AWARD: Ron Thiessen wins Canada-South Africa award

VANCOUVER - Ron Thiessen, president and CEO of Vancouver-based Hunter Dickinson Inc. (HDI), has been named Business Person of the Year by the Canada-Southern Africa Chamber of Business. The award recognizes a Canadian who has contributed significantly to business development between the two regions.

Thiessen was instrumental in bringing Canadian business structures to South Africa, which were used in innovative acquisitions of resources in South Africa including gold, platinum group minerals and diamonds. He led the team that devised and innovatively brought Canadian corporate finance to black economic empowerment by bringing the first empowerment corporation (Pelawan Investments) to the Canadian and North American public markets, enabling it to finance and acquire 51% ownership (well in excess of the minimum 26% ownership required by law) in platinum projects in the Bushveld.

The hard work of Thiessen and the HDI team has been recognized often in the past 20 years. A list is posted at www.HDImining.com/s/Recognition.asp.