Paycore Management & Directors
James Gowans
Chairman of the Board
Jim Gowans has more than 30 years of experience in mineral exploration, mine feasibility studies, mine construction and commissioning and the development of best practices in mine safety, operations and economic performance improvement. Mr. Gowans served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Arizona Mining Inc. which was acquired by South32 Limited in 2018 for over $1.65 billion. Prior to that, he was with Barrick Gold Corporation as Senior Advisor to the Chairman from August to December 2015, Co-President from July 2014 to August 2015, and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from January to July 2014.
From 2011 to 2014, Mr. Gowans served as the Managing Director of Debswana Diamond Company (Pty) Ltd., and has also held positions at various companies including De Beers SA, De Beers Canada Inc., PT Inco Indonesia, Placer Dome Inc., and Cominco Ltd. (now Teck Resources).
Mr. Gowans previously served as the President of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, the Chair of the Board of the Mining Association of Canada, and a director of the Conference Board of Canada. He currently holds multiple roles on boards of directors and/or advisory and technical committees for; New Gold, Cameco Ltd., Trilogy Metals Inc. and Marathon Gold Corporation.
Mr. Gowans is a Professional Engineer, holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in mineral engineering from the University of British Columbia, and attended the Banff School of Advanced Management.
Christina McCarthy
President, CEO, Director
Ms. McCarthy is a geologist with over 13 years of experience in the resource capital markets. Ms. McCarthy served as Director of Corporate Development for McEwen Mining Inc. from December 2014 to December 2019. Most recently Ms. McCarthy was the Vice President of Corporate Development for New Oroperu Resources Inc which recently announced a business combination with First Light Capital to combine and create Anacortes Mining Corp. She spent the past 13 years in various roles including building an exempt market dealer focusing on resources, equity research at Euro Pacific and Institutional Sales at Haywood Securities.
Prior to entering the resource capital markets, she worked in Scandinavia for a junior exploration company managing the exploration programs on multiple projects throughout Norway and Sweden. Christina was also influential in building and supporting one of the leading resource IPO’s in 2020, New Found Gold Corp.
Steve Filipovic
CFO
Mr. Filipovic is a Chartered Professional Accountant with more than 23 years’ financial management and oversight experience. Most recently, he was a member of Premier Gold Mines Limited’s executive team as its Chief Financial – 48 – Officer (June 2012 – April 2021), Vice President, Finance (April 2008 – June 2012), and Controller (May 2006 – April 2008). Previously, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Zinifex Canada Inc. (May 2007 – May 2008), Vice President, Finance of Wolfden Resources Inc. (October 2004 – May 2007)
and was a director and/or senior officer of Greenstone Gold Mines, Mega Precious Metals Inc., Source Exploration Corp., Kings Bay Gold Corporation and T.B. Mining Ventures Inc. and, prior to entering the mining sector, practiced as an Audit Manager with Ernst & Young LLP in their Calgary based Oil & Gas group. Mr. Filipovic holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Lakehead University, is a member in good standing with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta and is an ICD.D designated member of the Institute of Corporate Directors.
John Begeman
Director
Mr. Begeman is a Professional Mining Engineer with over 40 years of mining experience. He currently sits on the board of directors of Yamana Gold Inc. He served on the board of Premier Gold Mines Limited in 2006 and became its Chairman in 2015. He has previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Avion Gold Corporation from 2008 to 2012, as the President and Chief Executive Officer and director of Valencia Ventures Ltd. from 2008 to 2010, as the Chief Operating Officer of Zinifex Canada Inc.
from 2006 to 2008 and as Vice President, Western Operations of Goldcorp Inc. from 2000 to 2006. In his capacity for Goldcorp Inc., he was responsible for its surface gold operations in South Dakota and the Industrial Minerals Division in Saskatchewan. Previous to his employment at Goldcorp Inc., Mr. Begeman held various engineering and management positions with Morrison Knudsen Company in the contract mining operations group throughout the Western United States.
Mr. Begeman holds a B.S. in Mining Engineering, an M.S. in Engineering Management and an MBA. He is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors with the ICD.D designation. He is also a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and is NACD Directorship Certified.
Ewan Downie
Strategic Advisor
Mr. Downie is an accomplished company builder and entrepreneur with more 25 years’ experience in the mining sector. Mr. Downie served as founder, President & CEO of Premier Gold Mines Limited and prior to this, founder President & CEO of Wolfden Resources Inc. Both companies enjoyed significant value appreciation following inception resulting in both being acquired with spinout vehicles to the benefit of shareholders.
In his extensive career Mr. Downie has participated in several gold and base metal discoveries and has been awarded accolades to reflect this success including the 2003 recipient of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, Bill Dennis Prospector of The Year and several Exploration, and Development acknowledgements from the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors Association.