Development Team
Since 2010, International Tower Hill Mines has been building up a highly experienced development and operating team in preparation for the advancement of the Livengood project towards becoming Alaska's next major gold mine. All team members added to date have tremendous experience working in Alaska, many having worked with the largest mines in the state including Red Dog, Kensington, Pogo, and Fort Knox as well as development projects such as Pebble and Donlin Creek.
James J. Komadina
President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Komadina has 32 years of diverse natural resources experience in project development, construction and operations, having held senior management positions with major gold producers including Gold Fields, AngloGold and Newmont. Most recently, he was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Brazauro Resources, a Canadian resource company with operations in Brazil, which was acquired by Eldorado Gold in July 2010.
Mr. Komadina's other experience includes his role as the Senior Vice President, Development Projects for Gold Fields where he led the development and construction of the $430 Million Cerro Corona project in Peru. From 1999 to 2003, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer, North America, for AngloGold Limited where he was responsible for all regional business activities. Mr. Komadina holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Arizona, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School of Business.
Allen R. Thabit
Manager of Engineering
Mr. Thabit has over 33 years of experience in project engineering, construction, maintenance and management. He is the president of Jade Diamond Consulting Inc., which has provided consulting services to mining and petrochemical industries on management training and project management, troubleshooting, maintenance and construction since 2001. Prior to that, he was the President of Garfield Steel and Machine, Inc. which also consulted to the mining and petrochemical industries. Among the projects that he has consulted on are Kennecott’s Utah Copper-MAP project, IAMGOLD’s Rosebel gold mine in Suriname, Anglo Nevada Metals Corporation’s Taylor silver project, Alacer Gold Corp’s Copler project in Turkey, Goldfields Peru’s Cerro Corona project and the AngloGold Ashanti’s Cripple Creek & Victor mine.
From 1987 to 1995, Mr. Thabit was a Project Manager/Senior Project Engineer and Mill Maintenance Superintendent for Newmont Gold Company where he was responsible for engineering design and construction of treatment plants and mine de-watering projects with a total budget in excess of $300 million. From 1983 to 1987, he was the Maintenance Manager of the Atlas Plant for Atlas Powder Company responsible for the total maintenance function in a large industrial complex manufacturing chemicals and explosives with a $3 million annual maintenance budget. From 1973 to 1983, he served as Maintenance, Construction and Project Engineer for numerous mining and petrochemical companies, including Cyprus Mines Corporation, where he was responsible for design and specification review for a $400 million surface mine and mill project. Mr. Thabit has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York.
Tom Irwin
Alaska General Manager
Mr. Irwin has over 35 years' experience in the natural resource industry constructing, optimizing, operating and permitting major mining projects with companies such as Amax Gold and Kinross. Most recently, he served for six years as the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
Prior to his role with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Mr. Irwin held senior positions at Kinross Gold's Fort Knox mine located 60 miles southeast of the Livengood project. From 1992 to 1996, he was Vice-President of Fairbanks Gold Mining, Inc., responsible for engineering at Fort Knox during mine design. From 1996 to 1999, he was the Operations Manager responsible for mine start-up and operation at the Fort Knox mine and General Manager of the mine from 1999 to 2001. From 2001 to 2003, he became the Vice President, Business Development for Fairbanks Gold Mining Inc., a subsidiary of Kinross Gold, responsible for new project permitting, business development and governmental and public relations as related to Kinross activities in Alaska. Prior to his work at Fort Knox, Mr. Irwin was General Manager of Amax Gold's Sleeper Mine in Nevada and manager of the Climax mine in Colorado. Mr. Irwin has a degree in Mineral Engineering-Chemistry from the Colorado School of Mines.
Harold Galbraith
Livengood Mining Manager
Mr. Galbraith has over 28 years of experience in all aspects of mining operations, maintenance systems, technical services and industrial engineering supprt, holding positions with mining companies such as Rio Tinto, Kennecott, Glamis Marigold Company and Drummond Ltd.
Prior to joining International Tower Hill Mines, Mr. Galbraith served as the Mine Manager for ASARCO, LLC at the Mission Mine in Sahuarita, Arizona, where he was responsible for annual mine production of 56.4 million tonnes of materials as well as maintenance of all rolling stock. Mr. Galbraith also specified and directed the acquisition of $190 million worth of equipment since 2007. Prior to that, he served as the Mine Superintendent for Glamis Marigold Mining Company where he oversaw the production of 42 million tonnes of material annually from 2005 to 2006. From 2001 to 2005, he held increasingly senior roles with Drummond Limited in South America, including Production Engineer, Senior Production Engineer and Assistant Superintendent of production at the LaLoma, Caesar and Colombia mines. From 1990 to 2001, he held multiple roles include Senior Projects Engineer as well as Short and Long Range Planning Engineer at Rio Tinto, Kennecott, Barneys Canyon Mining Company and Rawhide Mining Company. Mr. Galbraith has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University.
Keith Malone
Manager of Technical Services
Mr. Malone has 28 years of experience in mine management, most recently as Mine Superintendent with Sumitomo group at the Pogo mine, Alaska's second largest gold mine located 150 kilometres southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. Mr. Malone has been with the Pogo project for the past 6 years during its planning, construction and operation and has extensive experience in the mining and processing side of project development. Prior to his involvement with the Pogo project, Mr. Malone worked for 5 years as Mill Superintendent for Teck Resources at the Red Dog mine in western Alaska.
Denise Herzog
Manager of Environmental Affairs
Ms. Herzog has 20 years experience in mining and environmental engineering in Alaska. Her experience includes developing the environmental baseline monitoring program at the Teck-Pogo Project; and wetland delineator for the Donlin Creek and Pebble projects.
Karl Hanneman
Livengood Placer Manager
Mr. Hanneman has over 30 years of Alaska-based mining industry experience and most recently played a key role on the team that worked to resolve the permit issues at the Red Dog Mine, and previously held a lead role in the development and permitting of the Pogo Gold Mine, both in Alaska.
Prior to joining International Tower Hill Mines, Mr. Hanneman spent 12 years with Teck Resources Limited primarily focused on project development and permitting in Alaska. From 1998 to 2004, he served as Alaska Regional Manager during the exploration, development, and permitting of the Pogo Gold Mine and most recently was Director, Corporate Affairs, serving as the senior corporate representative in Alaska for Teck, providing strategic guidance on governmental, regulatory, permitting, and community issues related to the Red Dog Mine. Mr. Hanneman has led or participated in a number of industry and State of Alaska sponsored organizations, including: Alaska Minerals Commission, Council of Alaska Producers, Resource Development Council and the Alaska Miners Association. Mr. Hanneman holds a BSc. (Honours) degree in Mining Engineering from the University of Alaska.
Debbie Evans
Controller
Prior to joining International Tower Hill Mines, Ms. Evans was the Mines Controller for the Kensington Mine operated by Coeur Alaska Inc. Prior to Kensington, Ms. Evans was the Controller at the Fort Knox Mine and previously held senior accounting positions at the Stillwater and Round Mountain Mines. Ms. Evans is based in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Chris Puchner
Chief Geologist
Mr. Puchner has more than 30 years of North American exploration experience focusing on resource and mine development in Alaska, the western US and Mexico. He managed the initial development work on the Nixon Fork Gold mine in Alaska as well as led a mineral potential assessment effort for Doyon Alaska Native Corp. on their Alaska mineral lands. Mr. Puchner graduated Summa Cum Laude from Dartmouth College with a BA in Geology in 1977.