Mining Entrepreneurs Paul Matysek and Bassam Moubarak Join the Freeman Gold Team
• Bassam Moubarak joins as Chief Financial Officer and Director• Paul Matysek, former Lithium X executive, joins the Strategic Advisory Board
Vancouver, October 7, 2020 - Freeman Gold Corp. (CSE: FMAN) (FSE: 3WU) ("Freeman", or the "Company") today announced that the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") has appointed Paul Matysek as Strategic Advisor and Bassam Moubarak as Chief Financial Officer, effective October 1, 2020. Mr. Moubarak has also been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors.
Mr. Matysek is a serial entrepreneur, geochemist and geologist with over 40 years of experience in the mining industry. Since 2004 as CEO or Chairman, Mr. Matysek has primarily focused on the exploration, development and sale of five publicly listed companies, in aggregate worth almost 2.9 billion. Most recently, he was Executive Chairman of Lithium X Energy Corp., which was sold to Nextview New Energy Lion Hong Kong Limited for $265 million in cash. Mr. Matysek was President and CEO of Goldrock Mines Corp., which sold to Fortuna Silver Mines in July 2016. He was previously CEO of Lithium One, which merged with Galaxy Resources of Australia to create a multi-billion-dollar integrated lithium company. He served as CEO of Potash One, which was acquired by K+S Ag for $434-million cash in a friendly takeover in 2011. Mr. Matysek was also the co-founder and CEO of Energy Metals Corp., a uranium company that grew from a market capitalization of $10 million to approximately $1.8 billion when sold in 2007.
Mr. Moubarak is a seasoned senior executive with over 10 years' experience in the mining industry. Mr. Moubarak was CFO of Lithium X Energy Corp. where he played a key role in its sale to NextView New Energy Lion Hong Kong Limited for $265 million. Prior to this Mr. Moubarak was CFO of Goldrock Mines Corp. where he was instrumental in its sale to Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. for $180 million. He was Chief Financial Officer of Petaquilla Minerals Ltd. where he was responsible in raising in excess of $120 million to develop and bring into production the Molejon Gold Mine. He also played a major role in the sale of Petaquilla Copper Ltd. to Inmet Mining Corporation for $400 million and negotiated the sale of Golden Arrow Resources Corp.'s 1% net smelter royalty on Gualcamayo Gold Mine to Premier Royalty Inc. for $17.75 million. Mr. Moubarak is a chartered professional accountant and was previously a senior manager with the international accounting firm Deloitte LLP., where he led audits of public companies and oversaw SOX 404 implementations with specific emphasis on the mining industry.
Commenting on the appointment, Freeman CEO William Randall said, "I am excited to be partnering with Paul and Bassam again as we work together to unlock and enhance the value of the Lemhi Gold Project. Within the space of 18 months while managing Lithium X, this team raised over $50 million, executed on key technical and corporate priorities, attracted several interested parties and finally sold the company for $265 million cash. We hope to catch lightning in a bottle again and look forward to having Paul and Bassam part of our highly qualified Freeman team."
The appointment of Mr. Moubarak follows the resignation of Mr. Kelvin Lee as Chief Financial Officer. The Company would like to thank Mr. Lee for his contributions and wishes him well on his future endeavours.
The Company further announces an aggregate grant of 1,300,000 stock options to certain directors, officers and consultants of the Company exercisable at $0.60 expiring 5 years from the date of grant, subject to regulatory approval.
About the Company
Freeman Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the development of its 100% owned Lemhi Gold property (the "Lemhi Project"). The Lemhi Project comprises 30 square kilometers of highly prospective land. The mineralization at the Lemhi Project consists of shallow, near surface primarily oxide gold mineralization that has seen over 355 drill holes but remains open at depth and along strike in most directions. The Company is working towards de-risking the asset and producing a maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate as a result of both brownfields and greenfields exploration. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dean Besserer, P.Geol., the VP Exploration for the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
On Behalf of the Company
William Randall, President & CEO of Freeman Gold
For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.freemangoldcorp.com or contact Mr. Ken Cotiamco at 604-687-7130 or by email at: ken@freemangoldcorp.com
Forward Looking Statements: This press release contains "forward‐looking information or statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws, which may include, but are not limited to statements relating to its future business plans. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company 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 may differ from those in the forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information reflects the Company's views with respect to future events and is subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. The Company does not undertake to update forward‐looking statements or forward‐looking information, except as required by law.
Neither Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
