GK Resources Strengthens Management and Board of Directors

TORONTO, Sept. 11, 2019 /CNW/ - GK Resources Corp. ("GK" or the "Company") (TSX-V:NIKL) is pleased to announce a series of appointments to its management team, board of directors and advisory team.

The appointments are as follow:

• Mr. Anthony ("Tony") Polglase – Independent Director of the Board
• Luis Azevedo –Director of the Board
• Alan De'ath – Independent Director of the Board
• Wagner Lourenco – Chief Operating Officer
• Alex Penha – Chief Financial Officer
• Jason Kosec – Technical Advisor

The Company also announces that Mr. Simon Dyakowski, Mr. Bill Morton and Mr. Shawn Smith will step down as directors of the Board.

Ian McDonald, President & CEO of GK, states: "I am delighted to welcome the new members of GK's board of directors and management team. To be able to attract such high caliber professionals to our Company speaks loudly about the prospects of the Company. Their appointments bring in-depth expertise, network and proven track-record in mining project development, licensing, financing, construction and operations, which will be instrumental as GK moves ahead with its strategic plan to be a significant base metals' player.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank Simon Dyakowski, Bill Morton and Shawn Smith for their valuable contributions to the GK since the inception and wish all the best in their future endeavors"   

Tony Polglase's experience

With 40 years multi-disciplined mining experience across 10 different countries, Mr Polglase is qualified in mechanical and electrical engineering with an honours degree in Metallurgy from the Camborne School of Mines, UK.

Mr. Polglase has extensive and hands-on experience in Brazil, is fluent in Portuguese, and was the key leadership figure in what has since been recognized as Australia's most successful Brazilian focused junior – Avanco Resources.

He has successfully transitioned Avanco from explorer to developer to producer on time and budget for a very economic ~US$46 million of pre-production capex. Operations continued without any "lost-time" injuries and never missing a production target.

Avanco remained debt-free and was acquired by OZ Minerals for ~A$430m representing 130% premium to the share price.

Previous employers include Iberian Resources, Ivernia Inc., Rio Tinto, TVX and Ashanti Goldfields.

Luis Azevedo's experience

Luis Azevedo has over 30 years of mining experience in Brazil. He is both a licensed geologist and lawyer, specialized in the Brazilian Mining Code, and an independent board member of several TSX, AIM and ASX listed companies.

He has built a very strong track record originating and founding many companies with projects in Brazil that have ultimately been listed onto the TSX, AIM and ASX, the most prominent being Avanco Resources, which he started by assembling the land package, developing and licensing to start-up of copper production in the prolific Carajas region of Brazil. Avanco Resources was ultimately sold to OZ Minerals for ~A$430 million in 2018. Luis and Tony Polglase worked together at Avanco from IPO through to the sale to Oz Minerals.

Luis has also been an active spokesperson of the mining sector in Brazil and works close with the highest federal levels of all branches of the Brazilian government, he is founder and CEO of Brasil Prospectors Association - ABPM.

He is currently the Managing Partner of FFA Legal, a legal firm he founded with main office in Rio de Janeiro, which is focused solely on natural resources companies. Previously he has also worked for Western Mining, Barrick Gold, and Harsco.

Alan De'ath, experience

Alan has 40 years of international offtake marketing, logistics, financial, corporate and operational experience in the mining industry in a range of commodities. This included a 20-year career with Rio Tinto PLC in senior marketing and financial roles around the world.

Alan is currently a strategic offtake marketing and logistics advisor to several clients in the mining industry and an Independent Director of Corsa Coal Corp. 

Throughout his career Alan has worked on a number of projects in Brazil with Rio Tinto, TVX Gold and more recently for the past 5 years with Avanco Resources until its takeover by Oz Minerals in 2018.

Alan is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA) in the UK and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) in the UK and USA.

Wagner Lourenço's experience

Wagner is a highly seasoned Mining Engineer with over 25 years of experience in base metals mining and metallurgy industries, particularly nickel production. He worked for 15 years with Nexa Resources, where he was Director of Operations for the Nickel Business Unit, comprised of three industrial complexes (mines and processing plants) plus corporate teams.

He has also extensive experience on leading Feasibility Study teams, involving dedicated engineering professionals for fleet dimensioning, processing route, capex and opex estimations and financial modelling.

As Director of Operations of Nexa Resource's nickel business, Wagner had oversight of the following operations:

• Fortaleza de Minas - Underground mine and processing facility to produce nickel in matte exported to Norilsk refinery facility in Finland. Total of 10,000 tonnes of contained Ni per year – 500 employees
  
  
• Niquelândia – 3.5Mtpa open pit mine with associated ammonia leaching plant producing 20,000 tonnes of contained Nickel per year – 1,500 employees
  
  
• São Miguel Paulista Nickel-Cobalt Refinery - producing 23,000 tonnes per year of refined Ni and Co plates – 500 employees
  
  
• Leadership of Corporate Office, including Marketing & Commercial teams, Engineering & Technology Development, Capex/Opex management teams.

Alex Penha's experience

Alex has over 14 years of experience in mining capital markets and mining industry, including Corporate Development, Equity Research and Investment Banking. He has played key roles on M&A transactions from origination to in-depth due diligence and economic assessment for Board approval and introduction to the capital markets in Canada.

Up until recently worked as Corporate Development advisor for GrowMax Resources Corp. Past roles have also included VP Corporate Development and member of the Board of Directors of Fertoz Limited (ASX: FTZ), EVP Corporate Development, Board Director and Chair of Audit Committee of Search Minerals Inc. (TSXV:SMY), VP Corporate Development at Aura Minerals Inc. (TSX:ORA), General Manager, Corporate Development at Rio Novo Gold (TSX:RN), Co-Founder and VP Corporate Development at Rio Verde Minerals Development Corp. (TSX:RVD).

Alex holds an MBA (York University, Schulich School of Business), a B.Sc. Economics, (Rio de Janeiro State University) and a Post-Degree in Corporate Finance (Getulio Vargas Foundation, Rio de Janeiro). Former Board Member of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce (BCCC), also acting as Chairman of its Mining Committee.

Jason Kosec's experience

Jason has nearly ten years of experience in all facets of mineral exploration. Upon completing his undergraduate degree in Geology at Western University and a Master in Earth and Energy Resources, Jason worked as a Project Geologist at Trelawney Mining and Exploration, which was subsequently sold to IAMGOLD for $608M in 2012. Jason then moved on to work as an Exploration Geologist at a number of IAMGOLD properties. In 2015, Jason was recruited to join Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd in the earliest stages of new management control as Sr. Geologist and Chief Mine Geologist, providing him with a unique understanding of and contribution to the current advanced understanding of the Cariboo project, culminating with his taking over of the Corporate Development role in late 2017.

About GK Resources Corp.

GK Resources Ltd. is a mineral property exploration company that completed its initial public offering on March 21, 2019. On March 25, 2019, the shares of the Company began trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") under the stock symbol NIKL.

Forward Looking Information

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, the Company's proposed use of the proceeds of its initial public offering. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE RELEASE.

SOURCE GK Resources Ltd

Ian McDonald, President and CEO, Tel.: [phone], Email: [email protected]; Alex Penha, CFO, Tel.: [phone], Email: [email protected]