Hi B,Sorry I am based in the US and a day behind as well as...

Hi B,
Sorry I am based in the US and a day behind as well as having to help a mate shift house yesterday.

Rick has an interesting history and was actually an assistant professor at Monash prior to joining Fronteer. You can Google "Rick Valenta Monash" to see the press release from Fronteer. Here is the bulk of it from 2003.

"Fronteer Development group Inc (FRG -- TSX) is pleased to announce that Dr Rick Valenta has joined the Company as VP Exploration. Rick obtained his PhD in structural geology from Monash University of Australia in 1988 and thereafter was appointed Assistant Professor at Monash University in 1990. Between 1995 and 2003, Rick worked for MIM Exploration where he held the positions of Chief Geologist, Regional Manager for Central America, and Principal Geologist for the Project Generation Group.

Over the past decade Rick has played a pivotal role in the Australian minerals industry by pioneering a new holistic approach to mineral exploration that integrates geophysics and structural geology. Rick is one of a select few individuals credited with developing the science and practice of geologically meaningful interpretation of aeromagnetic data -- particularly as it applies to mineral exploration and drill targeting.

Rick has exploration and development expertise in base and precious metals deposits on six continents. He is renowned for his global iron oxide copper gold experience, having studied and explored for these systems in Mount Isa (Ernest Henry), the Olary Block, Gawler Craton and Stuart Shelf (Olympic Dam), Tennant Creek, the Carajas region of Brazil (Igarap Bahia, Salobo, Sossego), Chile (Candelaria region) and Argentina.

Dr Valenta is an excellent addition to Fronteer's team and he will be immediately assigned to supervision of Fronteer's joint ventures with Placer Dome and Red Lake Resources, and to Fronteer's 100% owned Dixie Lake project in the Red Lake Greenstone Belt. He will also assume responsibility for Fronteer's activities on its iron oxide copper gold properties in the Northwest Territories and Labrador and will assist in the identification and evaluation of more advanced gold projects."

Fronteer was his last position prior to coming back to Oz. I can't find the info (I think I have it somewhere at home in Vic) but I am pretty sure the SP went from about a buck to 16 bucks whilst he was there. I'm sure it was a team of people but it seems like an uncanny coincidence.

Rick told me in an email a couple of years ago he moved back to Australia because he wanted to bring the family home, as his wife is one of our kind (Aussie). He is deeply committed to the projects and selected them himself. Rick actually brought in the Buffalo Gold tenements as they seemed to match what he was looking for. He actually planned on consulting for a while but the Bondi opportunity was a good one. To note, Buffalo ended up liquidating their holdings during the financial crisis and I believe (correct me if I am wrong) that they are all out. Their actions destroyed our share price at the time but we still got the tenements from the deal 2-3 years earlier.

In the relatively recent secondary offering, it was excellent to note that all company directors opted to buy the maximum allotment of shares ($5k) each and show support for their own company. In addition, from time to time Rick or his family trust has bought more on the open market. It is a refreshing change form directors just wanting options contracts all the time.

Anyways, this is long enough but the info helps you have that little but more faith in the management than most U juniors!

Take care and good luck.....