director for gold production and industrial minerals in 1997. In 2002 he was appointed as the “Trepca Manager” by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo and was promoted to Deputy Managing Director of the Kosovo Trust Agency in 2004, in charge of all major publicly owned enterprises. Since 2006 he has worked as an independent mining industry advisor and has been instrumental in the formation of IEK.
Winnie Wong, CPA, CA
CFO
Ms. Winnie Wong received a Bachelor of Commerce Degree (Honours) from Queen’s University in 1996 and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia. She is currently Vice President of Pacific Opportunity Capital Ltd. Prior to joining Pacific Opportunity Capital Ltd., Ms. Wong was the controller of Pivotal Corporation, a company providing software, services, and support to a variety of businesses. Between 1996 and 1999, Ms. Wong worked with Deloitte & Touche, Chartered Accountants.