West African Iron Ore Corp. Board of Directors
Guy Duport, Chief Executive Officer & Director
Mr. Duport has served as the President and CEO of SARI since 2007, and since August 2005 he has also been the CEO of Trendfield Holdings Ltd. (“Trendfield”), a British Virgin Islands company with offices in Hong Kong and Beijing and mining operations in West Africa and Mongolia. At Trendfield, Mr. Duport has developed the company into a growing mining and consulting company. From 1987 to 2006, he worked as a senior financial management consultant dealing with financial due diligence, mergers and acquisitions and contested take-over bids in Europe, the United States and Africa. Mr. Duport has held several senior management positions within the ISSA Group of companies and established the ISSA Group’s Beijing office in 2000. He is also a director and board member of various mining and petroleum companies, including Southern Petroleum Ltd., and was a director of GoviEx Uranium Inc. from July 2008 until March 12, 2011. Mr. Duport has an MA (Hons) with a specialization in European Commercial Law with English, and is a Professional Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) in Colorado.
Paul Matysek, Non-Executive Chairman and Director
Mr. Matysek specializes in developing resource-based companies from conception to production. He has over 35 years of experience in exploration and development, and held several senior management and/or directorship positions with First Quantum Minerals Ltd., First Majestic Silver Corp. and Energy Metals Corp. Mr. Matysek currently holds a number of directorships including with Lithium One Inc. (Founder), Nevada Copper Corp., Forsys Metals Corp. and Wealth Minerals Ltd. Until recently, Mr. Matysek was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Potash One Inc., a leading junior potash developer in Canada. Over the past three years, Mr. Matysek has led Potash One’s Legacy Project in Saskatchewan from concept to feasibility. In January 2011, Potash One was purchased for $450 million dollars. Prior to Potash One, Mr. Matysek was the CEO and President of Energy Metals Corporation, a uranium company whose shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Energy Metals grew from a market capitalization of $10 million in 2004 to $1.8 billion when it was sold to a larger uranium producer in 2007.
Jonathan Challis, Director
Mr. Challis is a mining engineer with over 30 years experience in the operation, management, financing and analysis of mining projects around the world. Mr Challis has an honors degree in Mineral Exploitation and an MBA. Mr Challis started his professional life as a Mining Engineer with Gold Fields of South Africa Limited in 1974 before returning to Europe where he worked as a mining analyst and project financier for several European Institutions. He subsequently joined McLeod Young Weir in London in 1987 as a mining analyst prior to relocating to Toronto in 1990. In 1994, he joined CM Oliver in Toronto as a Director and Senior Mining Analyst, prior to moving back to London where he was instrumental in establishing a European presence for that company. In 1997, he joined Ivanhoe Capital Corporation and was involved in numerous early stage exploration ventures in diverse locations. He has subsequently been involved in several Canadian Resource Companies in the roles of CEO, President and Director. Mr Challis is currently a Director and CEO of SEAM Ltd, a private UK based mineral exploration company active in Eastern Africa. Mr Challis is also a Director of Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. (TSX:PGD): Peregrine Metals Ltd (TSX:PGM); Sunward Resources Ltd (TSX-V:SWD); Rye Patch Gold Corp (TSX-V:RPM).
Craig Angus, Director
Mr. Angus is a graduate of The University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business and is a veteran of over thirty years in the Canadian and International mining industries. Mr. Angus was the Founder, President, CEO and subsequently Chairman of Nevsun Resources Ltd., a Canadian based, African focused gold producer. In addition, he founded Sunridge Gold Corp., for which he is the current Chairman, and also founded Potash North Resource Corp. He has extensive experience on the African continent and has raised hundreds of millions for the exploration, development and construction of mining projects around the globe.
Harald Ludwig – Director
Mr. Ludwig is currently Co-Chairman of the Board of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Since 1985 Mr. Ludwig has served as President of Macluan Capital Corporation, a private equity and investment firm. Mr. Ludwig is a director of West Fraser Timber Company Ltd., a public company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and one of North America’s largest forest products companies. He is also a director of Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited a TSX Venture Exchange company, and the Chairman and a director of Prima Columbia Hardwood Inc. which is a TSX Venture Exchange company. He also serves as an adviser to Tennenbaum Capital Partners, LLC, a private investment firm.
Mathieu Charette, Chief Financial Officer & Secretary
Mr. Charette has been the Controller of GoviEx Uranium Inc. from April 2008 to May 2011. In this capacity, he was acting as CFO and has been managing the Finance team of GoviEx Uranium for the past two years. He was involved in the management of the Niger subsidiaries and has considerable experience in West Africa. Previously, he was the Controller of Quebecor World Vancouver and prior to that, he held various other positions at Quebecor World Inc. Mr. Charette holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialization in accounting and a Graduate Diploma in Taxation from HEC Montreal. He is also a Certified Management Accountant (C.M.A.).
Mohamed Joe Bangoura – Director
Mr. Bangoura’s idea of replicating his mining success in Niger was the brainchild that drove him to co-found Sky Alliance RessourcesGuinée SA, West African Iron Ore Corp. fully owned subsidiary. Since its inception in 2007, Mr. Bangoura, a Guinea national, has served as the Administrator General of Sky Alliance Ressources Guinée SA. He is also a founding member of Trendfield Holdings Ltd. (“Trendfield”), a British Virgin Islands company with mining operations in West Africa and Mongolia. From 2004 to 2006, he was Vice Director at REDSTONE Gold Ltd., a Xian, China based mining company, where he managed gold, uranium and oil mining projects. From 2002 – 2004 he served as West African Countries advisor to China National Petroleum Corporation (“CNPC”), a state-owned fuel-producing corporation and the largest integrated oil and gas company in the People’s Republic of China, with headquarter in Beijing. In 1998 he founded MATA Trading International, a Shanghai, China based consulting company that focused on opening new energy and resources opportunities between China, Angola and Guinea, offering advice to Chinese companies looking to enter the African market. Mr. Bangoura has more than 12 years of China and Africa business expertise. He has a Bachelor degree in International Relations from Fuda University inShanghai, and is fluent in French, English, Mandarin, Soussou, Mandingo, and many other West African local languages.