Mr. Tafel holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario and has over 30 years of corporate structuring, strategic planning, financing and management experience. He has been an officer and director of a number of publicly listed companies and has been instrumental in raising well over $100 million for resource, life sciences and technology companies.He co-founded MBMI Resources Inc., which became a nickel producer in the Philippines (reaching a market capitalization of $400 million). He led the spin-out of Garson Gold Corp (from MBMI) and as CEO went on to acquire the New Britannia gold mine in Manitoba from Kinross/High River. Garson was subsequently acquired by a Canadian based mining company. Prior to his public company experience, Mr. Tafel managed private investment funds at the (then) largest independent Canadian securities firm.