Board of Directors

  • Claude Dufresne, P. Eng.

    Director

    Claude Dufresne, P. Eng., has 30 years experience in the mining industry. He has been President, CEO and director of Niobay Metals Inc. since June 2014. Mr. Dufresne served as Director at IAMGOLD and he worked during 10 years as a metallurgist and mill superintendent for Cambior in Quebec and in Guyana. He was also responsible for the sale and marketing of ferro-niobium produced by the Niobec mine in Quebec from over 10 years. In 2007, Mr, Dufresne founded Camet Metallurgy Inc., a company specialized in the sale and marketing of various metals. He participated in economic studies on a number of rare earths, niobium, manganese and bauxite projects and acted as a supplier of various raw material for the steel industry. Prior to that, Mr. Dufresne graduated from Laval University in 1991 with a degree in mining engineering with a specialty in mineral processing and he is a member of the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec.

  • Victor Cantore

    Director

    Mr. Cantore is a seasoned capital markets professional specializing in the resource and hi tech sectors. He is currently President & CEO at Amex Exploration Inc., which has identified significant gold discoveries on its Perron project, in Quebec. He has more than 25 years of advisory and leadership experience having begun his career as an investment advisor and then moving into management roles at both public and private companies. During his career he has organized and structured numerous equity and debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture partnerships and strategic alliances

  • Luc Gervais, Eng.

    Director

    Mr. Gervais has 35 years of engineering, construction and maintenance experience in the mining and metallurgical sectors. He has held several management positions for metallurgical producers as well as for contractors and consulting engineering firms. He has directed numerous studies for mining companies and worked on various projects in Canada such as the Perseverance mine, extension of Mont-Wright in Fermont, extension of potash factories in Colonsay and Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, as well as setting up the Port Daniel Cement Plant. Abroad, he worked on the design of the incineration gas treatment of electronic components at Micro Metallics, in California, design and installation of a Noranda Reactor at the Daye Corp. foundry, in the Hubei province, China, commissioning and setting-up a lithium pilot plant in Centenario-Ratones in north-west Argentina. Mr. Gervais has a strong business experience, he is a graduate mining engineer from Laval University and a member of the Order of Engineers of Quebec (OIQ).

  • Jonathan Hamel

    Director, Secretary of the Board

    Mr. Hamel joined Vanstar’s Board of Directors in 2018 and subsequently contributed to various projects and roles related to business development and public relations. During this period, the company experienced strong growth to position itself as one of the most promising gold projects in Canada. Mr. Hamel is an Associate Researcher at the Montreal Economic Institute, an independent public policy think tank focused on proposing reforms based on market principles and entrepreneurship. He is also an invited lecturer at ESG+ UQAM and École des Dirigeants HEC Montréal. Mr. Hamel is a member of the Advisory Committee on Technological Innovation of L’Autorité des Marchés Financiers (Quebec Financial Markets Regulator) since 2017.

  • Wanda Cutler

    Director

    Wanda Cutler has worked with reporting issuers for more than 20 years in marketing and communications. She has acted as a strategic advisor to a number of public companies including: multiple junior mining companies, investment companies and alternative energy companies. Wanda holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Political Science) from the University of Ottawa and is President of Cutler McCarthy, a communication firm.

  • Jonathan Gagné, Eng. MBA.

    Director

    Mr. Gagné has a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from École Polytechnique de Montréal and an MBA with a specialization in Corporate Finance from Université du Québec à Montréal. Mr. Gagné has more than 13 years of experience in the mining sector in terms of project development, operation and management. Mr. Gagné began his career being involved in the construction and commissioning of the Meadowbank gold project located in Nunavut. He was head of the mining engineering department for SGS Geostat and was the responsible engineer to support the open-pit operations for Glencore Zinc globally. Most recently, he was General Manager of Sayona Quebec and currently works for Greenstone Gold Mines, which aims to develop the Hardrock Gold Project located in Ontario. He is also a director of Vision Lithium Inc and Infinite Ore Corp.

  • Albert Contardi, LL.B

    Director

    Mr. Contardi is a consultant/adviser with over 15 years of legal, investment and capital markets experience. He is currently President of Generic Capital Corporation, a Toronto based EMD finance firm as well as Interim President and CEO of QcX Gold, a Quebec based junior exploration company. Mr. Contardi’s  experience involves advising and structuring corporate finance transactions in the mining, tech and bio tech sectors to maximize the value of projects/assets. He has been called to the Ontario Bar and is a graduate of Queen’s University Law School.