Independent Directors

Mr. Richard Meli is a director of Lion One, having been a director of its predecessor company since 2004. He is an independent businessman and a former senior executive at Rio Tinto (1996-1999) where he managed the company’s global mergers and acquisitions, and President of Rio Tinto subsidiary Luzenac America (1999-2001). From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Meli was an independent consultant to the mining and oil and gas industries and was President of La Mancha Resources (2004-2006). Mr. Meli worked for Kennecott Corp., then one of the world’s largest copper producers, from 1980 until it was acquired by Rio Tinto in 1989. At Kennecott, Mr. Meli served in a number of planning, analysis and financial management positions, lastly as Senior Vice President. Mr. Meli began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers (formerly known as Price Waterhouse & Co.) in 1971, spending eight years in the firm’s New York office, becoming a CPA and reaching the level of Audit Manager. He earned a B.S. in Economics in 1969 and an M.S. in Accounting in 1971, both from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Kevin Puil is a Chartered Financial Analyst with over 15 years’ experience in investment management. From 1996 to 2005 he was a financial advisor with Goepel McDermid (Raymond James), and a partner at Bolder Investment Partners in Vancouver, BC. From 2008 to 2013 he was a portfolio manager at Malcolm Gissen & Associates and Senior Analyst at the Encompass Fund in San Francisco, focusing on natural resources. He holds a degree in economics from the University of Victoria (and the University of British Columbia) and obtained the CFA designation in 2003.