Belcarra Group
604-687-8566

We are industry professionals with a consistent track record of identifying and advancing successful mineral exploration projects.

Belcarra Group

Our Portfolio

Photo of a helicopter Photo of mountains and lake

Orex Minerals Inc. (TSX.V: REX, OTCQB: ORMNF) is a Canadian-based junior mineral exploration company with an impressive portfolio of large gold, silver, and copper exploration projects on renowned mineral trends in Mexico (Coneto, San Luis del Cordero and Sandra Projects), and Canada (Jumping Josephine Gold Project). Each project has impressive merits of its own; packaged together, the chance of Orex making the next big resource discovery increases dramatically.

Visit orexminerals.com

First Nordic’s (TSX.V: FNM, OTCQB: FNMCF) flagship is the Barsele gold project, located in Sweden and in a joint venture with senior gold producer Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. The Barsele project currently hosts a combined open pit and underground NI 43-101 Indicated Resource of 324koz gold and an Inferred resource of 2.1Moz gold. Immediately surrounding the Barsele project, First Nordic is the 100%-owner of a district-scale license position of close to 100,000 hectares on both the prolific Gold Line and Skellefte VMS belts. Additionally, in northern Finland First Nordic holds the entire underexplored Oijärvi Greenstone Belt.

Visit barseleminerals.com

Silver Viper Minerals Corp. (TSX.V: VIPR, OTCQB: VIPRF) is a Canadian-based junior mineral exploration company focused on precious metals exploration in northwestern Mexico. The company currently has an option to acquire 100% interest in the Rubi-Esperanza group of claims most recently operated by Pan American Silver and form the core of the large La Virginia property.

Visit silverviperminerals.com
Photo of rocky landscape

Our People

Photo: Gary Cope

Gary Cope

Founder of Belcarra Group, Director of Barsele Minerals Corp.

Gary Cope has accumulated over 33 years of experience in Corporate Management & Strategy, with a specific emphasis on Public Company Finance. He arranged financing for the South Kemess project, and later became heavily involved with the negotiations & selling of the deposit to Royal Oak Mines. In the past 12 years, he has acted as a senior officer and director for various publicly-held companies. Mr. Cope served as the President, CEO & Director of Orko Silver Corp., and was instrumental in negotiating and arranging the sale of Orko Silver to Coeur Mining Inc. in 2012. He formed the Belcarra Group of Companies in 2016 which currently has 4 companies under management.

Photo: Steve Cope

Steve Cope

President & CEO & Director – Silver Viper Minerals Corp., Manager Corporate Development – Barsele Minerals Corp./Orex Minerals Inc.

Steve Cope has 12 years’ experience in the mining sector. He has worked in corporate development for Orko Silver Corp, Barsele Minerals Inc, Orex Minerals Inc and Timmins Gold Corp. His responsibilities with these companies have covered a wide range of areas including financing companies, project evaluation, investor relations and mergers and acquisitions.

Photo: Ben Whiting

Ben Whiting

P.Geo., Vice President Exploration – Barsele Minerals Corp., President & CEO & Director - Orex Minerals Inc.

Ben Whiting is a professional geoscientist with more than 35 years experience in the international mining industry. He has worked for both major & junior companies, managing a wide range of operations from exploration through to production. He has also acted as a special advisor on mining industry matters to government agencies, the World Bank, and is a past Adjunct Professor of Queen’s University in the Geological Sciences & Mining Engineering departments. Mr. Whiting is an “Economic Geology” medal award winner and winner of the 2008 IAC “Explorer of the Year” award. He is a member of Engineers & Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC), Professional Geoscientists Ontario (PGO), La Asociación de Ingenieros de Minas Metalurgistas y Geólogos de México (AIMMGM), the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) and a Fellow and past-editor of the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG).

Photo: Carla Hartzenberg

Carla Hartzenberg

CFO and Director – Silver Viper Minerals Corp.

Mrs. Hartzenberg, CPA, CA, is a Chartered Professional Accountant with 10 years of experience primarily focused on the natural resources sector. She possesses significant experience in mining exploration, real estate, manufacturing and clean technology. Mrs. Hartzenberg has held management positions in the resource sector as well as real estate. In addition, she gained extensive experience through a Canadian audit firm providing assurance services to publicly traded companies on the TSX, TSX-V and OTC markets. Mrs. Hartzenberg holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Victoria.

Ross Wilmot

CFO and Director – Orex Minerals Inc./Barsele Minerals Corp. Director of Silver Viper Minerals Corp.

Ross Wilmot is a Chartered Accountant who has provided public companies with senior financial management services for more than 20 years. As CFO, he offers exhaustive knowledge of reporting practices and requirements for public companies based in Canada & the USA. Mr. Wilmot has been involved in numerous business valuations & acquisitions, high tech start-ups and international mining operations.

Photo: Art Freeze

Art Freeze

P.Geo., Geologist & Director – Orex Minerals Inc./Barsele Minerals Corp., Director of Silver Viper Minerals Corp.

Art Freeze has an impressive 45 years of experience in Mineral Exploration & Project Management. Until 2007, he served as the Primary Consulting Geologist for Goldcorp Inc., and has held Consulting, Management & Supervisory positions with international mining companies such as Cominco Ltd., Pasminco Exploration, Echo Bay Mines and Pan American Silver Corp. Art is a member of Engineers & Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC). Mr. Freeze was a Consulting Geologist & Advisory Board Member for Orko Silver Corp.

Photo: Taj Singh

Taj Singh

President & CEO of Barsele Minerals Corp., Director of Silver Viper Minerals

Mr. Singh is a mining executive with over 22 years of experience in corporate development, capital markets, finance, project development, engineering, and operations. Most recently he was founding President and CEO of NOA Lithium Brines Inc. (“NOA”) and during his time the company successfully went public, carried out multiple funding rounds, and had significant exploration success at its flagship Rio Grande project in Salta, Argentina. Prior to his time at NOA, Singh was founding President and CEO at Mexico-focused developer Discovery Silver Corp (“Discovery”). During his 5-year tenure with the Discovery, Singh led the growth of the company to a market capitalization of over C$500M, representing +30X growth during his time there. From the 2016 go-public to 2020 Mr. Singh also served as Director / Lead Independent Director of the Board of GT Gold Corp. which was subsequently acquired by Newmont Corporation (C$393M). Mr. Singh is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng), a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree (Metallurgy / Minerals Processing) and a Master of Engineering degree (Metallurgy).

Photo: Adam Cegielski

Adam Cegielski

CDO of Barsele Minerals Corp., Director of Orex Minerals Inc.

Mr. Cegielski has over 20 years of experience in the venture capital industry ranging from mineral exploration, technology, health care and education. He started his career developing an industrial mineral project in Uganda that he later sold to Rio Tinto. Mr. Cegielski was the founding director of Cayden Resources, which was sold to Agnico Eagle Mines for $205-million.

Photo: Velia Ledezma Muñoz

Velia Ledezma Muñoz

GIS Specialist and Database Manager

Mrs. Velia Ledezma Muñoz has more than 23 years of experience in the mining industry as a database analyst, management, and in 3D modelling. She has worked for major and junior mining companies. Her initial mining experience was with Cambior Inc. in 1995, and she later worked with Barrick Gold Corp., Ariane Gold, Newmont Mining Corp., Bolnisi Gold and Orko Silver Corp. She has a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science and Systems Administration.

Alicia Ford

Manager, Business Development

Alicia has a background in marketing, media, corporate development, and investor relations in the mining and financial industries. Prior to her current role, she worked with more than 100 publicly traded mining companies at Red Cloud Securities. In conjunction with her role at Orex, she also serves as Manager, Business Development for both Silver Viper Minerals Corp. and Barsele Minerals Corp.

Photo: Sandi DiPrimo

Sandi DiPrimo

Corporate Secretary and Office Manager

Sandi has more than 14 years’ experience working for publicly traded companies in administrative and executive assistant roles. Her experience filing on SEDI and SEDAR, working with a Board of Directors, Audit, Governance & Compensation Committees ensures the integrity of the governance framework, compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, and the efficient administration of the Belcarra Group companies.

Contact Us

Belcarra Group Management Ltd.

Suite 300-1055 W Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9

604-687-8566

info@belcarragroup.com