People (April 01, 2007)

Mike Koziol is the new president of Vancouver-based Alto Ventures. He had been vice-president of exploration for the company since 2004.

Azimut Exploration of Montreal has named Sylvain Guerard its vice-president of exploration. He was previously senior geologist and exploration manager for Barrick Gold in Tanzania. The company also appointed Dennis Wood as chairman. Also, Pierre Toth has joined the board, replacing Jacques Bonneau.

Montreal-based Birim Goldfields has named Victor King as CEO. He is also president and COO of the company.

Black Bull Resources of Shelburne, N.S., has named Richard J. Shearer its new president and CEO. He has been president and COO of U.S. Silica Co. as well as executive vice-president of global boron operations at North American Chemical Co.

Garett Macdonald has been appointed vice-president operations at Sudbury-based Canadian Arrow Mines.

Toronto-based Crystallex International has named Robert Crombie its new senior vice-president of corporate development.

Scott Hand will stand for election to the board of Vancouver-based Fronteer Development at the company’s annual general meeting in May. Hand was chairman and CEO of Inco Ltd. until his retirement in January 2007.

Vancouver’s Galore Resources has appointed a new vice-president exploration and acquisitions, Uwe Schmidt, to oversee work at the Prosperity and Bralorne projects.

George Walter Sanders has moved into the role of president as well as director at Goldcliff Resource Corp. of Vancouver.

Lynda Bloom is the new president and CEO of Vancouver’s Halo Resources. She holds an MSc from Queen’s University and has been a director of Halo since November 2006.

Sudbury, Ont.’s Independent Nickel Corp. has named Thomas Obradovich its new chairman of the board. He was top executive at Young-Davidson Mines until its merger with Northgate Minerals.

The new vice-president of project development at Vancouver’s Lake Shore Gold is Hannu Virtanen. He will be in charge of the company’s Timmins West and Bell Creek-Schumacher-Vogel projects.

The new managing director of business law firm McMillan Binch Mendelsohn’s Mining Group is Jeffery Snow. He is a veteran of both Noranda and Falconbridge.

Northern Star Mining of Val d’Or, Que., has welcomed two new members to its management team. Real Marcotte is now vice-president operations, and Jonathan Awde has become vice-president finance.

Michael Michaud has been named vice-president of exploration at St Andrew Goldfields. He will head the Minex efforts, exploration at mine site and brownfields projects.

Starcore International Ventures of Vancouver has hired Bert McPherson to oversee its San Martin gold mine in Mexico. He was most recently manager of Barrick’s Pierina mine in Peru.

Stornoway Diamond Corp. of Vancouver has named Matt Manson president and a member of the board. He is currently president of Contact Diamond Corp. and Ashton Mining, both of which are Stornoway subsidiaries.

Teck Cominco of Vancouver is beefing up its technology division. Susan Stocker has become head of employee development for the division. Henry Salomon-De-Friedberg will take up the duties of superintendent of process development at CESL beginning April 1.

Vancouver’s Uracan Resources has hired Tom Garagan as vice-president exploration. He was at Bema Gold for the last 15 years.

Benoit Laplante has joined Wesdome Gold Mines of Toronto as vice-president of operations.