New Gold Announces Senior Management Appointments and Strengthens Technical Leadership Team

New Gold Inc. has appointed Yohann Bouchard as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and promoted Ankit Shah to Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development. New Gold also appointed Luke Buchanan as Vice President, Technical Services and Jean-François Ravenelle as Vice President, Geology.

The appointments come a day after New Gold released the results for the first quarter of 2023. President and CEO Patrick Godin said the quarter produced strong results.The first quarter of 2023 saw New Gold"s operations  deliver gold equivalent production of 104,857 ounces, the strongest start to a year for the company over the last four years. New Gold also had a 20% increase over the prior year period.

 "At Rainy River, we achieved our strongest first quarter of any year in the operation's history and delivered production growth of nearly 13% over the same period last year as greater underground ore tonnes contributed to better-than-expected grade, which more than offset lower tonnes milled. The milling rate was impacted during the quarter by mechanical maintenance on the SAG mill and crusher," Godin stated. "At New Afton, gold and copper production improved meaningfully over the same period last year, as the operation's focus remained on steady state mining of B3 and C-Zone development. In short, I'm proud of how our operations and teams delivered during the first quarter, and we remain well positioned to meet all annual production guidance metrics outlined earlier this year."

The three appointments announced today bring skills and experience that New Gold will apply to bring continued growth and prosperity.

"I am very pleased to have Yohann join our team. He brings an impressive record of operational excellence, technical knowledge, and a strong commitment to health and safety and growth to New Gold during an exciting time for our Company," stated Patrick Godin, President and CEO. "In addition, Luke's broad technical knowledge and strategic vision and Jean-François' extensive knowledge in structural geology and exploration, will be assets to our team as we continue to advance growth opportunities and sustained production at our operations."

New Gold is a Canadian-focused intermediate mining company with a portfolio of two core producing assets in Canada, the Rainy River gold mine and the New Afton copper-gold mine. The company also holds Canadian-focused investments. New Gold's vision is to build a leading diversified intermediate gold company based in Canada that is committed to the environment and social responsibility.

"Our mission of being a leading intermediate gold and copper producer remains unchanged. With the additional bench strength and experience, I am confident our team can help lead our operations and our Company towards our goal of increased production at lower costs, delivering sustained free cash flow over the coming years," added  Godin.

"I am also pleased to have Ankit join our senior leadership team. He has been instrumental in the transformation of the company in recent years, including the divestment of the Blackwater project, as well as executing the strategic partnership with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan at the New Afton Mine. Ankit will continue to have responsibility for the company's strategy, business development and capital markets activities, including investor relations," added  Godin.

Yohann Bouchard has more than 25 years of technical and operations experience in the mining industry. Bouchard was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Yamana Gold and was responsible for Yamana's mining operations in the Americas. He oversaw key operational groups across the company. Prior to joining Yamana, Bouchard occupied key operating and technical positions with Primero Mining Corporation, IAMGOLD Corporation, Breakwater Resources Ltd. and Cambior Inc. Bouchard holds a Bachelor of Mining Engineering degree from École Polytechnique of Montréal. He is registered as a professional engineer with Professional Engineers Ontario.

Ankit Shah is a mining finance executive with over 15 years of experience in strategy, corporate development, capital allocation and investor relations, primarily in the mining industry. He joined the New Gold in 2010 with the primary focus of working with the corporate development and investor relations teams. Shah was promoted to Vice President, Strategy and Business Development in September 2019. Since that time, he has taken on progressively more responsibility for many facets of the business. Prior to joining New Gold, Shah worked for both Ernst & Young and KPMG within their Assurance and Financial Advisory practices. Shah is both a chartered accountant and chartered professional accountant.

Luke Buchanan has over 18 years of experience as a mining engineer overseeing mine planning, technical studies and mineral resources and reserves, and most recently was the Senior Vice President, Technical Services at Yamana. Prior to joining Yamana,  Buchanan held progressively senior operating and technical positions at Newmont Corporation, AMC Consultants and Primero Mining Corporation in both Australia and Canada. Buchanan holds a Bachelor of Mining Engineering degree from the University of New South Wales.

Jean-François Ravenelle has over 20 years of experience in structural geology applied to precious and base metal deposits for both brownfield and greenfield projects, and most recently was the Structural Geology Practice Lead for Metals Exploration at BHP Group Limited ("BHP"). Prior to BHP,  Ravenelle was the Director of Geology at Yamana, where he focused on optimizing operations, exploration projects, and corporate development. Prior to  Yamana, he held the role of Principal Consultant with SRK Consulting, Canada. Ravenelle began his career as a field geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada, Goldcorp, Virginia Gold Mines, and Freewest Resources. He holds a Ph.D. in Structural and Economic Geology from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique and is a registered professional geologist in Ontario and Quebec.

New gold will release the complete first quarter 2023 financial results after market close on Wednesday, April 26, 2023. A conference call and webcast will be hosted on Thursday, April 27, 2023 at 8:30 am Eastern Time. 

Participants may listen to the webcast by registering on our website at www.newgold.com or via the following link https://app.webinar.net/1WzxeYqeXnB. Participants may also listen to the conference call by calling North American toll free 1-888-664-6383, or 1-416-764-8650 outside of the U.S. and Canada, passcode 03648094.
 
To join the conference call without operator assistance, you may register and enter your phone number at https://emportal.ink/3lcb9RU to receive an instant automated call back.

A recorded playback of the conference call will be available until May 27, 2023 by calling North American toll free 1-888-390-0541, or 1-416-764-8677 outside of the U.S. and Canada, passcode 648094. An archived webcast will also be available at www.newgold.com.
For further information on the Company, visit www.newgold.com.

 

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Tags: Northern Ontario / Operational Updates / Gold / All Articles