February 26, 2018 (Source) — Prophecy Development Corp. (“Prophecy” or the “Company”) (TSX:PCY, OTCPK:PRPCF, Frankfurt:1P2N) is pleased to announce the following executive management appointments:

Michael Drozd, Vice-President, Operations

Based in Elko, Nevada (within 110 miles of the Company’s Gibellini project), Mr. Drozd has 40 years of experience in underground and open pit mining operations, hydrometallurgical and mineral processing facilities, mining project development, metallurgical research and development, and design and engineering of processing facilities in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Australia, Turkey, Argentina, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador and the CIS.

Most recently, Mr. Drozd was contracted by Barrick Gold Corp. (“Barrick”) as Project Manager of Project Expansion at its Pueblo Viejo gold project where he led a team and developed a prefeasibility study with an overall project budget of US$900,000,000.

Prior to Barrick, Mr. Drozd spent seven years as Vice President of Metallurgy with Scotia International of Nevada, Inc. (“Scotia”) where he led a multi-disciplinary team to manage the Gibellini project’s engineering, procurement, construction management (EPCM) contract and completed: (i) process flow design; (ii) instrumentation design; (iii) general arrangement site layout design; (iv) civil and foundation design; (v) structural design; (vi) process piping designs; and (vii) coordinated with consultants, NewFields, on the heap leach pad design and overall project cost estimate.

Prior to Scotia, Mr. Drozd was the Principal Metallurgist at Amec Foster Wheeler (“AMEC”), where he was a co-author of the feasibility report entitled “Gibellini Vanadium Project Eureka County, Nevada, USA” published by AMEC for the Gibellini project’s previous operator in 2011.  Specifically, Mr. Drozd was responsible for the Metallurgical section which included metallurgical testing and mineralogy examination, trench column test work, solvent extraction testing, final vanadium pentoxide production with recovery estimates, as well as the Recovery Method section which included plant design, process flowsheet, equipment, labor, and electrical power.

Prior to AMEC, Mr. Drozd was Barrick’s Chief Metallurgist, Goldstrike Joint Venture for five years.

Mr. Drozd is a Founding Registered Member of SME, member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, and Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43–101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).

Mr. Drozd has authored publications in gold flotation, gold processing, heap leach operations, cyanide detoxification, and carbon absorption technology.  He also holds patents in molybdenum flotation, cyanide detoxification, and vanadium recovery.