Wesdome Gold Mines announced sweeping management changes on Sept. 19 that saw Philip Ng, chief operating officer; Hemdat Sawh, chief financial officer; George Mannard, vice-president of exploration; and Benoit Laplante, vice-president of corporate development, all leave the company.
Marc-Andre Pelletier, formerly the vice-president of Quebec operations, is the new chief operating officer and will oversee the entire operation.
Being welcomed into the fold are Ben Au, the new chief financial officer, and Michael Michaud, the new vice-president of exploration. Both start their jobs on Sept. 26.
Wesdome runs the Eagle River Complex near Wawa, which consists of the Eagle River underground mine and the Mishi open pit.
They also have the Kiena Complex, a former producing mine in Val d’Or, Que., and has an exploration property at Moss Lake, 100 kilometres west of Thunder Bay.
On Sept. 13, the company announced it was suspending its exploration drill program at Moss Lake despite showing “encouraging results” to focus instead on Eagle River and Kiena.
A preliminary economic assessment at Moss Lake was done in 2013, outlining a conceptual open-pit operation. The drilling program was designed to explore the potential scale of the mineralization beyond the known gold deposit.
“On behalf of management and the board of directors, I would like to thank Phil, Hemdat, George, and Benoit, whose combined efforts, accomplishments and dedication have positioned Wesdome for growth with an attractive portfolio of Canadian assets,” said Wesdome president-CEO Duncan Middlemiss in a statement.
“I would also like to thank them for their professionalism with the ongoing facilitation of the transition process. We wish them continued success in their future endeavours. Additionally, I would like to welcome Ben and Michael to the Wesdome team. Both have extensive experience working for public, multi-asset, underground gold mining companies in Canada. Their valued expertise will be excellent assets during our next phase of growth to an intermediate gold producer.”
