Royal Road Minerals Ltd (CVE:RYR) (OTCMKTS:RRDMF), a gold- and copper-focused mineral exploration company, said Monday that Nigel Chapman has been appointed as vice president exploration.
In a statement, the company said Chapman will be responsible for overseeing the company's exploration activities in Colombia and Nicaragua.
In the last 15 years, more than 50 million ounces of new gold has been discovered in Colombia, where all major mining groups have a presence.
READ: Royal Road Minerals on the hunt for Tier 1 gold and copper mines in Nicaragua and Colombia
Chapman has an honors degree in geology from Liverpool University in the UK, and nearly three decades of mineral exploration experience in West Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, India, and Australia.
Prior to his bachelor’s degree, Chapman served with an infantry regiment of the British Army called the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
Chapman has also worked with Anglo-Australian metals and mining company Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO), De Beers and was formerly COO of United Kimberley Diamonds. Since 2005, he has been running his own exploration business and has spent the last six months providing consultancy services to Royal Road. He has helped the company with its exploration activities in Colombia.
"It gives me great pleasure to welcome Nigel to the team,” said Royal Road CEO Tim Coughlin.
“He has worked with us for the last six months in Colombia and made a positive material difference, particularly in the prospective, but complex departments of Nariño and Cauca in the country's south,” he added.
The Royal Road Minerals boss added that the company has an impressive portfolio of gold and copper exploration projects in Nicaragua and Colombia.
“I sense that Nigel is relishing the challenge of developing these into significant and valuable mine assets," said Coughlin.
Employee incentive stock options
On a separate note, the company also revealed that it has granted employee incentive stock options to its management and employees to purchase an aggregate of 12 million shares of the company.
The options are exercisable until September 23 at a price of $0.25 per share and shall vest. The company now has 15,200,000 incentive stock options in issue representing 7% of the listed outstanding shares of the company.
The firm has been in Nicaragua since 2017 where it has a 50:50 joint venture with a local gold producer Hemco Mineros Nicaragua. The firm holds a large package of land, which includes 200,000 hectares in the so-called resource-rich Golden Triangle.
In Colombia, with its acquisition in May of a portfolio of exploration assets from mining major AngloGold Ashanti (JSE:ANG), Royal Road became the largest exploration holder of claims in the country - at around 600,000 hectares.
Contact Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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