Board of Directors

Mr. Juneau is co-founder of the Company and served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company from August 2012 after the Company’s co-founder, Mr. Kenneth R. Peak, received a medical leave of absence, until January 5, 2020 when he was succeeded by Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyse. Mr. Juneau has served as Chairman of the Board since April 2013. Mr. Juneau is the sole manager of the general partner of Juneau Exploration, L.P. (“JEX”), a company involved in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. JEX has entered into a number of agreements and arrangements with the Company, which are described under “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions”. Prior to forming JEX, Mr. Juneau served as senior vice president of exploration for Zilkha Energy Company from 1987 to 1998. Prior to joining Zilkha Energy Company, Mr. Juneau served as staff petroleum engineer with Texas International Company for three years, where his principal responsibilities included reservoir engineering, as well as acquisitions and evaluations. Prior to that, he was a production engineer with Enserch Corporation in Oklahoma City. Mr. Juneau previously served as a director of Contango Oil & Gas Company from April 2012 to March 2014. Mr. Juneau is currently a director of Talos Energy. Mr. Juneau holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from Louisiana State University. Mr. Juneau, as the Company’s co-founder, has substantial history and familiarity with the Company, and significant technical knowledge.

Mr. Compofelice has been a director of the Company since its inception. Since January 2014, Mr. Compofelice has been an operating partner of White Deer Energy, an energy focused private equity fund. Mr. Compofelice is the Chairman since November 2014 and Chief Executive Officer since January 2016 of Stuart Pressure Control, an oilfield services company, controlled by White Deer Energy. Mr. Compofelice is the Chairman and Chief Executive Office of Axios Industrial Group LLC, an industrial service company, controlled by White Deer Energy. Mr. Compofelice has served as Managing Director of Houston Capital Advisors, a boutique financial advisory, mergers and acquisitions investment service since January 2004. Mr. Compofelice also served as Chairman of the Board of Trico Marine Service, a provider of marine support vessels serving the international natural gas and oil industry, from 2004 to 2010 and as its Chief Executive Officer from 2007 to 2010. Mr. Compofelice served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Aquilex Services Corp., a service and equipment provider to the power generation industry, from October 2001 to October 2003. From February 1998 to October 2000 he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CompX International Inc., a provider of components to the office furniture, computer and transportation industries. From March 1994 to May 1998 he was Chief Financial Officer of NL Industries, a chemical producer, Titanium Metals Corporation, a metal producer and Tremont Corp. Mr. Compofelice received his Bachelor of Science degree at California State University at Los Angeles and his Master of Business Administration at Pepperdine University. Mr. Compofelice has extensive leadership and financial experience. 

Mr. Green served as Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of HighGold Mining Inc. from August 2019 until its acquisition by Contango ORE in July 2024, and as Executive Chairman for Onyx Gold Corp from July 2023 to present. Mr. Green was a founder of HighGold and Onyx Gold, both publicly traded companies focused on mineral exploration and mine development in North America. Between November 2008 and December 31, 2019, he served as the Vice President Exploration for Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. and prior to that, Mr. Green oversaw exploration and underground development programs at the Niblack deposit, for which he received the Commissioner’s Award for Project Excellence by the State of Alaska. Mr. Green holds a B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia and an M.Sc. in economic geology from Carleton University. Mr. Green has thirty years of experience in the minerals mining industry and brings significant industry, corporate and technical knowledge to the Company.

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Mr. Freeman is a U.S. Certified Professional Geologist and a licensed geologist in the State of Alaska as well as a member of several professional organizations. Since forming Avalon Development in 1985, Curt and his crews have conducted mineral exploration all over Alaska as well as in the Yukon, the western United States, Central America, South America, New Zealand and Africa. He has consulted for numerous major and junior mining companies and he and his team of professionals have been credited with a number of gold, copper, silver, nickel, platinum group, and rare metal discoveries in Alaska and other parts of the world. Curt was Project Manager for Contango Ore’s Manh Choh gold-silver project from its acquisition in 2008 through 2019. Curt and his team were responsible for the discovery of the Manh Choh deposit as well as identification of all other known mineral prospects in the area.  Curt is a Founding Director of CanadianTSXV-listed Tectonic Metals Inc., and a Founding Director and President ofValhalla Metals Inc. and Anglo Alaska Gold Corp., both private Alaska-domiciled companies involved in VMS and gold exploration, respectively. Curt also serves on the Technical Advisory Boards of Canadian publicly-listed Metallic Minerals,Group Ten Metals and Granite Creek Copper. Curt earned his Bachelor's degree in Geology in 1978 from the College of Wooster, Ohio and his Master's Degrees in Economic Geology in 1980 from University of Alaska –Fairbanks.

Mr. Shortz has been a director of the Company since 2016. Mr. Shortz is President and Chief Executive Officer of Pavia Capital, LLP, a family office investment company. Mr. Shortz served as a Partner of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, an international law firm (“Morgan Lewis”) from 1995 through September 2016 and as a Partner with Jones Day Reavis & Pogue LLP, another international law firm, from 1983 through 1994. He previously was an executive of Tosco Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, from 1973 through 1983 where he became Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. While a Partner at Morgan Lewis, Mr. Shortz served as Chairman of the firm’s Energy Group and a member of its Board. Mr. Shortz received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Indiana University in 1967 and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1970. Mr. Shortz has extensive experience in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance, regularly advising both public and private energy companies.

Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyse was appointed to serve as President, Chief Executive Officer, and director of the Company effective January 6, 2020. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Trilogy Metals Inc. from January 2012 until December 2019. Between May 1999 and January of 2012, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of NOVAGOLD, Inc, a company that he founded. He served as the Vice President of Exploration for Placer Dome from 1990 to 1997. Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyse holds a Candidature degree in Science from Université de Louvain, Belgium and a Master of Science degree in Geology from the University of Arizona. Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyse currently serves on the board of directors of Alexco Resource Corp. He served on the board of directors of Sandfire Resources America, Inc. (formerly, Tintina Resources Inc.) from 2008 until 2016. Mr. Van Nieuwenhuyse has over forty years of experience in the minerals mining industry and brings significant industry and technical knowledge to the Company.