HispanicBusiness

Mr. Fogassa has over fourteen years of private equity and public equity investment experience in the U.S. and Brazil with notable successes, was educated at Harvard and MIT, born and raised in Brazil, and speaks fluent Portuguese. He is the founder of BMI, the current majority shareholder of BMIX.

Mr. Fogassa has sought to develop a team of locals that is versed in getting deals done and properties run properly. Brazil has a strong tradition in mining and BMIX believes that it does not make sense to import talent. Along with its strong, multi-faceted management team, BMIX believes it has a stellar advisory board comprised of names with global and Brazilian expertise in areas ranging from running multi-million dollar mining companies to sustainable development and best environmental practices. Altogether, BMIX has access to more than two hundred man-years of mining experience combined.

Furthermore, BMIX is fortunate to have been able to attract top talent to its Board of Directors. Alongside Chairman Fogassa, the two independent directors of BMIX are Ambassador Roger Noriega and Ambassador Paul Durand.

Ambassador Noriega was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State from July 2003 to August 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S Senate. In that capacity, Ambassador Noriega managed a 3,000-person team of professionals in Washington and 50 diplomatic posts to design and implement the United States political and economic strategies in Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Previously, Ambassador Noriega was appointed by President George W. Bush as Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, a post he held from August 2001 to July 2003.

Ambassador Noriega has been decorated by the Governments of Nicaragua and Peru, and has received numerous awards for public service from organizations committed to the promotion of democracy in the Americas. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Award Foundation and as a member of the advisory boards of the Hispanic Community for Policy, the Canadian American Border Trade Partnership, and the Hispanic American Civics Foundation. Ambassador Noriega is the founder and managing director of Visión Américas LLC, which advises U.S. and foreign clients on international business issues, and also is a visiting fellow at the prestigious American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Ambassador Noriega serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Award Foundation and as a member of the advisory boards of the Canadian American Border Trade Partnership and The Americano, an online forum reaching out to Latino voters. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washburn University of Topeka, Kansas.

Ambassador Durand has had extensive international experience in both the private and public sectors. From 1992 to 1995, Ambassador Durand was Canada's Ambassador to Costa Rica, with concurrent accreditation to Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. From 1995 to August 2000, he was Director General responsible for Canada's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In August 2000, he was appointed Canada's Ambassador to Chile. In August 2001, he was appointed Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington and Canada's National Coordinator for the Summits of the Americas process, positions that he held until 2006. From 2007 until 2009 he was the resident representative of the OAS in the Dominican Republic.