We are very proud to announce the appointment of Kjetil Solbraekke as CEO of Pilar Gold Inc.. Kjetil is an experienced entrepreneur in Brazil and a hands-on leader who will lead the resumption of operations.
One of his first actions last week was to rehire Israel Oliveira, who returns from Tucano Gold, where he served as Managing Director for 18 months. Prior to his time at Mina Tucano, Israel was Managing Director of Pilar’s PGDM mine and is widely regarded as one of the most experienced underground gold mine operators in Brazil.
Israel is looking forward to rejoining the team and working alongside Dr. Carlos, Wallacy Goncalves and Richard Crew as part of the leadership team under Kjetil’s direct leadership.
Since Kjetil took over my former position as CEO, we are already seeing a dramatic change in the dynamics on the ground. With his background in the oil industry, his operational skills are perfectly suited to steadily expand the daily production of our three underground mines and our world-class Tres Buracos open-pit project.
Pilar is fully funded to resume operations, and with a restructured balance sheet, we are in a strong position to capitalize on the current record gold price. It is crucial that we successfully complete the initial phase of the restart before exploiting the larger long-term potential of this 4 million ounce, long-life operation.
Kjetil says: “I humbly accept the role of CEO at Pilar Gold. Having met the key people in the company, I am confident that my experience is a good fit for the mining expertise on the board and in the management team. I look forward to working with these great teams to resume production and ultimately increase shareholder value.”
Background Information on Kjetil
Kjetil Solbraekke was born in Oslo in 1962 and graduated with a degree in economics from the University of Oslo. He began his career with a seven-year stint at the Ministry of Petroleum in Oslo. In 1998, he joined Norsk Hydro, where he served as CFO for Oil and Energy, SVP for International Business, and Country Manager for Brazil, where he was responsible for the development of the Peregrino field.
He led the acquisition of the Peregrino discovery in Brazil and the team behind its successful greenfield development into one of Equinor’s largest international self-operated assets. Kjetil has earned a good reputation through his collaboration with Brazilian regulators, authorities and partners.
After leaving Equinor in 2008, he remained in Brazil and served as CEO during Panoro Energy’s IPO on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2009.
Later, he served as CEO of Sintef do Brasil before joining Rystad Energy as SVP for Latin America. In 2018, he co-founded DBO Energy, which successfully acquired mature fields from Petrobras. He played a key role in preparing 3R’s IPO on BOVESPA by integrating DBO’s onshore assets into the 3R portfolio and subsequently served as a board member after the IPO. He later became CEO of Maha Energy after DBO’s offshore assets were merged into Maha, and served there until April of this year, when the company shifted its strategy to financial investments.
Kjetil is also President of the Norwegian-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in Rio de Janeiro and proudly flies the Norwegian flag. He has lived in Rio since 2006 and speaks fluent Portuguese.
Outside of work, Kjetil is an avid guitarist – with Neil Young as his favorite musician and his apt lyric: “I have been a miner – For a heart of Gold”.
Finally, with regard to gold, we stand by our assessment that the price will reach USD 5,000/ounce by Christmas. Seven weeks before Christmas, we note with interest that almost all major gold chart technicians turned pessimistic three Fridays ago and are now forecasting a price of USD 3,700 by the Christmas season. That is a difference of USD 1,300 between the consensus and our forecast. If our assessment proves correct, both GDX and GDXJ could generate gains of 200% in 2025. Sincerely
Jeremy Gray | Outgoing CEO
Jeremy.Gray@PilarGold.com
Max Beck | Head of IR
Max.Beck@PilarGold.com
Edward Balme | IR Manager
Edward.Balme@PilarGold.com
Eric Robinson | IR
Eric.Robinson@PilarGold.com
