Mining Forum Americas / XPL-DEV

Frank Holmes

CEO & Chief Investment Officer, U.S. Global Investors

Frank Holmes is the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors. Mr. Holmes purchased a controlling interest in U.S. Global Investors in 1989 and became the firm’s chief investment officer in 1999. In 2006, Mr. Holmes was selected mining fund manager of the year by the Mining Journal, and in 2011 he was named a U.S. Metals and Mining "TopGun" by Brendan Wood International. In 2016, Mr. Holmes and portfolio manager Ralph Aldis received the award for Best Americas Based Fund Manager from the Mining Journal. He is also the co-author of The Goldwatcher: Demystifying Gold Investing. More than 30,000 subscribers follow his weekly commentary in the award-winning Investor Alert newsletter which is read in over 180 countries.

Under his guidance, the company’s mutual funds have received recognition from Lipper and Morningstar, two trusted independent financial authorities. In 2015, Mr. Holmes led the company into the exchange-traded fund (ETF) business with the launch of the U.S. Global Jets ETF, which invests in the global airline sector. In 2017, U.S. Global Investors made a strategic investment in HIVE Blockchain Technologies, listed in Toronto, and Mr. Holmes was appointed non-executive Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Holmes was awarded the Huron Medal of Distinction from Huron University College in 2013, his alma mater for the class of 1978. This award recognizes individuals whose life achievements set an example of excellence and reflect Huron’s arts and social sciences missions.

Mr. Holmes is a native of Toronto and is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He is a former president and chairman of the Toronto Society of the Investment Dealers Association.

Mr. Holmes is a much-sought-after keynote speaker at national and international investment conferences. He has spoken at the Investing in African Mining Indaba conference, the Denver Gold Group’s European Gold Forum and numerous Money Show events, sat on panels with prominent industry leaders including the editor of Barron’s and continues to be invited as a keynote speaker at conferences throughout the U.S., Canada and overseas.

Mr. Holmes is a regular commentator on the financial television networks CNBC, Bloomberg, BNN and Fox Business, and has been profiled by Fortune as well as The Financial Times. His thoughts on gold are captured each week on a program called Gold Game Film in collaboration with Kitco News and TheStreet.com. Mr. Holmes was also the feature spread in Barron’s during the commodity rally at the start of 2004. He is a regular contributor to Forbes, Business Insider, Seeking Alpha and Wall Street Journal’s Experts Corner.

David Tait

CEO, World Gold Council

During his 35 years in the financial services industry, David has worked for a variety of highly regarded firms, most recently as Global Head of Fixed Income Macro Products at Credit Suisse. Prior to that he held senior trading roles at both Credit Suisse and UBS Investment Bank.

David began his career trading at Goldman Sachs, and then moved to Credit Suisse before building considerable asset management experience as a Partner at Bluecrest Capital.

He is currently an Independent Member of the Bank of England’s FICC Market Standards Board and Chairs the Precious Metals working group.

David is also a major supporter of the NSPCC and has raised over £1.5 million by summiting Mount Everest on five occasions. He was the first person to traverse Everest from the North to South in 2007. He is an ex-trustee, Chair of the Rebuilding Childhoods Board and was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his services to the charity.

Sandeep Biswas

Executive Chairman, Hyperion Resource Partners

Sandeep Biswas
BEng (Chem) (Hons), FAusIMM
Executive Chairman

Mark Bristow

President & CEO, Barrick

Mark Bristow was formerly the chief executive of Randgold Resources, the company he built from a small Africa- focused exploration business into one of the industry’s most profitable and best managed gold miners. He joined Barrick in his current position with the Merger in January 2019. Mark restructured and restrategised Barrick, and within months he was the prime mover in the combination of the Nevada assets of Barrick and Newmont, creating the world’s single largest gold mining complex, Nevada Gold Mines, majority-owned and operated by Barrick. His goal is to make Barrick the world’s most valued gold and copper producer, owning the best assets, managed by the best people, and delivering industry leading returns.

Randy Smallwood

President, CEO, & Director, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.

Randy Smallwood was involved in the founding of Wheaton Precious Metals and is currently the company’s President & CEO and a director. Before being appointed President in January 2010 and then CEO in April 2011, he served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, primarily focused on growing the company through the evaluation and acquisition of streaming opportunities.
Prior to Wheaton Precious Metals, Mr. Smallwood was the Director of Project Development at Wheaton River Minerals Ltd., his role through its 2005 merger with Goldcorp. Mr. Smallwood was an instrumental part of the team that built Wheaton River / Goldcorp (since merged with Newmont) into one of the largest, and more importantly, one of the most profitable gold companies in the world, and he is now focused on continuing to add to the impressive growth profile of Wheaton Precious Metals.
Mr. Smallwood formerly served on the boards of several resource companies including Defiance Silver (formerly ValOro Resources and Geologix Explorations), Ventana Gold, Castle Peak Resources and Tigray Resources.
He is active with a number of not-for-profit organizations including Special Olympics BC, MineralsEd BC and Mining4Life, and previously served on the board of the BC Cancer Foundation as well as Chair of the World Gold Council from 2020 to 2023.
Mr. Smallwood holds a geological engineering degree from the University of British Columbia and a mine engineering diploma from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. In 2015, Mr. Smallwood received the British Columbia Institute of Technology Distinguished Alumni Award.

Tom Palmer

President and Chief Executive Officer, Newmont Corporation

Tom Palmer became President and Chief Executive and joined the Board of Directors of Newmont effective October 1, 2019. He served as President since June 2019 and as President and Chief Operating Officer from November 2018 until June 2019. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since May 2016. Mr. Palmer was elected Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific in February 2015 after serving as Senior Vice President, Indonesia since March 2014. Prior to joining Newmont, he was the Chief Operating Officer, Pilbara Mines at Rio Tinto Iron Ore. Over a 20-year career with Rio Tinto, Mr. Palmer worked in a variety of roles across a number of commodities, including General Manager, Technology for the Bauxite and Alumina business; General Manager, Operations at Hail Creek coal mine; and General Manager, Asset Management at Palabora Mining Company in South Africa. Mr. Palmer brings extensive experience leading teams and delivering production while implementing safety culture programs and improving diversity. He earned a Master of Engineering Science degree and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.