The team
Elton L. S. Pereira
Exploration Manager
Martin Pawlitschek
Geology Manager
Elton is a Geologist with over 30 years of experience in the mineral exploration industry in Brazil, with solid skills, know-how and leadership in managing teams, projects and exploration companies.
He spent twelve years as an exploration geologist and project manager at Rio Tinto Brazil, where he was directly involved in the discovery of several gold, gold/copper, kaolin and bauxite deposits in the country. After Rio Tinto, he spent fourteen years in the junior exploration market, where he was V.P. Exploration and country manager at Brazauro Resources Corp. and at TriStar Gold Inc. At Brazauro, he led the team that defined Tocantinzinho, the first world-class gold deposit (2.5 Moz) ever found in the Tapajós Mineral Province which subsequently was sold to Eldorado Gold in 2010. At TriStar, he was instrumental in the discovery of Castelo de Sonhos, a paleo placer gold deposit, currently with ~2 Moz of total resources. In 2020, at Appian Capital Brazil, Elton lead his team to the discovery of the Palestina Ni-PGE deposit (+75 Mt potential resources), in Bahia state.
Elton holds a Bachelor of Science’s degree in Geology from the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos-Rio Grande do Sul (1987) and holds a Master of Science’s degree in Structural Geology at Federal University of Ouro Preto-Minas Gerais (1996). He is a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists-SEG and Member of the Brazilian Society of Geologists-SBG.
Martin undertakes technical due diligence on mining projects, mainly from a geology and resource risk perspective, but with a concurrent focus on exploration upside evaluation. Martin has over 20 years of experience primarily in exploration and resource drilling.
Martin recently was a Senior VP Geology at Appian Capital Advisory. Before Appian, Martin served a 11-year tenure with BHP Billiton, where he oversaw numerous exploration programs in Australia, Africa and Asia. Martin later joined one of the junior companies seeded by BHP and progressed an ambitious diamond exploration program in the DRC. This was followed by a move to Senegal where he was part of a team that fast tracked the Sabodala gold project from an exploration prospect to producing mine over a three-year period while discovering additional satellite resources on the extensive land package around the mine.
From 2014 to now Martin was closely involved in the geological and exploration aspects of Appian Capital’s assets with a focus on the company’s Brazilian Nickel and Copper assets, Atlantic Nickel and Mineracao Vale Verde, in the states of Bahia and Alagoas respectively.
Martin is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists, holds an M.Sc. from the University of New South Wales, Australia, a B.Sc. in Applied Geology from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
