About Us

Mining engineer with over 30 years of operations, consulting and investment banking experience. CEO New Found Gold Corp.

Mr. Rockandel is an accomplished entrepreneur whose four decades of business experience span mineral resources, renewable energy, forestry, and specialized chemicals. Involved in the junior mining market for over 25 years, he has helped found multiple junior companies, bringing together management teams, assets, and financing.

Mr. Sutton brings more than 35 years of experience in public markets, corporate governance, senior administration and accounting and has served on the management teams and boards for many private and publicly traded companies.

Ian Parkinson spent 16 years as a sell-side mining analyst for several leading brokerage firms on Bay Street including Stifel GMP, GMP Securities and CIBC World Markets. He joined the analyst community after a successful 10-year career in industry with Falconbridge and Noranda. During Ian’s time in industry, he worked on a wide range of exploration, development and commercial interests. He built on his geology base with experience in metals trading, metal marketing and business development at the corporate level. Ian is an earth science graduate of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, where he was born and raised in a mining family.

John Robins is a professional geologist, prospector and entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in the mining industry. In 2022 he was the recipient of the AME's Murray Pezim Award for his significant contribution to the financing of exploration and development projects over the last 20 years. He was also awarded the Spud Huestis Award in 2008 for having made significant contributions to mineral exploration in British Columbia and Yukon. 

Mr. Robins has been involved in several notable discoveries, including the 5M oz Coffee Gold deposit (owned by Kaminak Gold Corp.) in Yukon, the Three Bluffs gold deposit in the Committee Bay greenstone belt, the Aviat / Churchill diamond districts of Nunavut, and the Great Bear project in north-western Ontario. Through his entrepreneurship, John has been instrumental in over CDN$3B in M&A activity and has generated over $1B in direct and indirect mineral expenditures throughout Canada, Latin America, and Australia. Notable recent successes include the sales of Great Bear Resources Ltd. to Kinross Gold Corp. for $1.8B, Great Bear Royalties Corp. to Royal Gold Inc. for $200M, and Kaminak Gold Corp. to Goldcorp for $510M.

John’s outstanding strategic guidance, technical expertise, strong industry relationships, and steadfast adherence to ethical practices, underpin his status as a leading steward of the junior mining industry. He currently acts as Chairman of K2 Gold Corp and Non-Executive Chairman of Elemental Altus Royalties. Mr. Robins is also a Director of Elemental Altus Royalties and Fireweed Metals Corp., and a Strategic Advisor to Defense Metals Corp., Kodiak Copper Corp., ValOre Metals Corp., CopperEx Resources Corp., and Prospector Metals Corp. 

Jim is the co-founder and principal of Discovery Group and has 23 years of corporate development experience in the mining industry, including capital raises, acquisitions, joint-ventures, spin-outs, and RTOs and IPOs. He was a driving force behind $80 million in equity financing for ValOre Metals, which led to multiple discoveries at the Pedra Branca PGE project.

He was a long-standing and active director of Kaminak Gold Corp. (acquired by Goldcorp) and founding director of Northern Empire Resources Corp. (acquired by Coeur Mining). He founded Corsa Capital in 2007, and a 2010 transaction created an industry-leading metallurgical coal producer with a C$250M marketing capitalization.

In addition to being the Chairman and CEO of ValOre Metals, Jim is a Director at K2 Gold.

Jay Sujir is a Partner in Farris’ Mining and Securities practice groups and has nearly 30 years experience acting for mining and other natural resources companies. He was called to the BC Bar in 1986 after obtaining his LLB from the University of Victoria. He obtained his BA (Economics & Philosophy) in 1981, also from the University of Victoria. Jay is recognized in the Best Lawyers (2025) directory, as a Lexpert Leading Lawyer in Canada (2024), and as a Lexpert Leading Energy & Mining Lawyer (2024).

Exploration geologist and project manager with 20+ years experience.

Over 15 years of corporate secretary experience with private and publicly traded Canadian companies.