Peak Minerals has an experienced management team and board of directors and employs seasoned engineering firms, advisors, and consultants.
Senior Management
Dean Pekeski
Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
Dean Pekeski has over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and project development. From 1996 to 2008, Mr. Pekeski was an exploration geologist and project manager with Rio Tinto Exploration where he explored for base metal and diamond deposits across Canada, Southern Africa, and India. He led the Rio Tinto exploration team that discovered and evaluated the diamondiferous Bunder kimberlites. After leaving Rio, Mr. Pekeski joined Western Potash Corporation where, as Executive Vice President, he successfully managed the Milestone Potash Project in Saskatchewan from discovery, through pre-feasibility, feasibility, environmental permitting, and project financing.
Mr. Pekeski holds a degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Western Ontario. He is a registered Professional Geologist and a Qualified Person in the field of potash geology as defined by NI 43-101 Standards, and is also an active member of the Solution Mining Research Institute.
Blake Measom
Chief Financial Officer and Board Member
Blake Measom has over 25 years of experience in mining and minerals finance. Prior to joining the company, he served as Chief Financial Officer for Barrick Gold of North America. At Barrick, he directed the accounting, finance, tax, compliance, IT, and supply chain functions for all North American operations.
Prior to joining Barrick, Mr. Measom served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Kennecott Energy Company, a subsidiary of the Rio Tinto Group.
Mr. Measom began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. He has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Accountancy from Brigham Young University.
Woods Silleroy
Vice President Operations and Corporate Secretary
Mr. Silleroy has over 30 years of resource experience as an investor in the oil & gas and mining industries as well as over three decades of experience in operations.
Prior to joining Peak Minerals, Mr. Silleroy was Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of Justice Design Group. Currently, he serves as a board member and managing director of Horn Silver Mines Inc.
Mr. Silleroy has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah (Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and a Masters degree from the University of Southern California.
Luke Jarvis
Vice President Sales and Marketing
Luke Jarvis has over 30 years of experience in senior roles in the potash industry. Prior to joining the company, he worked with Salt Lake Potash, Helm Chemicals, Nutrien Inc., and Sirius Minerals, now a division of Anglo American. Additionally, he has worked as a consultant for BHP, ICL, Circum Minerals, and Highfield Resources.
As a specialist in market strategy, Mr. Jarvis has led efforts to secure bankable off-take agreements, strategic partners, and structured finance for new entrants in the resource sector. Mr. Jarvis also serves as a Board Director for CleanTech Lithium, a Lithium project in Chile.
Mr. Jarvis holds a Diploma in Surveying & Architecture from York College, U.K. He also gained a Fertilizer Advisor Certificate from the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, UK, and Leadership in Business from Ashridge Business School, U.K.
John Andrews
Senior Advisor
John Andrews is the President and CEO of Greenwich Global Investment Advisers, a strategic consulting company serving a wide variety of businesses globally. Prior to that, for 30 years, he was President and CEO of ANSAC with a billion dollars in revenue and operations in over 50 countries.
Mr. Andrews has a Bachelor in Chemical Engineering from West Virginia University, Institute of Technology and was elected Tau Beta Pi. He has an MBA from California State College in Los Angeles.
Board of Directors
Owen Hegarty
Non-Executive Chairman
Mr. Hegarty has more than 40 years experience in the global mining industry including 25 years with the Rio Tinto group where he was Managing Director of Rio Tinto Asia and Rio Tinto’s Australian copper and gold business from 1989 to 1994.
Prior to that, Mr. Hegarty was the founder and Managing Director of Oxiana Limited where he led the growth of Oxiana from a junior explorer to an A$6 billion Asia Pacific base and precious metals producer. Mr. Hegarty was also Vice Chairman of ASX listed Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), one of the world’s largest iron ore companies, Executive Vice Chairman of Hong Kong listed resources companies, G Resources and Chairman of the Tigers Realm Minerals Group.
Mr. Hegarty is a Fellow and Former Director of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). He is also an advisor on mining and resources generally to a number of government and industry associations.
In 2019, Mr. Hegarty was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the AusIMM. The Honorary Fellowship recognises “exceptional achievement, service or contribution to the minerals sector” and is conferred on senior and influential professionals who have performed “notable, active and sustained service to the AusIMM or made a major contribution to the minerals sector.”
In 2021 Mr. Hegarty was awarded, as part of the Queens Birthday Honours list, the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his service to the mining and minerals sector.
Robert Bailey
Board Member
Mr. Bailey has over 20 years of experience in investment banking roles focused on the metals & mining sector with organizations including Macquarie, Royal Bank of Canada and Nomura in both Australia and the United Kingdom.
Prior to EMR, Mr. Bailey was a Managing Director and Head of Natural Resources for Nomura Australia Limited based in Sydney. There, he led the team's coverage of the metals & mining and energy sectors, and was responsible for providing strategic M&A advice as well as arranging finance for various clients throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Mr. Bailey graduated with a combined Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) (Honours) and Bachelor of Law (Honours) from the University of Adelaide. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia.
Robert Curtis
Board Member
Mr. Curtis is a geologist with more than 20 years of experience in exploration, business development, and investments. He has an extensive track record of bringing investment opportunities from early-stage project evaluation and technical due diligence through to successful execution of investments. He has worked as a key member of highly successful teams at Rio Tinto, Oxiana, OZ Minerals, and others.
Mr. Curtis has significant fieldwork, transactional, and due diligence experience in exploration and development projects across a diverse range of commodities and countries. His transaction experience includes execution of investments in Sandfire Resources, IMX Resources, Toro Energy, Beadell Resources, Royalco Resources, Minotaur Resources, Golden Grove, Martabe, and others. He was also involved in a number of successful investment exits including Sepon, Wafi, and Hidden Valley. Mr. Curtis worked on resources projects in Australia, Indonesia, India, Laos, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Africa, and North and South America.
Mr. Curtis graduated from the University of Ballarat with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Geology) with First Class Honours and was awarded an Australian Institute of Mines and Metallurgy (AusIMM) Scholarship.
George Fordyce
Board Member
Mr. Fordyce has over 13 years’ experience in corporate finance/investment banking roles relating to the natural resources sector with a specific focus on metals & mining.
Prior to EMR, Mr. Fordyce was an Associate Director in Macquarie Capital’s Natural Resources team, based in Melbourne, with primary client coverage responsibility for procuring new mandates and executing transactions in the Australian coal sector. He has strong transaction experience in the coal and base metals sectors including most recently, the defence role for Riversdale Resources on the A$800m hostile takeover bid by Hancock Prospecting, the sale of Peak Gold Mine by New Gold to Aurelia Metals, a A$150m capital raising for CleanTeQ, and for Rio Tinto on its defence from BHP Billiton back in 2008. Mr. Fordyce has experience across all areas of corporate finance transactions including both public and private M&A, ECM, IPOs, debt finance, listed takeovers, scheme of arrangements, multi jurisdiction transactions and importantly where Macquarie invested its own balance sheet as a principal investor.
Mr. Fordyce graduated with a combined Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) and Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from The University of Melbourne.