Julio Benedetti

Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board

Mr. Benedetti is a central figure in the mining industry of Panama and past President of the Panama Chamber of Mines. In the 1980's, Mr. Benedetti was involved in the discovery of the Santa Rosa gold deposits and its development along with the Remance Gold deposit into producing 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 and sale to Pershimco Resources. 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

Chief Operating Officer, President and Interim Chief Financial Officer

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 fluent in English and Spanish.

Brad Yonaka

Vice President Exploration

Mr. Yonaka is one of the top geological minds among junior mining companies today. He is fluent in Spanish and brings diverse global experience, giant gold deposit experience, and a top-tier educational pedigree to the Bellhaven team. During his 16 years at Gold Reserve Inc., he led the geological team during drill out and modeling of the giant Brisas Deposit in Venezuela (11M oz. gold). He also ran a business development effort at Gold Reserve that included dozens of project evaluations throughout the Americas. In addition to further gold experience in Africa, Mr. Yonaka has visited more than 100 countries. Brad received his B.Sc. degree in geological engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an M.Sc. degree in geochemistry from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.