John Lewins

CEO & Director

Mr. Lewins is a Mineral Engineer with over 35 years’ experience in the mining industry. He has previously worked in Africa, Australia, Asia, North America and the former Soviet Union. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Company and served as Chief Operating Officer from May 2016 to August 2017. Mr. Lewins has successfully managed the development of a number of open pit and underground gold, precious and base metal mines from feasibility study through to profitable operations.

Mr. Lewins has operated extensively at the corporate level in various roles from Executive General Manager to Director and Chief Executive Officer with a number of other mining companies, including MIM Holdings, First Dynasty Mines, Platinum Australia and African Thunder Platinum.

Mr. Lewins received his National Diploma for Technicians (Extractive Metallurgy) from Technikon Witwatersrand, South Africa, a Bachelor of Science degree (Honours) in Mineral Engineering from University of Leeds, England and a Graduate Diploma in Management from University of Queensland.

John Lewins is Chair of the K92 Health and Safety Committee and a member of the Sustainability Committee.

David Medilek

President & COO

Mr. Medilek is a mining professional with over 17 years of mining capital markets, corporate strategy and technical operating experience. Mr. Medilek joined K92 in 2019, most recently holding the position of President, and prior to that was its Vice President Business Development and Investor Relations. Previously, Mr. Medilek was an equity research analyst covering precious metals companies, with Macquarie Group Limited; a mining investment banker with Cormark Securities Inc.; and a mining engineer with Barrick Gold Corporation in Western Australia. Mr. Medilek holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mining Engineering with Distinction from the University of British Columbia, a Professional Engineer designation in the Province of British Columbia, and is a CFA ® charterholder*. (*CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.)

Justin Blanchet

CFO

Mr. Blanchet has acquired considerable experience in the areas of financial reporting, regulatory compliance, treasury, and audit for both Canadian and U.S. publicly listed companies. He has international experience working on projects throughout the world, and is well versed in the requirements of complex regulatory environments as well as the requirements of International Financial Reporting Standards. Mr. Blanchet is a Canadian Chartered Professional Accountant and a U.S. Certified Public Accountant (Washington and Illinois).

Chris Kinver

VP Projects & Engineering

Mr. Kinver is a Mining Engineer with approximately 20 years of experience in the mining industry, predominantly in senior management roles in underground operations and mine development with senior, intermediate and junior mining companies in Australia, Papua New Guinea, South America, Africa and the United Kingdom. Mr. Kinver joined K92 in 2019, and most recently held the position as the Company’s Project Director, Kora Expansion. Prior to that, Mr. Kinver held the positions of K92’s Mining Manager and also Evaluation and Studies Manager. Before joining K92, Mr. Kinver was with OceanaGold Corporation as the Project Manager for the Didipio Underground Mine for approximately 3 years, successfully transitioning the operation from an open pit to a 1.6 mtpa long hole stoping underground operation. Other senior management roles include: Underground Mine Manager with BHP Billiton at the Perseverance Nickel Mine, one of the largest underground operations in Western Australia; Underground Mine Manager with Barrick Gold Corporation at the Plutonic Gold Mine in Western Australia; and Principal Engineer at mining consulting firm Wardell Armstrong LLP. Mr. Kinver holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mining and Mineral Engineering with Honours from Camborne School of Mines and a First Class Western Australian Mine Managers’ Certificate. He holds registrations with the Institute of Engineers Australia, The Engineering Institution of Zambia, and Registered Engineers of Tanzania.

Chris Muller

Executive VP Exploration

Chris Muller is a geologist with over 20 years of experience in open pit and underground mine, near mine, brownfields and greenfields exploration, in Papua New Guinea, Mongolia, China, Ghana, Indonesia and Thailand. He served as the Company’s Vice President Exploration for over 5 years and has been with K92 since 2016. Mr. Muller has worked on a range of mineral deposit styles, including porphyry Cu/Au, epithermal and skarn precious and base metal, carbonate – base metal and Archean gold deposits. He has been directly involved in several important mineral finds during his career, including the discovery of additional porphyry deposits that led to the world class status of the Wafi/Golpu project in Papua New Guinea. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree (majoring in geology and geophysics), a degree with first class honours in economic geology and a PhD in plate tectonics in conjunction with molecular dating.

Philip Samar

VP Government & Community Affairs

Mr. Samar is a Mining Engineer, who spent 20 years working for the Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) of Papua New Guinea, the government body responsible for regulating the exploration and mineral sector. In his last six years as Managing Director, Mr. Samar had a significant leadership role within the country and has regularly interacted with multiple mining industry stakeholders including: government, international organizations, landowners and foreign investors.

Nancy La Couvée

Corporate Secretary

Ms. La Couvée brings over 20 years of experience as a Corporate Secretary, providing governance and compliance services for international publicly listed companies in the resource sector. Ms. La Couvée ensures effective board and shareholder communications, compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements in numerous jurisdictions, establishment of corporate governance policies, corporate finance administration, and corporate records management. She is a member of the Governance Professionals of Canada.

Daisy Taylor

Papua New Guinea Govt. & Community Affairs Advisor, Png Director

Ms. Taylor, born in the Eastern Highlands area where the project is located, has more than 30 years of business leadership experience in Papua New Guinea. Ms. Taylor is currently a Director of two separate real estate companies in Papua New Guinea and previously served as the General Manager of Nokondi Investments, the property development business arm of the Eastern Highlands Provincial Government. Ms. Taylor was also involved in the Electoral Commission Papua New Guinea project, an Australian Government project managed by CARDNO ACIL and was the Project Manager for The Electoral Reform Project, a European Union (EU) funded initiative operated by Transparency International (PNG) which was aimed at promoting democracy and advocacy for electoral reform. Additionally, Ms. Taylor has worked with government, donor countries, and non government organizations at all levels in a variety of roles in project management, budgetary account management, human resource development, training and educational support and development issues. Ms. Taylor has an extensive background in the media industry in both Papua New Guinea and Australia and in the real estate industry.

Mark Schubert

General Manager, External Affairs and Sustainable Development

Mr. Schubert is an anthropologist with over 30 years of experience in Papua New Guinea and other parts of the Pacific. He has conducted social mapping and landholder identification as well as social and economic impact studies for natural resource, construction, and other projects throughout Papua New Guinea. His extensive expertise in Papua New Guinea is also highlighted by over a decade of advising and managing community government relations along with sustainable development issues. 

In addition to his anthropology background, he has experience as an editor and media manager for a public policy think tank and has intermittently, over the last thirty-five years, taught at six of Australia’s universities. 

Mr. Schubert holds a masters in demography from La Trobe University and PhD in anthropology from The University of Queensland.