Deeply Rooted: A Conversation with Lisa Buchan, Galleon Gold
A chemical engineer by training, Lisa Buchan has been involved in the resource sector her entire career. After she had children and got her MBA, she went to work for a small merchant bank that raised money for junior mining ventures. One of her clients went public and needed managing, so she shifted her attention to running it. Most recently, she has teamed up with David Russell CEO and president of Galleon Gold, to advance a gold mining project in Timmins, Ontario, one of the richest mineral producing areas in the Western Hemisphere. Galleon’s project, the West Cache Gold Project, covers approximately 10,000 hectares in the Timmins-Porcupine Mining Camp.
Timmins is known as the “City with a Heart of Gold”, which is accurate in two ways: its gold mining history from the Porcupine Mine Gold Rush, and its friendly people known for their hospitality.
Books on her Nightstand
Lords of the Bow (known as Genghis: Lords of the Bow in America) is the second book of the Conqueror series, based on the life of Mongol warlord Genghis Khan by Conn Iggulden.
Daughters of Britannia: The Lives and Times of Diplomatic Wives, this book is an account of the courageous and unusual women who have been the backbone of the foreign service, by Katie Hickman.
“The merchant bank is where I got my experience in small public companies,” she says. “Dealing with the TSX, regulatory matters and issues of running of a small firm.”
Lisa is, as she likes to say: outdoorsy. All her life, she’s been drawn to real, tangible things— what you can see, touch, and use. When she worked at a multinational fertilizer company, she liked watching the trucks line up in the spring to be loaded with the fertilizer manufactured in the plant knowing it would help Western Canadian farmers grow something useful.
She is friendly, open, and practical, focused on bottom line results.
“I’m really excited to build the mine,” she continues. “Because there will be real product coming out of it. That drives me more than anything else. Even though I am sitting in Toronto, the financial capital of Canada, I am more drawn to the activity and successful operations out in the field.”
When Galleon Gold completed their last capital raise, Lisa decided to invest in increasing the company’s social media presence. They outsource design and management of the posts, but she is heavily involved in the strategy. It’s been running for two years; progress has been slow but steady.
“The company we use curates posts which I either accept or reject. I give them news releases, photos, and videos from the field, this is supplemented with other content on the gold industry or precious metals which they tailor to each platform. The key is frequency and content—and highlighting something investors would be interested in reading.”
Galleon Gold uses Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, a channel that Lisa says the young geologists frequent for visuals. She admits, she’s not sure it’s made a difference in her share price but, “you need to tell the story over and over before investors notice you. Social media is a great tool for doing just that.”