Board of Directors

Alpha Exploration

Michael Hopley - President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

  • BSc, Geology. University of London (1970), Member of American Institute of Professional Geologists:
  • +40 years of international experience – Has held Executive & Board positions with Gold Fields Mining, Bema Gold Corp, Arizona Star, & Tournigan Energy. From 2004-2016, President & CEO of Sunridge Gold Corp that owned the Asmara Project (Eritrea). Sunridge discovered the 80 million tonne Emba Derho copper-zinc-gold VMS deposit.

Alasdair Smith - Technical director

  • BSc (Geology), Victoria University, New Zealand (1982), Member AusIMM:
  • +30 years’ experience as a Geologist in Australia and Africa. Previously, a Director for Sahar Minerals Limited.
  • Discoveries Australia (3), Guinea (1), Eritrea (4)
  • Mine Developments Australia (6), Guinea (1), Tanzania (3), Eritrea (4).

Chris van der Westhuyzen - Director

  • Bachelors of Commerce degree in Economics and Marketing from Canterbury University, New Zealand:
  • COO of Hemera Capital Management LLP. 11 years with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs working across a broad range of product lines including equities, fixed income & structured finance operations.

Dr John Clarke - Independent Non - Executive Director

  • B.Sc. (Metallurgy) University College Cardiff, Ph.D. (Metallurgy) Cambridge University, MBA Middlesex Polytechnic.
  • Experience includes mine management, exploration, corporate acquisition & Mine development. Worked in Smelting & Mining operations and has been a Director of several companies which have had exploration, development and mining activities in Africa. Executive Director in charge of Business development for Ashanti Goldfields. President and CEO for Nevsun Resources, taking the Company in to Eritrea and the discovery of the Bisha Mine.

Anna Nydegger – Independent Non - Executive Director

  • Masters in Law (Banking Finance) University of Geneva (2006) & completed STEP diploma in 2009.
  • Managing Director of the NWT Group in Switzerland, a Geneva based Trust, Corporate and Wealth Management Advisory Group. Over the past 13 years at NWT, Ms. Nydegger has been actively involved with client entities in corporate development often servicing as a board member. Ms. Nydegger brings significant legal and corporate governance experience to Alpha.