North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Golden Predator Mining Corp. June 21 named globally recognized geological experts Richard Goldfarb, Lance Miller, Craig Hart and Bill Threlkeld to the company's newly formed exploration management council. These founding members bring vast experience in the geology of the Northern Cordillera – a metals rich volcanic province that extends through British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska – to the council.

This council will assist Golden Predator management and field staff in reviewing, interpreting, advising and planning on exploration and technical matters relating to the company's current mineral exploration projects; and identify new opportunities in the Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia.

"Combining this team's individual expertise in gold deposits, regional geology, structure, mapping and geochemistry, primarily focused on the Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia, creates an unparalleled technical team to guide the company's current and future exploration activities," said Golden Predator CEO Janet Lee-Sheriff.

Goldfarb, an authority on orogenic gold deposits who served 36 years with the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Resources Program, is chairman of the newly formed exploration management council.

He has senior authored or co-authored more than 225 papers and has delivered over 200 presentations in 31 countries – 26 of his papers on gold deposits of the Northern Cordillera were jointly authored with fellow council members Miller and Hart. In addition to his formative work on orogenic gold, Goldfarb has an extensive background in geochemistry, regional metallogeny, and exploration targeting.

Goldfarb, who already serves on Golden Predator's board of directors, is a research professor at the Colorado School of Mines, an adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia, a distinguished overseas professor at China University of Geosciences, Beijing, as well as a private consultant.

Miller, who currently serves as vice president of natural resources for NANA Regional Corp., an Alaska Native corporation, brings more than 30 years of minerals industry experience to the council. NANA owns the land on which the Red Dog Mine, one of the world's largest zinc mines, has operated since 1989 as a model of responsible resource development.

Over the course of his career, Miller has served as projects manager for Novagold Resources, chief geologist for Echo Bay mines on the Alaska-Juneau Project and projects manager for Eurasia for Placer Dome. During this work, Lance conducted due-diligence programs on the giant Natalka and Sukhoi Log gold deposits in Russia and carried out the early structural geology analysis on the 39-million-ounce Donlin Gold deposit in Southwest Alaska.

Miller is chairman of the Alaska Minerals Commission, an executive board member of the Resource Development Council for Alaska, a member of the Council of Alaska Producers and is on the University of Alaska Anchorage geosciences advisory board.

Hart is the director of the Mineral Deposit Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, where he initiates and facilitates a wide range of mineral exploration industry-sponsored research projects focused on gold and porphyry systems, regional metallogeny and exploration methods. His current research efforts are directed towards developing new exploration tools and strategies for gold and porphyry deposits. Most of his early career was with the Yukon Geological Survey, where he undertook regional mapping and metallogenic research in the Northern Cordillera.

Hart is an author or co-author on more than 200 geological manuscripts, maps, reports and other published works, include many of the authoritative works on intrusion-related gold deposits of Yukon and Alaska, as well as descriptions of the gold mineralization throughout Yukon's upper Hyland River valley area.

Threlkeld, currently the senior vice president of exploration for Seabridge Gold, has been instrumental in the design and execution of that company's exploration and resource delineation programs in British Columbia and Northwest Territories. His team's successes include the discovery, definition and expansion of the Courageous Lake gold deposit in Northwest Territories, and the KSM project in British Columbia, which hosts the largest gold reserve in Canada. Previously, Threlkeld was exploration manager and vice president of Placer Dome, responsible for all exploration activity and investment in Latin America.

"We are especially fortunate to have Rich, Bill, Lance and Craig join us with their well-established records of accomplishment in conceptualizing, recognizing and advancing major gold deposits," said Lee-Sherriff. "This team gives Golden Predator a unique technical advantage in the mineral exploration business."

Golden Predator also announced the appointment of Mike Redfearn, who will provide strong guidance and valuable oversight in mineral processing, pilot projects, technological reviews and assessments of processing options on all of the company's projects.

Redfearn has over 40 years of extensive mining, metallurgical, environmental and construction experience. He previously served as the vice president of operations for BCMetals, where he was responsible for the oversight of the feasibility study on the Red Chris copper-gold project in northern British Columbia, and vice president of operations for Hawthorne Gold. Redfearn was director of the metallurgical division at Bureau Veritas; mine manager at the Cantung Mine in the Northwest Territories; and held various senior positions with Cominco (now Teck Resources), including superintendent at the Sullivan Mine, project superintendent at the Trail Operations, mill operations manager at the Red Dog Mine and a management consultant to the El Brocal Mine.

Visit http://www.goldenpredator.com/about/exploration-management-council/ for more information on Golden Predator's exploration management council, including expanded biographies of its team members.

–SHANE LASLEY