Ari Sussman, Chief Executive Officer, has over 15 years of experience in both the natural resources and investment markets sectors. Having dedicated the majority of his career to the natural resources industry, Mr. Sussman has been instrumental in sourcing, funding and developing high-quality mineral assets. During his career, Mr. Sussman has built a strong network of business contacts throughout Latin America, and in the past decade has raised over $400 million for various ventures. Presently, Mr. Sussman is Executive Chairman of Colossus Minerals Inc., which is developing the famous high-grade gold, platinum and palladium project, Serra Pelada, in Brazil and due to be in production in H2 2013. Additionally, Mr. Sussman is currently on the board of Dalradian Resources.
Mr. Moseley-Williams, a citizen of Colombia and the United Kingdom, holds a BSc. Mining Engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management in the United Kingdom. Having been raised in Colombia, he is fluent in both Spanish and English. Mr. Moseley-Williams has over 16 years of experience in mine construction, expansion projects and operations in North, Central and South America. His most recent position was Operations Manager for Agnico-Eagle's Pinos Altos Mine located in Chihuahua, Mexico. He was responsible for all underground and open pit operations as well as the mine's engineering and planning requirements. In his previous roles, he acquired expertise in a variety of fields including corporate development, project development, corporate social responsibility and environmental permitting.
Paul Begin has over 10 years of senior level financial experience. Mr. Begin was formerly the Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Hanfeng Evergreen Inc. Additionally, he served as the former Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Trilliant Incorporated and the former Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance at OZZ Corporation. At OZZ, he led a team that made numerous acquisitions and divestitures. His background includes various financial roles in the marketing communications, secure transactions, real estate, hospitality and direct marketing industries. Mr. Begin is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario and a Master's degree of Business Administration from the University of Toronto.
Gustavo Koch brings over 15 years of legal experience to the Continental team. In the past, Mr. Koch held many senior positions at Grupo de Bullet and was an Associate with the International Law Institute in Washington. He was also an Associate at the Latin American Mining Institute where he was responsible for editing The South American Investment and Mining Guide and The Mexican and Central American Investment and Mining Guide. Mr. Koch was a solicitor with Koch & Arroyo from 1988-1991 in Santa Fem Argentina and was also a Staff Attorney for the Argentina Department of Transportation in 1990.
Mauricio Castañeda has over 10 years of experience as a geologist and is skilled in production stage and underground exploration. He joined Continental Gold in April 2009, initially as the Company's Exploration Manager. Prior to Continental Gold, Mr. Castañeda held senior positions as a geologist in a number of exploration and mining companies in Colombia, including Anglo American Colombia Exploration, ColGold Inc. Colombia, Consorcio de Inversionistas S.A. and Mineros Nacionales S.A.
Chris Grainger has over 15 years of experience as a geologist in Latin America, Australia and West Africa, specializing in grassroots and brownfields exploration, resource definition and development within a number of different commodities and diverse geological environments. Prior to joining Continental Gold, Dr. Grainger was the Chief Geologist for Colossus Minerals Inc., where he was responsible for all aspects of resource definition and exploration drilling, resource modelling and target generation within and adjacent to the world-class Serra Pelada gold-platinum-palladium deposit. Additionally, Dr. Grainger has held senior level positions at Troy Resources, LionOre Australia, INCO Brazil, and CVRD Brazil. He holds a Bachelor of Science (first class honors) and a PhD in Economic Geology from the University of Western Australia.
Vic Wall brings to the Continental team a wealth of expertise and experience in the generation, acquisition and evaluation of precious, base metal and energy mineral projects. Dr. Wall is a geologist with 35 years in the minerals mining, consulting, exploration and research industries. Following a career in Australian and North American academes, he held senior positions in a number of multinational major and junior minerals companies. A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, Dr. Wall is Principal of Taylor Wall & Associates, a Brisbane-based consultancy that provides geoscientific services to mineral companies and government agencies, worldwide. His professional highlights include the targeting and acquisition of gold and base metal deposits on several continents, developing new models for precious, base metal and energy mineral systems. Between 1989 and 1996, Dr. Wall served as the Principal Geologist and Chief Geologist, Project Generation for MIM Exploration Pty. Ltd. In 2001, Dr. Wall was named the winner of the Goldcorp Challenge. Dr. Wall is also a co-founder and current VP of Exploration for Colossus Minerals Inc., the junior mining company developing the famed Serra Pelada, high-grade precious metals project in Brazil.
Greg Hall is a seasoned geologist with over 35 years of international experience. From 1988-2005, he was employed by the Placer Dome group of companies, serving as Chief Geologist world wide during the last five years he was there. Placer Dome was later acquired by Barrick Gold in early 2006. Over the course of his illustrious career, Mr. Hall had a senior role in the discoveries of both Barrick Gold's Granny Smith mine and Rio Tinto's Yandi iron ore mine. In addition, he took part in the discoveries of Keringal and Wallaby in Australia's Eastern Goldfields, as well as the definition of AngloGold Ashanti's Sunrise gold mine. Mr. Hall holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of New South Wales, Australia.