Hercules Metals (TSX-V:BIG) has appointed the former Arizona Sonoran (TSX:ASCU) management team to lead the company through its next phase of growth.
The incoming leadership team, led by George Ogilvie, will assume key positions within the company effective 1 September. Founder Chris Paul will transition to senior vice president, exploration, while remaining a director.
The former Arizona Sonoran team includes Nick Nikolakakis, Nick Hayduk, Travis Snider, Alison Dwoskin, Kevin Canario, and Anthony Bottrill.
Ogilvie will serve as chief executive, joining the board of directors on the effective date. The team recently completed the sale of Arizona Sonoran to Hudbay Minerals (TSX:HBM) in June for US$2.0 billion ($2.84 billion), reflecting a 30% premium.
Chairman Matthieu Bos welcomed the new members of the senior executive leadership team.
“Collectively, the Arizona Sonoran team has a track record of advancing major copper discoveries through resource definition, technical and economic studies, permitting and development, and eventual mergers and acquisitions,” Bos says.
Incoming President and CEO Ogilvie says the company’s Idaho assets have the potential to be “an exceptionally large copper porphyry system in the United States that offers size and scale on a regional level”.
The Leviathan discovery, hosted within the company’s Hercules Project, was made in 2023, with the initial hole intersecting 185m @ 0.84% copper (Cu), 111 parts per million molybdenum, and 2.60g/t silver. This also included 45m @ 1.94% Cu.
Subsequent drilling has demonstrated mineralisation as shallow as 72m depth in the eastern portion of the deposit, with the mineralised envelope remaining open in multiple directions.
“By combining our team with Hercules’ existing ambitious and technically driven exploration team, we believe we have the potential to grow the company from a successful junior explorer into a leading US-focused copper exploration and development company,” Ogilvie says.
“Above all else, we know how to execute on these types of projects and create significant upside for our shareholders and all stakeholders.”
The company’s namesake project forms part of a 73km copper belt across which the company controls over 40 hectares of prospective mineral rights.
Hercules notes Paul will continue as chief executive until the effective date, working with the incoming team to support an orderly transition. Keith Li will resign as chief financial officer on 1 September, remaining in a transitional role.
“This transition is about assembling the strongest possible leadership structure and placing each of us in the roles where we can contribute the greatest value,” Paul says.
The appointments and option grants remain subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance and regulatory approvals.
Hercules Metals is a US-focused mineral explorer advancing its namesake project in western Idaho.
Write to Paula Fabe at Mining.com.au
Images: Mining.com.au
