Mr. Ullrich has over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and geoscience. Before joining Aston Bay in 2016, Mr. Ullrich was Chief Geologist North America for Antofagasta Minerals plc, investigating the region’s copper potential through extensive property evaluations and management of drill programs in Mexico and Canada. Prior to Antofagasta, he was Senior Geologist for Almaden Minerals, where he managed the drill program for the team’s discovery of the Ixtaca Ag-Au deposit in Mexico. Mr. Ullrich also established the Ar-Ar geochronology lab at the University of British Columbia and studied the Candelaria Cu-Au mine, Chile, while at Queen’s University. Mr. Ullrich is also on the Technical Advisory Board for CopperBank Resources.
Mr. Dufresne is the President of Apex Geoscience, an ~60-person geological consultancy. With over 25 years of professional experience in all aspects of project generation, geological interpretation and project management ranging from grassroots exploration projects to feasibility-stage projects. Mr. Dufresne has extensive experience with a wide range of commodities and types of deposits as well as involvement in a number of scientific government studies. Mr. Dufresne has conducted property audits across North America and Australia and authored independent technical reports. His client list has included senior and junior mining companies, and government geological surveys. Mr. Dufresne is a Professional Geologist with the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta (since 1989). He is also a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Geological Association of Canada, and Association of Exploration Geochemists. Mr. Dufresne obtained his M.Sc. in Economic Geology from the University of Alberta, and a B.Sc. in Geology with a minor in Chemistry, from UNC-Wilmington.
Ms. Liu-Ernsting has over 15 years of experience in the mining industry, spanning capital projects engineering, debt capital markets, private equity and corporate strategy. She is currently working at Canadian Nickel Company, joining the team in 2019. Before that, Ms. Liu-Ernsting was on the corporate development team at Hudbay Minerals, responsible for formulating and executing on corporate strategy. Ms. Liu-Ernsting previously spent over five years at Resource Capital Funds, sourcing, evaluating, executing and managing investments, gaining expertise in a wide range of commodities and mining services. Before RCF, she provided debt financing solutions in CIBC’s mining corporate credit group. Prior to CIBC, Ms. Liu-Ernsting’s experience at Hatch and Golder spanned all levels of mining and mineral processing operations design around the world and the development of mining innovation R&D projects. Ms. Liu-Ernsting is a Professional Engineer who holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Queen’s University, and a Schulich School of Business Mining, Finance and Strategy MBA graduate.
A graduate of Queen’s University (1990), Mr. McPherson has broad business acumen, having worked extensively in branding, strategic planning, marketing and advertising in both domestic and international markets across diverse industry categories. He has served the junior resources sector in recent years in investor relations, corporate development and financing roles, most recently as the VP Communications for West Melville Metals Inc. and previously as the Director of Marketing for Aurora Mineral Resource Group and The Discovery Group of Companies.