Power-Pack Trio Join Lion One

Three expatriates have joined the country’s second operat­ing gold manufacturer, to form a strengthen the formidable power-packed technical team that lead the mine.

Alex Nichol, David Towle and Melvyn Levrel, bring a combined effort of 70 years’ experience in mineral resources as they join Lion One Metals Limited.

Lion One Metals is an emerging Canadian gold producer based in North Vancouver BC, with new op­erations established in late 2023 at Tuvatu alkaline gold project in Fiji.

Mr Nichol is the vice president geology and exploration, Mr Towle is mill manager, while Mr Levrel is senior exploration geologist.

Company chairman and chief executive officer Walter Berukoff said the three veterans possessed superior leadership skills and ex­tensive experience in their respec­tive fields of expertise.

Mr Nichol is responsible for un­derground geology and mining, Mr Towle heads mill operations and commissioning, while Mr Levrel is in charge of mineral exploration.

Meanwhile, Sergio Cattalani re­tired as senior vice president ex­ploration after a three-year stint at Lion One’s Tuvatu alkaline gold project where he led the geology and exploration teams.

“He transitions into a new role as senior geology advisor with Lion One,” Mr Berukoff said.

Alex Nichol

Mr Nichol is a mining profession­al with over 20 years of progressive experience in underground gold, copper, and zinc mining.

He has extensive senior operation­al experience in underground geol­ogy, production, and exploration, specializing in mine start-ups and geology systems development and implementation.

He was geology superintendent at Mt Colin copper-gold mine in Queensland, and senior under­ground mine geologist at Barrick Gold’s Porgera Joint Venture in Papua New Guinea – an analogue deposit for Tuvatu.

He has also held senior under­ground mine geologist positions at the Dugald River Mine and Fossey Mine and was senior mine geolo­gist position at Glencore’s George Fisher Mine near Mount Isa, Queensland.

Mr Nichol will oversee under­ground development, production, and exploration at Tuvatu, and re­gional exploration throughout the Navilawa caldera.

Mr Nichol holds a Bachelor of Sci­ence in Geology from the Univer­sity of Otago and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geosci­entists (MAIG).

David Towle

Mr Towle has over 35 years of experience in mill operations and production, specialising in mill commissioning.

He worked with IAMGOLD as a commissioning specialist re­sponsible for the planning and execution of all commission­ing activities at the Cote Gold poject in Ontario.

He has managed all aspects of mill construction and start-up from first ore to nameplate production at numerous mines, in­cluding Pure Gold Mining’s Mads­en Project, Atlantic Gold’s (now St. Barbara’s) Touquay Mine, and Pre­tium Resources Brucejack Mine.

Mr Towle held the roles of mill manager and mill operations superintendent on multiple occasions and spent 18 years in mill opera­tions at Goldcorp’s (now Newmont’s) Musselwh i t e Mine.

Mr. Towle has also complet­ed extensive managerial and techni­cal train­ing programmes throughout his career, including Goldcorp’s Su­pervisory Leadership Programme, Harvard Management and Men­torship Program, Refinery Leader­ship Partners Program, and Placer Dome’s Project Management Pro­gram.

Mr Towle is an expert in mill start-up and operations and that will be his focus at Lion One.

Melvyn Levrel

Mr Levrel is an accomplished exploration geologist with 15 years of experience in min­eral exploration and min­ing.

He is an expert in Fijian geology and in exploration management in the South Pacific, having spent three years as the Fiji country di­rector and exploration man­ager for Alice Queen Limited, and an additional f o u r years managing mineral explo­ration and geophysics projects throughout Fiji as a consulting ge­ologist.

He has six years of experience in exploration and mining in New Caledonia.

Mr Levrel has a wide range of ex­perience in field geology, geophys­ics, and resource modelling, as well as a unique knowledge of the ex­ploration techniques, history, and regulations in Fiji.

As a senior exploration geolo­gist with Lion One, Mr Levrel will be focused on the advancement of Lion One’s regional exploration targets and prospects throughout the Navilawa Caldera.

Mr Levrel holds a Masters De­gree in Geo-resources from the Polytechnic Institute of Bordeaux (Bordeaux INP), and a Bachelors Degree in Geology from the Univer­sity of Brest. He is also a Member of the Australian Institute of Geo­scientists (MAIG).

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