Verde Potash Plc - About Us

Cristiano Veloso , , , Founder, President & CEO, Director

Cristiano Veloso is the Brazilian entrepreneur who founded Verde Potash (formerly known as Amazon Mining) and has led the Company’s development from a junior mineral exploration company to a potential major global potash producer. Since 2008, with the help of a successful management team, Mr. Veloso has focused on advancing the Cerrado Verde potash project located in the heart of Brazil's largest agriculture market; Cerrado Verde being the source of a potash-rich deposit from which the Company intends to produce potassium chloride (KCl). Prior to this, from 2000 to 2003, Mr. Veloso was employed by Banco do Brasil, S.A. and also worked at Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais S.A. (CEMIG), a leading South American energy and gas company during 1999. Mr. Veloso began his entrepreneurial training in business management at Escola Tecnica de Formacao Gerencial SEBRAE. Mr. Veloso earned his LLB at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, and his LLM in International Business Law at the University of East Anglia, UK.

Pedro Ladeira , , , Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Ladeira has extensive experience in operations management specializing in large start-up projects and expansions. In his career, Mr. Ladeira was responsible for the construction and operation of two cement plants with a total capacity of 2.5 million tonnes per annum. Prior to joining Verde, he was Plant Director at Cementos Minetti (part of Holcim Group, one of the world’s largest cement producers) from January 2007 to August 2010 when he was responsible for over 600 employees and the management of its two main factories. From 1997 to 2006, Mr. Ladeira worked for Holcim in Brazil; he held various positions including Process and Production Manager where he developed significant expertise in project development, pyrometallurgy and alternative fuels usage. Mr. Ladeira has an MBA in business administration (Fundação Dom Cabral, BH), a B.A.Sc, chemical engineering (UFMG, MG) and is completing a Masters in technical co-processing, chemical engineering (UFMG, MG).

Milson Mundim , , , Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Mundim brings extensive experience in project finance, recently being responsible for structuring a US$400M debt package as CFO of Hidrovias do Brasil S/A (an integrated waterway logistic operator in Brazil), including notable international funding partners, (IFC, IDB, CAF, DEG, CDB), and local development banks (BNDES, BASA, etc). Previously, as CFO of Kinross Gold Corporation's Brazilian subisdiary, Mr. Mundim led the financial structuring of the US$600M expansion of the Paracatu mine from 150,000 oz/year to 500,000 oz/year. The task included the implementation of tax strategies, capital controls, working capital financing, and energy cost hedging strategies. As Vale's General Manager of Business & Strategy Planning and Project Valuation in their energy division, Mr. Mundim managed the Company's power procurement of US$1B/year (5% of Brazil's consumption), an operational budget of US$33M and a total portfolio of new opportunities appraised at US$2B. As the Investment Officer of IFC's Carbon Finance Unit in Washington DC, Mr. Mundim was responsible for investment in renewable energy projects with carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism in Brazil and South America, as well as India, China and Central Europe. Mr. Mundim completed his MBA in Corporate Finance at Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management, graduating with distinction, and a Bachelor of Economics at UFMG (University Federal de Minas Gerais).

Rubens Mendonça , , , VP Mining

Rubens Mendonça, a mining engineer and geostatistics specialist, has worldwide experience working with mineral commodities in technical and managerial roles. As Vale’s Senior Mining Engineer, Mr. Mendonça was responsible for mine planning and design, implementation, engineering and feasibility studies for both of Vale’s Southern and Northern integrated mine-railroad-port complexes. Subsequently, as the mining manager of the Brazilian division of Snowden Mining Industry Consultants, Mr. Mendonça was responsible for the technical coordination of several mine projects as well as desktop, scoping and feasibility studies worldwide. There he supervised and mentored geologists and mining engineers, and oversaw legal, social and environmental improvements to operations. At London Mining and Paulo Abib Engenharia S.A. (a leading Brazilian engineering consulting company), Mr. Mendonça gained experience with open pit mines, having held managerial positions in the field of minerals processing and engineering that expanded to extractive metallurgy. Mr. Mendonça completed a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais), and an MBA at FDC and PoliUSP.

Dr. Patricia Radino-Rouse , , , VP Engineering

Dr. Patricia Radino-Rouse has extensive experience as a senior consultant in extractive metallurgy for a wide variety of non-ferrous metals projects in Brazil where she specialized in process development and improvement for companies such as Paranapanema, Itaoeste, Votorantim, Carbocloro and Unisais. As Senior Process Engineer and Project Manager for Paulo Abib Engenharia, Dr. Radino-Rouse was responsible for project development and process engineering. Specifically, she supervised the process of the feasibility study for a 1.5 million tonnes per year potassium chloride project for Petrobras. At Unisais, Dr. Radino-Rouse developed projects for the solar evaporation of residual brines from salt production to obtain potassium chloride and sodium sulphates. She holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from EQ-UFRJ (Chemical School of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and a Ph.D. in Hydro Metallurgy from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London.

Jaret Anderson , , , VP Corporate Development

Mr. Anderson was a Research Analyst covering the fertilizer and chemicals sectors at Mackie Research Capital Corp. and Salman Partners Inc. He had also spent seven years at UBS Securities Canada covering Canadian paper and forest companies, as well as the chemical and fertilizer industries. Mr. Anderson was rated #1 for earnings estimate accuracy by Starmine in 2006 and rated #2 for the quality of his reports in 2005. Prior to joining Verde, Mr. Anderson was ranked #1 on the Bloomberg Absolute Return Rank (BARR) for four of six stocks under coverage. Mr. Anderson received a Bachelor of Commerce, with Honours, from the University of British Columbia, and was awarded the CFA designation in 2000.

Dr. Derek Fray , , , Metallurgical Consultant

Professor Fray is Director of Research at the University of Cambridge, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy. He is respected for his impact in materials extraction and processing world for developing sustainable technologies. He is credited as inventor on approximately 340 published patents of which about 150 have been granted, and as has authored about 425 scientific papers. He is a Fellow of some of the world’s most prestigious professional societies including; the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Dr. Fray has a PhD from the University of London.

Rodolfo Rezende Silva , , , Process Manager

Mr. Silva’s past experience includes work with some of Brazil's 100 largest companies, including Usiminas S/A, Magnesita Refratários S/A, Vilma Alimentos and AMBEV. He has a degree in Chemical Engineering (UFMG) with specialization in production engineering, and holds an MBA (FGV) and an MBA in Finance (IBMEC).

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