Koryx Copper Inc. has announced the appointment of Heye Daun as Executive Chairman and Alan Friedman as Lead Independent Director of Koryx, effective immediately.
Furthermore, Jean-Luc Roy, Pierre Matte and Tim Fernback have resigned from the Board of Directors. Pierre Léveillé steps down as CEO but remains President and Director of the Company. All the changes are effective immediately.
Pending the conclusion of their ongoing technical review of Koryx activities, Daun and Friedman will lead the repositioning of Koryx Copper as a successful African copper developer with a strengthened shareholder base, improved technical credibility and better public market traction.
Heye Daun, incoming Executive Chairman stated: “After investing our own capital into Koryx earlier in 2024, we are delighted to now be joining the Board of Directors and to be taking a leading role in re-positioning Koryx as a successful Namibian copper developer with very significant scale potential. Our track record and experience, particularly in Namibia, in founding Osino and leading its rapid advancement from discovery to construction is a great example of our vision for Koryx Copper. That vision is to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of the Haib Copper Project (“Haib” or “the Project”) as the next great copper development asset in Africa. We plan to achieve this by financing the company, assembling a quality management team and then to permit and advance the project to construction readiness in as short a timeframe as possible.”
Pierre Léveillé, President of Koryx stated that: “The appointment of Mr. Daun and Mr. Friedman to our Board of Directors is a significant addition to the Company. They bring a wealth of technical and capital market knowledge and project development experience to the Company. They have been very successful at founding resource companies, making discoveries and advancing such companies through public listings, significant financings, M&A and ultimately exiting. This addition comes on the heel of their most recent success, the sale of Namibia gold developer, Osino Resources, to Shanjin International Gold Co., Ltd. (formerly known as Yintai Gold Co., Ltd.) for C$368m. Furthermore, their vast experience in sub-Saharan Africa, more specifically, Namibia, will add considerable value to Koryx as we develop our mineral assets in Namibia and Zambia.”
The Board of Directors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Roy (Acting Chairman for the last two years), Fernback and Matte made to the development of the Company and would like to thank them for their efforts and dedication and wish them all the best in the future.
Management Changes
A strong technical team has been identified who have already started driving a number of exploration & project development initiatives with the aim of optimizing and right-sizing the Haib Copper project. A particular focus is on testing the significant growth potential of the mineral resource at Haib, whilst demonstrating the feasibility of a more conventional metallurgical process route (crushing, milling & flotation for higher-grade material as well as coarse particle flotation and bacterial heap leaching for lower grade material). Environmental baseline studies and other de-risking activities are underway.
A review of corporate operations is currently underway, and C-Suite additions will be made in the imminent future.
Board of Director Additions
Heye Daun, (BSc (Eng) (Mining), MBA) is a Namibian-born mining engineer with 30 years of experience in mining and finance. After 10 years in uranium and gold mining in Namibia and West Africa with Rio Tinto, AngloGold and Goldfields, Heye spent three years in mining project finance and fund management. Since 2009 he has become a mining entrepreneur with multiple successful exits. He was a co-founder (with Alan Friedman) and President of Auryx Gold Corp., which advanced the Otjikoto gold project in Namibia and in 2012 was sold to B2Gold Corp. for CS$180 million. He then led a turn-around and subsequent merger of Ecuador Gold & Copper Corp. with Odin Mining, a Ross Beaty company, to form Lumina Gold Corp. before founding Osino Resources Corp. with Alan Friedman in 2016 and recently closing the sale of Osino to Shanjin International Gold Co. Ltd (formerly Yintai Gold Co., Ltd.) for C$368m.
Alan Friedman (BCom, BProc) is a South African-trained lawyer, based in Canada with an established track record of over 25 years as a public markets entrepreneur. Alan has played an integral role in the financings, go-public transactions and subsequent exits for many resource companies onto TSX and AIM. He is a co-founder and Director of TSX-V listed Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas Ltd., and co-founder of Auryx Gold Corp. and Osino Resources Corp.
Mister Daun and Friedman have a very well-established business partnership of over 15 years with complementary skills, networks and geography (Heye Daun is based between Namibia and South Africa and Alan Friedman is based in Toronto) which has been an essential ingredient to their joint success.