Management Team
Steven Dean | Chairman and Director
Steven Dean is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, a Member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia. He has extensive experience internationally in mining, including as President of Teck Cominco Limited (now Teck Resources Ltd.). Prior to joining Teck, Mr. Dean was a founding member of management of the Normandy Poseidon Group, (which became Normandy Mining) a co-founder of PacMin Mining Corporation which became a subsidiary of Teck Corporation in 1999. He was also a co-founder and former Chairman of Amerigo Resources Ltd. More recently, Mr. Dean was Chairman, CEO and founder of Atlantic Gold Corporation (“Atlantic”), focused on gold exploration, development and production in Nova Scotia, which was sold to St. Barbara Limited in 2019 for $802 million after building its Moose River Consolidated Mine on time and on budget and operating at the lowest decile cost profile in the gold sector.
Mr. Dean is a recipient of the Viola R. MacMillan Award from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) for individuals demonstrating leadership in management and financing for the exploration and development of mineral resources. He is also currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Artemis Gold Inc. (TSX-V: ARTG) (“Artemis”).
Chris Batalha │Chief Executive Officer and Director
Chris Batalha is a seasoned mining executive with close to 20 years’ professional experience in accounting, corporate governance, M&A, equity and debt financing. For the past decade he has held progressively senior positions, including as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Artemis and Oceanic. Prior to that he served as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Atlantic where he played a key role in Atlantic’s development, construction and operations, which culminated in the $802 million sale of Atlantic.
Chris is a Chartered Professional Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia.
Gerrie van der Westhuizen | CFO and Corporate Secretary
Gerrie van der Westhuizen has more than 20 years' experience in the mining and natural resources industry. During this time, Mr. Van der Westhuizen held progressively senior positions in dual-listed resource companies operating in Africa and North America. He has played a key role in those organizations' debt and equity financings and M&A activities, while leading initiatives on financial reporting, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, risk management, treasury management, tax planning, as well as commercial negotiations. Mr. Van der Westhuizen also currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Artemis , as well as Artemis' representative on the Board of Directors of Velocity Minerals Ltd. Mr. Van der Westhuizen is a Chartered Accountant and holds an Honours Bachelor of Accountancy degree.
Eddy Canova | Director of Exploration
Mr. Canova has over 25 years experience in the mineral exploration industry in Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, and West Africa and four years experience in mineral production in Venezuela. His work has been focused in gold mineral exploration, base and precious metals, uranium and the iron ore industry in Quebec. Mr. Canova has been exposed to a variety of geological environments and geological models working on some major projects such as Gold Reserves' Brisas' project, an 8 million oz Au project, Bolivar's Tomi Gold project, and as mine manager responsible for the acquisition and exploration on most of the properties of Alexandria Minerals from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Canova joined Oceanic in January 2011 as Exploration Manager. Mr. Canova has a BSc. in geology from McGill University and continually updates his knowledge through professional short courses, university courses and publications.
