Empire Rock Minerals Inc. is very pleased to announce Mr. Anthony J. Beruschi, B.Sc, LLB, has been appointed President, director and CEO.
Mr. Beruschi brings 25 years of acquisition, investing, project generation, exploration and development management for Canadian exploration companies to Empire. Mr. Beruschi is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia and a senior mining and securities lawyer.
Empire’s Fox Creek Lithium Project in Alberta where Empire has acquired a 70% interest in more than 758,000 contiguous acres covering numerous oil and gas fields that produce oil and gas from lithium enriched brines was originally identified by Mr. Beruschi. The balance of Empire’s Fox Creek Lithium Project is owned by Blizzard Finance Corp – a venture capital and project generation company majority owned by Mr. Beruschi, and a significant shareholder in Empire.
Mr. Beruschi has been a director, officer and investor in a number of successful exploration companies. Mr. Beruschi was last president of Vega Gold in 2011 when it closed the acquisition of Columbian coal assets through a reverse take-over transaction valued at $175 million with a concurrent financing of $201 million at $1.35 per share. Vega’s shares previously traded as low as $0.03.
Importantly, Mr. Beruschi is the President, and co-Founder, of the Alberta Lithium Association, a not-for-profit association for the development of the lithium mining industry from lithium enriched brines in existing oil and gas fields in Alberta, Canada.
“We believe the lithium enriched brines produced as a by-product by existing wells within existing oil and gas fields at Fox Creek, Alberta constitute an important and significant commercial opportunity for the production of lithium carbonite for rapidly expanding lithium battery applications such as those of Elon Musk’s Tesla Corp.” stated Empire’s John Brydle. “We are very pleased to have Mr. Beruschi’s energy, knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to lead Empire’s enterprises”.
“The potential commercial extraction of lithium from lithium enriched brines in Alberta, particularly at Empire’s massive Fox Creek Lithium Project, is especially attractive with existing wells, infrastructure and knowledgeable Alberta workforce” stated Mr. Beruschi. “In addition, the time is right to advance Empire’s Buck Lake platinum, palladium and nickel project – a hidden exploration gem near North American Palladium’s successful Lac des Iles mine in Ontario”.
Empire has granted 500,000 stock options at $0.10 to an officer.