The Team

Executive

Executive Chairman - Dr Sergey V Kurzin is a Russian-born (1960) research engineer who moved to the United Kingdom in 1990 and has played a key role in initiatives to acquire and progress several important Former Soviet Union mining assets. These include Julietta (a high grade gold deposit in Magadan, Russia with Bema Gold), Kupol (a high grade epithermal gold deposit in Chukotka, Russia also with with Bema Gold), the Varvarinskoye copper and gold skarn deposit in Kazakhstan with European Minerals Corporation. He also played a key role in establishing UrAsia Energy Ltd, a uranium producer with mining operations in The Republic of Kazakhstan. He was founder of Oriel Resources Plc and held the position of .

He also holds the position of Executive Chairman of Everfor Diamonds Plc.

Sergey has been an officer and consultant for the following companies active in the FSU:

Bema Gold - consultant on Kupol and Julietta gold developments

Arian Resources Corp. (acquired by Bema) – ex. VP Corporate Development

European Mineral Corporation - ex. VP Corporate Development

Consolidated Puma Minerals Corp. - PGM in Kola Peninsula, Russia

Zincox - Zinc project in Kazakhstan

Eurasia Mining plc - PGM projects in Russia

Executive Director - Mr Takhirzhan Baratov, a Kazakh citizen, is Executive Director for Central Asia and Kazakhstan and currently holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Varvarinskoye JV. Born in 1960, Takhir graduated from the Kazakh State University in 1986, specialising in applied mathematics. Since the early 1990s he has held mining directorships within various international natural resource companies such as European Minerals, Steppe Gold, Zincox and Ennex International plc. Mr Baratov also holds the positions of Director General of Muzbel LLP and Deputy Director General of GRK Kazakhstan Nickel LLP and Director of Oriel Resources plc (“Oriel”).

Director of Exploration- Dr Alexander Yakubchuk joined Lero in January 2008 as a consultant, bringing more than 14 years experience gained in the states of the FSU, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as internationally in Australia, Mongolia, China, Canada, and some European countries. Most recently he held the position of Exploration Manager for Europe and the FSU for Gold Fields. Dr Yakubchuk has previously worked and consulted to companies such as BHP-Billiton, Norlisk Nickel, Goldcorp, Rio Tinto, World Bank and Inco and previously lectured as an Associate Professor at Lomonosov Moscow State University for 5 years.

Chief Operating Officer - Mr Randy Reichert, Canadian, was most recently Oriel’s COO responsible for organising, controlling and supervising Oriel’s producing and operating assets. Randy was in charge of the commissioning and operating of the Tikhvin ferrochrome smelter, Russia and played a significant role in transitioning the smelter from construction to operation and increasing smelter throughput. Before joining Oriel, Randy spent over 5 years in Russia with Bema Gold, now Kinross Gold Corporation, as General Manager, Operations of the Kupol gold mine in Chukotka, Russia. Between 2002 and 2006 Randy was General Manager for the Julietta gold mine in Magadan, Russia. He holds a B.A.Sc (Mining and Mineral Processing) from UBC, an M.Sc (Engineering) from Queen’s University, and a GDBA from Simon Fraser University.

Chief Financial Officer - Mr Petro Mychalkiw, British, was previously Oriel’s Treasurer and Head of Corporate Finance, where he was responsible for strategic financial and tax planning, treasury, mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing. Prior to that position, he was Oriel’s Regional Finance Director, Kazakhstan during which time he was responsible for tax planning, contract negotiations and financial reporting and was a vital part of the team which not only secured December 2006’s US$120m project financing deal for the Voskhod chrome project with the Eurasian Development Bank, Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank AG and WestLB AG, but was awarded the prestigious 2006 European Mining Deal of the Year award from Project Finance Magazine. Prior to joining Oriel, British-born Petro held the position of Divisional Finance Director for Tribal Group plc, the LSE listed provider of consulting, IT and professional support services.

Non-Executive Director – Mr Mark Corra, Canadian, is Senior VP Finance and CFO of B2Gold Corp. since April 2007, prior to this he spent 17 years with Bema Gold Corporation, first as Controller when he joined in 1990 and was later appointed Vice President Finance in 1995. Mr. Corra started his career at Placer Dome where he spent 11 years in various positions in the accounting department. A Certified Management Accountant, with a diploma in financial management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, he oversees financial reporting, cash management, tax planning and is a member of the management committee for B2Gold. Over the years he has also acted as CFO for Consolidated Puma Minerals Corp., Victoria Recourses Corp. and Consolidated Westview Resource Corp.