Brian Morris, the newly hired president of Canadian explorer Blackrock Gold’s US subsidiary, has been killed at the weekend, after stopping to assist at the scene of a car accident in Reno, Nevada.

Morris also served on the board of Havilah Mining and has been hailed as a “gifted person”, with a “larger-than-life” personality.

“Brian will leave an enormous void on lots of different levels and will be greatly missed," said Blackrock chairperson Deepak Malhotra.

“Words do not suffice to express the heartfelt sorrow that we all feel for the passing of Mr. Morris. He brought great enthusiasm and energy to the Silver Cloud project. We will carry his passion and work forward, making this project a success."

“Brian was a larger-than-life figure who brought remarkable passion, experience and energy to every endeavour he chose to pursue, including the many mining projects during his career. Those of us who had an opportunity to know Brian knew him as a great leader and friend, and his memory will continue on," commented Havilah’s Blair Schultz.

According to local news reports, Morris and another man, who travelled in a different vehicle, stopped at the scene of an accident on the Mt Rose Highway on Saturday evening to assist the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident. As the good Samaritans were on the driver side of a Toyota Tacoma, a GMC Yukon SUV was traveling westbound, observed the crash and steered to the left, striking the right side of the Toyota Tacoma within several minutes of the crash. Both men were struck.

Prior to joining Blackrock US, Morris served as the senior VP of exploration at Klondex Mines and held management positions with Newmont Mining, Hecla Mining and Great Basin Gold.

Morris has lived and explored in various capacities in Nevada for more than 20 years and was well acquainted with the Northern Nevada Rift, which is known for hosting low sulphidation, epithermal gold systems.

Morris was considered an expert in epithermal vein systems, Carlin style deposits and has extensive experience in orogenic deposits in Ontario and Manitoba, Canada.