June 23, 2009 |
Rainy River Announces Retirement of Nelson W. Baker as CEO and President and Appointment of Raymond W. Threlkeld as Successor |
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - June 23, 2009) - Rainy River Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:RR) announces that Mr. Nelson W. Baker is retiring as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Mr. Baker was responsible for bringing the Rainy River project to the Company and has served as President since 2005. Mr. Baker will continue to serve the Company as a consultant and as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors. During Mr. Baker's tenure, the Company's Rainy River project in Northwestern Ontario has grown from a grassroots exploration property to a project with indicated resources of 2.225 million ounces of gold and 3.375 million ounces of silver at a gold grade of 1.24 g/t as well as inferred resources of 1.807 million ounces of gold and 4.548 million ounces of silver at a gold grade of 0.88 g/t.
The Company is pleased to announce that Raymond W. Threlkeld has accepted the appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer of Rainy. Mr. Threlkeld is a seasoned mining professional with more than 30 years of experience in exploration, mine development, mine operations and executive management.
Mr. Threlkeld served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Western Goldfields Inc. from 2006 until May, 2009, where he led the team that acquired, developed and put into operation the Mesquite Gold Mine in California three months ahead of schedule and within 2% of budget. During his tenure the market capitalization of Western Goldfields rose from $12 million to over $300 million in less than 24 months. Western Goldfields was successfully merged into New Gold Inc. in June 2009.
Mr. Threlkeld also served as Chief Operating Officer of Silver Bear Resources Inc., where he was responsible for the geologic reforming of Silver Bear's Mangaziesky Project in Yakutia, Russia, which resulted in the discovery of a potential world-class silver mining district.
In 2004 and 2005 Mr. Threlkeld served as President of South American Operations for Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp., where he was responsible for the operation of the Cerro Bayo, Chile and Martha, Argentina silver-gold mines.
From 1996 until 2004, Mr. Threlkeld was employed with Barrick Gold Corp. in the capacity of country manager for Peru and Tanzania, rising to the position of Vice President of Project Development. During his tenure at Barrick he was responsible for placing more than 30 million ounces of gold resources into production in South America, Africa and Australia. Among his accomplishments with Barrick were the recognition and development of the Pierina Gold Mine, Peru and leadership of the teams that developed the Bulyanhulu Mine in Tanzania, the Veladero Mine in Argentina, the Lagunas Norte Mine in Peru and the Cowal Mine in Australia. Mr. Threlkeld also led the feasibility team which developed the Pascua-Lama gold-silver deposit, Chile/Argentina and the operation and eventual closure of the El Indio Mine, Chile. The closure program has set the standard for mine closures in Chile.
In addition to the management of more than $2 billion in gold mine development while with Barrick, Mr. Threlkeld oversaw the establishment of social development programs created in the respective countries which established Barrick as a world leader in mine-local community involvement.
"We are delighted to have someone with Mr. Threlkeld's impressive credentials take over leadership of Rainy River," said retiring President and CEO Nelson Baker. "We are at the stage where we are moving the Rainy River Project from exploration into planning for development. With Ray's extensive experience in developing and operating mines, he clearly has the ability to put together a development plan and build a project management team to take the Company to the next level."
Mr. Threlkeld will work with Mr. Baker and senior management to effect a smooth transition over the next two months. He will join Rainy as President and CEO on a full-time basis on August 15, 2009.
Mr. Threlkeld has been granted options to acquire a total of 500,000 common shares of the Company at the exercise price of $2.01 per share for a period of 5 years, subject to vesting. In addition, the Company has agreed to issue to Mr. Threlkeld 50,000 common shares at a deemed price of $2.01 per share as a signing bonus. The share issuance is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.
About Rainy River Resources Ltd.
Rainy River Resources Ltd. is a Canadian precious metals exploration company whose key asset is the Rainy River gold project in Richardson Township in Northwestern Ontario. The Company's property is extremely well located, with easy access by a network of roads and in close proximity to hydro-electric infrastructure. The Rainy River district has a skilled labour force and is one of the lowest-cost areas for mineral exploration and development in Canada. The province of Ontario has low political risk and, according to the annual Fraser Institute global survey of the mining industry, has consistently ranked as one of the top jurisdictions embracing mineral development.
During the past several years the Company has been conducting a dual-focused exploration program on its Rainy River project, consisting of definition diamond drilling of the main gold resource with accompanying scoping-style studies, and selective diamond drill testing of high-priority gold targets defined primarily by RC drilling within the large gold system centered in the so-called 17/ODM/433 zones. To date its efforts have identified a total inferred and indicated resource in excess of 4 million ounces of gold. With a large land position, approximately $21 million in the treasury, and numerous ore grade intercepts on drill targets outside the main resource of the 17/ODM/433 zones, Rainy River is well positioned expand its drill program and to commence planning for future development of a mine.
RAINY RIVER RESOURCES LTD.
Gerald J. Shields, Vice President, Administration
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept the responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. | |