Meet the Cactus Team

At the Cactus Project, we have a team of seasoned mining engineers and geologists working together to advance our copper porphyry project. It is a close knit team with a broad experience of building and operating large open pit and underground mines throughout the America’s, and particularly within Nevada and Arizona.

Project Management 

Bernie Loyer, Senior Vice President Projects

Bernie is a Project Mining Executive with over 35 years of international mining experience including over 20 years in LATAM, having worked in Peru, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador. As Senior VP Projects, he leads the engineering, procurement and management resources in the development and execution of Arizona Sonoran’s project portfolio and has hand picked several former colleagues to join him in leading the Cactus Project through development. He joins ASCU from SolGold where he held the position of VP Projects leading the development of the Porvenir and Cascabel projects in Ecuador. A mechanical engineer, fluent in English and Spanish, Mr. Loyer holds multiple patents for the design of process and material handling equipment. Mr. Loyer has a proven track record delivering large scale mining projects including Goldcorp's Penasquito Project in Zacatecas, Mexico, Goldcorp´s Cerro Negro Project in Santa Cruz, Argentina and Torex Gold´s Morelos Project in Guerrero, Mexico. Mr. Loyer spent five years at FLSmidth Minerals based in Copenhagen serving as Vice President, Minerals Technology and Chief Product Officer where he was responsible for all global process technology, manufacturing and material handling. Prior to that he served 15 years with BHP Billiton, spending the last 10 years in Peru and Chile where he held operational, maintenance and project leadership positions. 

Alan Hernandez, Project Manager

Alan brings over thirty years of experience in the mining industry, with a strong background in operations, engineering, and project management. Throughout his career, he has held leadership roles across North, Central, and South America, contributing to the success of numerous high-profile mining projects. Since 2008, Alan has been actively leading project teams following his initial engineering role on Glamis Gold’s Peñasquito Project. His operations and project experience includes work with ASARCO (Ray), SolGold (Cascabel), Torex Gold (Morelos and Media Luna), Goldcorp (Peñasquito, El Sauzal, and Cerro Negro), Kappes Cassidy, KCA (Ocampo), and Newmont Mining (Mesquite).  Alan earned a Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering from the University of Arizona. 

Engineering and Metallurgy

Victor Moraila, Chief Mine Engineer

Victor joins ASCU with 21 years of Central and North American mining industry experience, with a focus on large open pit operations with both mill and heap leach flow sheets. He joined Goldcorp in 2004 and oversaw the build of the El Sauzal Mine as Chief Planning and Projects. El Sauzal Mine was an oxide high grade deposit in the remote area of southwestern Chihuahua State, Mexico, with a Mill, Leaching Tanks and a Processed Tailings Operation. He was transitioned as Chief Mine Engineer and at Goldcorp/SSR's Marigold mine in Nevada, followed by a stint with Kiewit Mining Group in the Business Development group. He joins ASCU from Nevada Gold Mines, as Cheif Mine Engineer and Project Manager at the Long Canyon Mine.

Steve Dixon, Chief Metallurgist

Steve Dixon holds a Master’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. He has Over 40 years’ metallurgical management experience, known for keen oversight and technical direction that leads to significant yield improvement and maximum economic value. He has experience in hydrometallurgy and mineral processing for ores containing gold, silver, copper, uranium, lithium, molybdenum and rhenium. Special expertise in Heap Leach optimization and process development including innovative cost reduction methodology. He is a member of SAIMM - South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, CIM – Canadian Institute of Mining and SME - Society of Mining Engineering. Over the past 40 years he has been involved and formed an instrumental part of numerous processing facilities in the respective capacity of Project Consultant, Project Director, Project Manager, Manager of Technical Services, Chief Engineer, Chief Metallurgist, Development Metallurgist and Metallurgist.

Greg Philipps, Project Superintendent 

Greg Phillips is a seasoned Project Superintendent at Arizona Sonoran Copper, bringing over 40 years of extensive experience in the mining industry. His expertise primarily lies in solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) processes and engineering reviews, as well as construction and maintenance operations. A graduate of Central Arizona College, Greg is dedicated to driving project success through his deep understanding of mining operations and commitment to safety and efficiency.

Geology

Chris White, Manager, Geology

Chris' extensive experience in both exploration and production Geology in a multitude of deposit types across North America and West Africa spans the past 19 years. With a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh, he went straight into graduate school at the University of Minnesota – Duluth, while concurrently working with Duluth Metals Corp in northeastern Minnesota. While at Duluth Metals, Chris was part of the discovery team and maiden resource estimate team for the Maturi Extension project. Following his MSc work on the Maturi Extension deposit, Chris worked in exploration, contracting for multiple junior exploration companies over the next 7 years, exploring for Cu-Ni-PGE, titanium, iron ore, and metallurgical coal. Chris has spent time in production geology as Acting Chief Geologist for Freeport-McMoran’s Bagdad open-pit Cu-Mo mine, production geology supervision at Barrick's Goldstrike open pit gold mine. He also managed exploration programs at Albemarle’s King’s Mountain lithium mine in North Carolina. He joined ASCU from Golden Vertex Corp as the Chief Geologist responsible for both production and exploration geology at the Moss mine in northwestern, Arizona. Chris’s experience in both exploration and production geology and in porphyry copper deposits make him an excellent fit to lead the geology team at ASCU in transitioning the Cactus project from advanced exploration into the next producing copper mine in Arizona.

Anthony Bottrill, Resource Geology

Anthony has been a key member of the geology team since pre-acquisition of the Cactus Project and is one part of the geo group to blame for the mineral resource growth at Cactus. He runs resource modelling, model validation, drill design, grade control and reconciliation, and geological operations and planning support. He has previously conducted due diligence for a number of buy side investors, and successfully modeled Klondex's Fire Creek and Midas Mines, and BHP's Olympic Dam among others for mining operations. Anthony has over 25 years experience in the industry and has worked on projects throughout the Americas, Australia, and Africa specializing in geological and resource modeling. Anthony is marking the Company's very first drill hole, confirming mineralization at Cactus, in 2019. 

Jacob West, Geologist I/Graduate Student

Jacob brings five years of exploration geology experience. An Arizona local, Mr. West began his career in exploration and consultation with Titan Mining at Mineral Ridge and Augusta Gold Corp at the Bullfrog Mine in Nevada as a junior geologist. He has also been a seasonal contract geologist for the Herbert Gold Project in Juneau, Alaska. As a junior and contract geologist, he specialized in several logging methods, including logging drill core, oriented and unoriented and was additionally involved in helping manage drill programs at Cactus, as well as miscellaneous construction and organizational projects. 

Mr. West holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Sciences from Arizona State University and is a current master's student at the New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology, specializing in Mineral Engineering and Exploration Geology. He is also a member of the Society of Economic Geologists and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration.

Martin Horiya, Geologist II

Martin is a geologist with a strong background in hard rock logging, mineral exploration, and geotechnical analysis. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Western University and has contributed to both surface and underground drilling programs across the U.S., applying a detail-oriented and data-driven approach to every project. His core strengths include core and chip logging, structural interpretation, QA/QC, and the integration of geological and geotechnical data using platforms like MXDeposit, WellCAD, Leapfrog, DHlogger, acQuire, and ArcGIS. Martin combines hands-on field expertise with advanced technical skills, enabling him to support exploration teams through accurate data collection and interpretation. While working with Ivanhoe Electric in Casa Grande, Arizona, Martin was responsible for processing drill core, recording RQD data, and supporting ATV data workflows in collaboration with geotechnical engineers. At Nevada Gold Mines, he worked on a high-volume exploration project, contributing to the refinement of geologic models through detailed logging and fieldwork coordination. Martin is known for his clear communication, strong analytical mindset, and ability to adapt quickly in fast-paced environments. He brings a collaborative spirit and a deep respect for geoscience to every opportunity, driven by curiosity and a commitment to high-quality exploration.

Scott Mooney, Geologist II

Dan Laux, GIS and Geologic Modeling

Dan's involvement with the Cactus Project began in 2019. He has reviewed, organized, and digitized the legacy geological data for the greater Casa Grande district, maintains the geology/drill hole data base, and provides GIS and geological interpretation support for the geology and engineering staff; he has a passion for obtaining, manipulating, and analyzing geological data. With over 40 years of experience as an exploration and mine geologist, Dan has explored for mineral resources throughout western North America and has worked in copper mines in Arizona and a gold mine in Nevada. Through his association with MagmaChem Exploration much of his career has involved the compilation of metallogenic and GIS databases for the western US and Alaska, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Chile, and Norway. For the last 25 years through various partnerships, Dan has been involved in the acquisition, marketing, and exploration of various mineral properties. Highlights of these activities include Copper One Inc. where he served as the VP – Exploration and Director, and as a member of TAGC Ventures LLC which facilitated the acquisition of the Cactus Project. He received a Bachelor of Science in geology from Arizona State University in 1983.

Marty Rex, Core Logging

Sustainability, Permitting and Community

Travis Snider, VP Sustainability and External Relations

With a 30 year background of industry experience focused on exploration, production, permitting and project development, Travis has worked for Engineering & Environmental Consultants, Phelps Dodge, Alliance Mining Corporation and Elm Tree Minerals. With a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Chemistry, Travis leads not only our interaction with our immediate communities but as well our environmental programs and permitting.  The project is going to get much larger than we represented earlier in the year and having Travis focused on quality and constant dialogue with our communities is critical in setting the right stage for effective communication and building those relationships for both the short and long term. He is active in the local community and state mining associations, as current Chairperson of the City of Casa Grande Chamber of Commerce and on the Board for the Arizona Mining Association, Chairing the Lands and Biodiversity Committee.

John Peterson, Senior Environmental Professional

John brings over 40 years of mining and environmnetal experience, including environmental and mining permitting and compliance, groundwater resource development, environmental site assessment, environmental remediation, and remedial site management. Previously, Mr. Peterson worked in environmental consulting in multiple capacities; managing site assessment and cleanup of impacted sites throughout the United States; managing and training staff; performing hydrologic evaluation of aquifers; permitting including Aquifer Protection Permits; and, conducting groundwater resource and water supply studies for a major Arizona mining interest. Mr. Peterson also has experience working for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.  His past clients have included the military, mining companies, and private industry. John received a B.Sc. degree in Hydrology from the University of Arizona.