Fleming College

$1 million donation positions Fleming’s renamed training centre to continue as
world leader in technical mining education

Fleming College’s Resources Drilling and Blasting Training Centre will be the beneficiary of a historic $1 million donation from entrepreneur, businessman and college alumnus, Duane Parnham.

Mr. Parnham’s gift is the largest alumni donation in Fleming College’s history and the largest ever by a college alumnus to a community college in Ontario.  In recognition of this donation, the Centre will be renamed The Parnham RDB Training Centre – Canada’s leading training centre for Resources Drilling and Blasting.

In response to an increased demand for highly trained mining professionals, this $1 million donation will support the purchase of equipment such as a multi-purpose drill, a blast hole drill rig with simulator, and a drilling fluid management system. Funds will also go toward upgrades and enhancements to the Centre. $200,000 of the donation will be used to create an endowed fund to provide financial assistance for students at the Frost Campus of Fleming College.

“Fleming College has provided me many of the skills that have made this donation possible,” said Mr. Parnham. “I am very pleased to support an educational institution focused on providing world class technical skills to the next generation of mining professionals.”

Born in Burlington, Ontario, Mr. Parnham is a graduate of Fleming’s Mineral Engineering Technology Program (1985). Since graduation he has had a very successful career as an entrepreneur managing resources based companies in both Canada and Namibia, Africa. Most recently he championed the merger of UNX Energy with Brazilian based HRT Oil and Gas.

“On behalf of myself, our faculty members and current and future students of the Resources Drilling and Blasting program, we want to thank Duane Parnham for his generous gift. This will enable us to train our students on the most current drilling equipment found anywhere well into the future,” said Gord Bailey, Coordinator of the Resources Drilling and Blasting program.

“This gift is a tremendous statement by an accomplished graduate. It expresses appreciation to the college, belief in our students, and a commitment to ensuring that Fleming graduates have learned using state-of-the-art resources. The Parnham RDB Training Centre will be North America’s best-equipped Resources Drilling and Blasting facility, in large part because of Duane Parnham’s generosity,” said Tony Tilly, President, Fleming College.

About Mr. Duane Parnham
With a Diploma in Mining Technology from Fleming College, Mr. Parnham went on to launch a successful career developing exploration companies from formation to fully permitted world class resources. This experience includes working internationally with governments and landowners to identify high-impact projects, and providing the capital and managerial resources necessary to create value for investors. Mr. Parnham has founded and developed multiple resource focused companies, including Giyani Gold Corp., Forsys Metals Corp., UNX Energy Corp., Angus Mining Namibia Inc., and Temex Resources Corp. Mr. Parnham also has considerable experience in corporate governance, stakeholder relations and raising capital for resource focused projects.

About Fleming College
Located in the heart of Central Ontario, Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg and Haliburton. Named for famous Canadian inventor and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, the college features more than 90 full-time programs in Business and Technology, Continuing Education and Skilled Trades, Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Visual Arts, Education, Health and Wellness, and Law, Justice and Community Services. Fleming College has 6,000 full-time and 10,000 part-time students, and more than 58,000 alumni.

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For more information:
Laura Copeland, Communications Officer, 705-749-5530 x 1370 or copeland@flemingc.on.ca

BIOGRAPHY – Duane Parnham
Duane Parnham has a successful track-record of developing exploration companies from
start-up to fully permitted projects with considerable resources and reserves. This experience includes working internationally with governments and landowners to identify high-impact and underdeveloped projects, and providing the capital and managerial resources necessary to create shareholder value.

Mr. Parnham has founded and developed multiple resource focused companies, including Giyani Gold Corp., Forsys Metals Corp., UNX Energy Corp., Angus Mining Namibia Inc., and Temex Resources Corp. Mr. Parnham also has considerable experience in corporate governance, stakeholder relations and raised capital providing a high rate of success in realizing shareholder value. Based on his track record of successfully creating large scale shareholder value, Mr. Parnham has established a substantial following by institutional and retail investors.

Mr. Parnham is currently the Executive Chairman Giyani Gold Corp. (WDG,TSXV), formerly known as 99 Capital Corporation and changed its name to Giyani Gold Corp. in January 2011 to reflect the company’s focus on exploration and development in the Giyani greenstone belt of the Republic of South Africa.

The Giyani greenstone belt is located within a key geologically prospective and historically prolific gold producing region in the northeast part of South Africa in the Limpopo province. The “Giyani Greenstone Belt” represents a historically under-explored region of the country and a key industry development initiative for both the Chamber of Mines of South Africa and the Geological Society of South Africa. The properties are all located within a 13 km long corridor of the highly prospective Giyani Greenstones that host considerable past production and exploration potential.

Most recently, Mr. Parnham founded, financed, developed, and sold UNX Energy Corp. for greater than $700 million to HRT Participacoes em Pertroleo SA, a leading Brazilian based oil company having a market capitalization of over C$6 billion. HRT has selected and secured strategically located exploration blocks in onshore basins in Brazil and offshore basins in Namibia, focusing its exploration and development efforts on areas that are largely underexplored but with high untapped hydrocarbon potential.
HRT believes it is one of the largest independent Brazilian oil companies, measured by acreage, with a portfolio of exploration blocks of approximately 75,425 km² (18.6 million acres) in onshore blocks in the Solimões, Espírito Santo, Recôncavo and Rio do Peixe Basins in Brazil, and offshore blocks in the Walvis and Orange Sub-basins in Namibia.

Mr. Parnham is also an independent Director of Angus Mining (Namibia) Ltd.  Angus Mining (Namibia) Ltd. is a junior exploration company focused on building precious metal resources in West Africa.