Western Stars – Resource Exploration in Canada's West

David has over a decade of experience in corporate finance and capital markets with a focus on the natural resource sector. As an executive with the PowerOne Group he has developed a depth of knowledge in representing, advising, and assisting emerging companies in accessing capital, advising on mergers and acquisitions and managing their businesses. David is a Chartered Professional Accountant and has also served in a variety of executive roles and director positions to a wide array of private and public enterprises.

Ms. Christie has served as President & CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of Banyan since 2016. She has over 26 years of experience in the exploration and mining business. Prior to that, Ms. Christie was President of privately owned Gimlex Gold Mines Ltd. (2006-2016), one of Yukon's largest placer mining operations and consulted in exploration, mining, environmental assessment, government, community and First Nation relations, including working with First Nation development corporations. She is currently a member of the board of Western Copper and Gold Corporation. Ms. Christie previously served as a board member of Osisko Green Acquisition Limited, Constantine Metal Resources Ltd., Klondike Gold Corp., PDAC, AMEBC and other industry associations and was a founding board member of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (2004-2016). She is active in non-profits and charities, including being President of "Every Student, Every Day", a charity that works to improve attendance in Yukon schools. Ms. Christie has B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of British Columbia and is a registered professional engineer in British Columbia and Yukon.

Mr. Read is a diamond exploration geologist with over 39 years of international experience. After graduating in geology and geochemistry from the University of Cape Town (BSc. Hons., 1983), Mr. Read joined De Beers in South Africa. During his 12 years with De Beers, he worked on a wide spectrum of diamond exploration projects in Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe, Mali and Tanzania), in addition to Canada and Brazil. Mr. Read came to Canada as a Landed Immigrant in early 1997 and worked as a consultant for several companies in Alberta, NWT, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, in addition to projects in Greenland and Brazil. Mr. Read commenced with Star Diamond Corporation in late 2003 and since that time has led the team responsible for the exploration and evaluation of the Fort a la Corne kimberlites. During his career of almost four decades, he has encountered and solved many of the diverse problems associated with diamond exploration and evaluation programs. Mr. Read is a Fellow of the Geological Association of Canada and a Professional Geoscientist in the Provinces of Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Mr. Read became a citizen of Canada in September 2005.

Mr. Zimmerman has been involved in public markets for nine years, eight of which were at a national brokerage firm. Over that time Mr. Zimmerman grew his role from an investment advisor to a derivatives portfolio manager utilizing a global thematic lens with a focus on commodity markets. Mr. Zimmerman is a CFA charter holder and holds a bachelor of commerce in international business from the University of Victoria.