Management

Patrick Highsmith
Director and CEO
Mr. Highsmith earned bachelor and master degrees in geological engineering and geochemistry from the Colorado School of Mines. After technical positions in mine operations and exploration with Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton during the 1990’s, Patrick managed exploration business development for Newmont Mining from 2004 until 2008. Since then he has been actively engaged in the junior sector, co-founding Intuitive Exploration Inc. (now Orestone Mining [TSX-V:ORS]), Copper One Inc. (TSX-V:CUO), and Lithium One Inc (TSX-V:LI). In addition to executive duties in operations, marketing, and corporate communications, he has been integral in numerous transactions from financings, asset sales and purchases, through to negotiating and executing joint ventures with major corporate groups.

Julio Benedetti
President, Founder & Director
Mr. Benedetti is a central figure in the mining industry of Panama and currently serves as the President of the Panama Chamber of Mines.  In the 1980's, Mr. Benedetti was involved in the discovery of two Panamanian gold deposits (Santa Rosa and Remance) that were developed into gold mines in the 1990´s.  He was also involved in the discovery of the Cerro Quema high sulphidation gold deposit and its subsequent acquisition by Bellhaven.  Mr. Benedetti is fluent in English and Spanish and is an alumnus of the University of Colorado and the Colorado School of Mines.

Maria Milagros Paredes, MBA
Chief Operating Officer & Director
Ms. Paredes combines experience as a finance professional with a technical background in geology. Her extensive financial experience was developed at two storied companies, Hewlett Packard and Intel.  At Hewlett Packard she was responsible for leading the Enterprise Division’s budget and planning activities.  More recently at the Intel Corporation, she drove the valuation of technologies that would be used in future products, combining finance, risk, and strategic analysis to recommend technologies that would increase revenue while reducing Intel’s risk exposure.  Ms. Paredes received a B.Sc. in Geological Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria Lima-Peru, a M.Sc. degree in Geology from Iowa State University, and an MBA from Cornell University (New York). She is is fluent in English and Spanish.