Candente Copper Corp. (TSX:DNT) has appointed Giulio T. Bonifacio to the position of Executive Chair.
In addition, the company has made a further senior management change with the appointment of Dale Found as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer.
Mr Bonifacio has over 30 years of experience in senior executive roles in the mining industry in both the base and precious metals sector. He was the Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Nevada Copper from 2005 until his retirement in February 2018. Mr Bonifacio led and directed every stage of advancement of the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine from exploration, development, permitting and construction.
He is a Chartered Professional Accountant with considerable experience and knowledge of operations, capital markets and project finance while raising significant amounts of capital for projects of merit by way of project debt, offtake and equity.
Mr Bonifacio was also the President and Chief Executive Officer, Director and subsequently Non-Executive Chairman of Faraday Copper Corp. (formerly Copper Bank Resources Corp.) from May 2018 until April 2022. He led and negotiated the acquisition of Copper Creek in 2018, an advanced stage development asset located in Arizona, United States, by way of a business combination. Copper Creek is currently the lead project being advanced by Faraday Copper.
Mr Bonifacio also held previous senior executive roles with Getty Resources Limited, TOTAL Energold Corp., an energy and gold producer and Vengold Inc., gold producer, prior to founding Nevada Copper in 2005.
During his 12 years at Nevada Copper, Mr Bonifacio led the company’s efforts at the Pumpkin Hollow project located in Nevada, from early-stage exploration and development to construction by way of resource and reserve expansion; several technical studies inclusive of feasibility studies for the underground and open pit stand-alone projects, as well as an integrated underground and open pit operation. He successfully permitted both the underground and open pit operations at Pumpkin Hollow, which is the only permitted copper project of scale in the United States in the past 25 years. Additionally, Mr Bonifacio led the initial construction phase, which included the completion of headframe, hoist and 1,900-foot-deep, 24-foot diameter concreted lined production sized shaft, all of which led to a shortened construction period at Pumpkin Hollow, now in production.
“I am very excited to take on a more active role with Candente and work alongside Joanne Freeze, Chief Executive Officer to advance the Cañariaco copper project,” Mr Bonifacio said.
“I have monitored the progress of Cañariaco for several years and consider it to be one of the most attractive advanced stage copper projects I have been involved with. I am also extremely pleased with what are robust economic results as reflected in the recently published Preliminary Economic Assessment, which is advanced in nature and builds upon previous study work inclusive of a prior pre-feasibility progress report.
“Recent advances by Joanne and team in Metallurgy, Process, Social License and Environmental will prove the cornerstone as we further enhance the value proposition for all stakeholders. I also view the support received from Fortescue to date, as further endorsement of the Cañariaco copper project, which possesses considerable further upside while already being one of the top-rated copper projects worldwide.”
Mr Found has more than 30 years of international accounting and finance experience, of which the last 15 have been spent in progressively more senior roles within the mining industry. He has significant experience both in corporate and mine site operational finance, having been part of the senior leadership team at Nevada Copper Corp. that positioned the mine for the final construction phase. Additionally, he was a key member of the management team that took New Gold Inc.’s New Afton Mine through the construction phase and into commercial production, delivering the mine on time and on budget.
Immediately prior to that, Mr Found was responsible for all financial matters for New Gold Inc. in Mexico from a hands-on position at the mine. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant, C.A. and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and has a wealth of experience in financial reporting, operational planning, treasury management and ERP/systems implementations.
For further information please visit: https://candentecopper.com/
