SolGold appoints key executives

14th July 2022 By: Tasneem Bulbulia - Senior Contributing Editor Online

Dual-listed SolGold has appointed Steven Botts to the position of president of its Ecuador subsidiaries, Harold 'Bernie' Loyer to the position of VP projects, and Rufus Gandhi to the position of general counsel and company secretary.

Botts, who will assume his new role on August 1, based in Quito, is a senior mining executive, director, and consultant with more than 40 years of international mining experience in the development of mining projects, socio-environmental management, and sustainable development.

Botts has extensive Latin America experience, having worked in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Peru, the company indicates. He is fluent in English and Spanish and holds a Master of Environmental Policy and Management.

Loyer, who joins SolGold on July 27, based in Quito, is a project mining executive with over 35 years of international mining experience including over 20 years’ in LATAM, having worked in Peru, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, the company says.

A mechanical engineer, fluent in English and Spanish, Loyer holds multiple patents for the design of process and materials handling equipment.

Gandhi will start with the company on August 1, based in Brisbane, and joins SolGold having previously worked at Gladstone Ports where he held the role as the first general counsel and company secretary.

In addition to several years as a private practice lawyer, Gandhi has previously been senior legal counsel at APA Group and ConocoPhillips.

Gandhi has over 20 years of legal, company secretarial and corporate governance experience working in multiple jurisdictions including in Australia, the UK, Singapore and the US.

He was admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2002, admitted as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of Victoria and received a Practicing Certificate from Queensland Law Society in 2018. He also became a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in January 2022.

Board chairperson Liam Twigger thanked Dennis Wilkins for his dedication and commitment in providing company secretarial services to SolGold.