VANCOUVER, Nov. 7, 2016 /CNW/ - Leagold Mining Corporation (TSXV:LMC.H) has a focused corporate strategy on identifying and acquiring gold mines and attractive development projects within Latin America.  This corporate strategy is leveraging the extensive and proven track-record of Leagold's management team in acquiring, operating and building gold mines with the strong Latin American relationships of the Company's Directors. 

Leagold is pleased to announce its Board of Directors appointed Frank Giustra as Non-executive Chairman.  Leagold is also pleased to announce the appointment of Doug Bowlby to the role of Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Doug Reddy to the role of Senior Vice President, Technical Services and Harpreet Dhaliwal to the role of Vice President, Finance and CFO.  Both Mr. Bowlby and Mr. Reddy were senior executives with Endeavour Mining, and bring extensive experience in sourcing and evaluating gold mines and development projects, along with implementing corporate growth and financing initiatives.  Ms. Dhaliwal is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA) with over 9 years' experience in the resource sector, most recently with Fiore Management & Advisory Corp. and previously with Endeavour Mining.

Neil Woodyer, CEO commented "Leagold is actively developing and evaluating gold acquisition opportunities of both operating gold mines and advance-stage development projects within Latin America.  We are continuing to build our senior executive team with the recent additions of Doug Bowlby, Doug Reddy and Harpreet Dhaliwal.  With US$25.4 million of cash and equivalents, Leagold has a solid balance sheet to support its in-depth technical and financial due diligence, and the ability to develop multiple opportunities."

Leagold has filed its unaudited quarterly Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended September 30, 2016 under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.  These documents and additional information on the Leagold's corporate strategy and governance policies are also available on Leagold's newly launched website at www.leagold.com.

Board of Directors and Management Team

Leagold has built a high performance board with a mix of skills, expertise and relationships that will help achieve the strategic goals of the Company.  The Board of Directors consists of six members, as follows:   

Frank Giustra, Non-executive Chairman and Director, is a successful company financier with a track record of building natural resource companies.  Mr. Giustra has had an active role in the launch and growth of several major natural resource companies, many with operations in Latin America.  Mr. Giustra is CEO of Fiore Financial, a private firm managing a broad portfolio of equity investments. Mr. Giustra was a director of Endeavour Mining from September 2013 until July 2016. 

Gen. Wesley Clark, Director, is a retired 4-star U.S. Army General.  General Clark spent 34 years in the U.S. Army and held several Commands including Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO and, earlier in his career, Commander, U.S. Southern Command, which covers activities in South America and Central America.  Currently, General Clark heads a strategic advisory and consulting firm.

Bernadette D'Silva, Director, is a consultant in the natural resource industry with an extensive background in Corporate Finance spanning over 20 years. For the past 12 years, Ms. D'Silva has been advising and assisting Canadian public companies with their continuous disclosure obligations, regulatory compliance requirements, and corporate governance practices. Ms. D'Silva has worked on the successful launch of Urasia Energy Ltd. (acquired by Uranium One), Silver Wheaton and Pacific Rubiales and has worked with Endeavour Mining through its various acquisitions while it transitioned from an investment banking firm to a mining company in 2010. 

Miguel Rodriguez, Director, has extensive experience in the private, public and academic sectors.  Previously, Mr. Rodriguez was a director of Endeavour Mining from September 2013 until July 2016.  He was the Economic Minister and Chief of the Economic Cabinet of the Republic of Venezuela from 1989 to 1992. He was the President of the Central Bank of Venezuela, and was a Governor to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Subsequently he was Senior Advisor to the World Bank. He was also a Professor of Economics at IESA in Caracas until 2008. 

Jay Sujir, Director, is a lawyer and Partner in Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP's Mining and Securities practice groups and has over 30 years experience acting for mining and other natural resource companies. 

Neil Woodyer, CEO and Director, has extensive history in the mining sector creating growth strategies, implementing financing plans and leading management teams.  In 1988, Mr. Woodyer was a founder of Endeavour Financial, a successful mining merchant banking and advisory business.  In 2009, Mr. Woodyer, then Endeavour's CEO, and Mr. Giustra devised Endeavour's gold growth strategy and in 2010, Mr. Woodyer led the transition of a financial company (Endeavour Financial) into a mine operations and development company (Endeavour Mining).  Endeavour Mining successfully grew into one of the largest gold producers in West Africa through a series of acquisitions, successful expansion and optimization projects, and new mine construction.  Mr. Woodyer left Endeavour Mining in June 2016.

The senior executive team now includes:

Corporate Strategy

Leagold aims to build a new mid-tier gold producer with a focus on opportunities in Latin America.  Leagold is leveraging the extensive and proven track-record of its management team with the strategic expertise and strong Latin American relationships of the Company's Directors.  Leagold's management were involved in the successful growth of Endeavour Mining into a leading West African gold producer, and in identifying and acquiring gold mines and attractive development projects.  With Leagold, the team intends to replicate the 'buy and build' strategy and repeat its success. 

Leagold is well-positioned to achieve its plans with a strong shareholder base, a motivated management team, and deep relationships in the gold mining sector. 

Corporate Governance

The Management Team and Board of Directors have a strong commitment to Leagold's long-term success which includes this group owning approximately 32% of the shares of the company.  Leagold has established transparent and progressive governance and policies that encourage wealth creation from share price performance.  These policies, which are available at www.leagold.com, center around two key pillars: Board Structure and Executive Compensation.

Board Structure

• Strong, independent board with experience in the mining sector, public company governance, and Latin America
• Transparency with Board Charters and Policies published on website. Recently, the Board of Directors adopted a series of new policies including Corporate Disclosure and Trading, Whistleblower, Majority Voting and Diversity

Executive Compensation and Alignment with Shareholders

• Board and Management collectively own 32% of the Company
• Neil Woodyer, CEO owns 27.6 million shares (20.4%) and does not intend to receive a salary while owning over 10% of the company

Background of the Recent Additions to the Management Team

Doug Bowlby, SVP Corporate Development, has experience building corporate growth strategies and implementing a wide range of corporate finance initiatives, including M&A transactions and debt & equity capital markets financings.  He joined Leagold in September 2016, and is responsible for the development and analysis of acquisitions and contributing to the growth of the company.  Previously, Mr. Bowlby was the Executive Vice President – Corporate Development of Endeavour Mining from 2009 to August 2016, during which time Endeavour Mining evolved into a significant West African gold producer through a series of corporate acquisitions and successful mine construction.  Prior to this role, Mr. Bowlby was Managing Director, Research & Analysis at Endeavour Financial, a boutique investment and merchant banking company focused exclusively on the junior to mid-tier global mining industry.  Mr. Bowlby is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Institute.

Doug Reddy, SVP Technical Services, has +30 years' experience in project evaluations, exploration, mine geology, resource development and consulting in base and precious metals. He was with Endeavour Mining for 10 years in executive and senior management roles focused on technical services, business development and investor relations. Mr. Reddy was based in Peru as manager of the Lima office of Amec Americas Limited and also was Technical Director - Geology and Geostatistics based in Vancouver. Mr. Reddy is a registered professional geoscientist (P.Geo. APEGBC) and a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Harpreet Dhaliwal, VP Finance and Chief Financial Officer, is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CA) with over 9 years' experience in the resource sector. She has served as Chief Financial Officer of several junior natural resource companies and previously worked for international operating resource companies including Endeavour Mining Corporation and Uranium One Inc. Ms. Dhaliwal is a graduate of the University of British Columbia where she received a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics).

About Leagold Mining Corporation

Leagold aims to build a new mid-tier gold producer with a focus on opportunities in Latin America.  Leagold is based in Vancouver, Canada and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "LMC.H".

On behalf of Leagold Mining Corporation

Neil Woodyer, Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" including but not limited to, statements with respect to Leagold's plans and operating performance, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of future production, future capital expenditures, future financing sources, and the success of exploration activities. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts" and "anticipates". Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the successful integration of acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks related to general economic conditions and credit availability, actual results of current exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, increases in market prices of mining consumables, possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of development or construction activities, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in countries in which Leagold operates. Although Leagold has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Please refer to Leagold's most recent Annual Information Form filed under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting Leagold and its business.

SOURCE Leagold Mining Corporation

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