Auteco is an emerging mineral exploration company focused on advancing high-grade gold resources. At the time of the search, they were currently progressing the Pickle Crow project with a significant drilling program underway, targeting resource growth around the old mine as well as discovery drilling elsewhere.
They needed a Chief Operating Officer to act as a conduit between site teams and the Board, to drive exploration, achieve resources growth targets, tailor the message to market and attract investment.
It was a big job and they needed a strong, experienced, driven, and personable individual to do it. By applying our rigorous A5 Way, we found them the right one for the job: Darren Cooke. Darren is naturally charismatic, articulate and interested in driving the growth of a promising business. He was excited to contribute not only his technical expertise, but corporate and market knowledge, to establish AUT as a prominent gold explorer.
Darren is a geologist with over 20 years’ experience across Australia and North America, having held senior positions with global miners including Barrick Gold, Newmont and Northern Star Resources. Mr Cooke’s roles have spanned regional and near-mine exploration, operational geology, long-term strategic planning and corporate development. He has a strong track record of discovery and delivering Resource and Reserve growth during his time working at world-class deposits such as the Golden Mile Kalgoorlie (KCGM), Callie (Newmont Tanami), Kundana, Kanowna Belle (Northern Star/Barrick) and the Pogo deposit in Alaska (Northern Star).