Visible Gold Adds Carl Caumartin to Board as Gagné Exits

Visible Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV: VGD) appointed mining engineer Carl Caumartin, P.Eng, MBA — a 35-year exploration veteran who helped lead Winsome Resources' Adina lithium discovery in northern Quebec — to its board effective immediately, succeeding Joël Gagné, who resigned.

Visible Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV: VGD), which also trades as OTC: VGMIF and on the Frankfurt exchange under 3V41, has appointed Carl Caumartin, P.Eng, MBA, to its board of directors with immediate effect. He replaces Joël Gagné, who has resigned from the board.

For a junior explorer, a single board seat is rarely a market-moving event on its own. But the identity of the person filling it is one of the few hard signals a company with no production and no revenue can send about where it intends to spend its next dollar. On that measure, Caumartin's résumé is the story.

A geological engineer with 35 years and five continents behind him

Caumartin is a mining executive and consultant with more than 35 years of international experience. His stated areas of practice read like the full arc of a mine's life before the first ounce is poured: exploration, resource and reserve optimization, project evaluation and management, feasibility studies, and both open-pit and underground operations, primarily in precious and base metals.

He holds a B.Sc. in Geological Engineering from Queen's University and an international MBA jointly from the University of Sherbrooke and E.S.S.C. Angers in France — an unusual pairing of technical and commercial credentials for a junior-company director, and one that matters when a board has to judge whether a drill result is worth a financing.

Geographically, his work has spanned Canada, North and Latin America, Europe, Australasia and Africa. He was raised in the Abitibi region of Quebec, which is where Visible Gold's own identity sits. That is not a decorative biographical detail in this business. The Abitibi greenstone belt is one of the most intensively explored gold districts on earth, and local knowledge — which claim blocks have been drilled, by whom, to what depth, and what was missed — is a genuine competitive asset when ground is scarce and expensive.

The Adina credential and what it says about risk appetite

The most concrete line on Caumartin's record is recent. In November 2021 he joined Winsome Resources as Vice President Exploration and General Manager, and played a key role in the Adina lithium discovery in northern Quebec within 10 months of that company's listing — a discovery subsequently followed by a positive preliminary economic assessment, or PEA, the first stage of engineering study that puts an indicative capital cost and cash flow against a deposit.

Ten months from listing to discovery is fast by any measure in hard-rock exploration, where multi-year barren campaigns are the norm rather than the exception. What it demonstrates is targeting discipline: choosing ground, designing a drill program and getting to a result before the treasury runs out. That is the single scarcest skill on a junior board.

It is worth being precise about the transfer, though. Adina is a lithium project; Visible Gold, as the name says, is oriented to precious metals. The skill that carries over is the process — geological interpretation, program design, moving a discovery toward a study that institutional capital can read — rather than the commodity. Caumartin's broader career in precious and base metals, including feasibility work and operating experience underground and in open pits, is the part that maps directly onto a gold explorer's problem set.

The appointment was announced by the company and reported by INN Precious Metals.

Why a micro-cap board change is read closely by shareholders

Junior explorers listed on the TSX Venture Exchange are, in valuation terms, a bet on two things: the ground they control and the people deciding what to do with it. With no earnings to model, investors fall back on governance signals — who is on the board, what they have found before, and whether their network can reach the financing desks that fund drill programs.

A director with feasibility-study and operating experience also changes the kind of questions asked around the table. Explorers routinely drill an interesting intercept and then struggle with the far harder question of whether the deposit could ever be mined economically at realistic grades, widths and depths. Someone who has run resource and reserve optimization work tends to force that question earlier, which can save a treasury from being spent proving up a body that was never going to clear an engineering hurdle.

The departure side of the equation is thinner. The company disclosed that Joël Gagné has resigned and that Caumartin succeeds him; no reason was given in the announcement, and none should be inferred. Board turnover at this end of the market is frequent and often simply reflects a change in the skills a company needs as it moves from staking ground to drilling it.

Three listings, one thin order book

Visible Gold carries three tickers — TSXV: VGD in Canada, OTC: VGMIF for U.S. investors, and 3V41 in Frankfurt. Multiple listings widen the potential shareholder base but do not, by themselves, create liquidity. In practice, the Venture listing is where price discovery happens for a company of this profile, and the U.S. and German lines typically trade at a fraction of that volume.

That matters for anyone reading the appointment as a trading catalyst. In thinly traded names, a small number of orders can move the quoted price a long way in either direction without reflecting any change in the underlying asset base, and bid-ask spreads can be wide enough to erode a position on entry and exit. Governance news is a reason to reassess the story; it is not a substitute for drill results.

The wider tape was firm on the day of the announcement. As of the last trade at 13:55 GMT on 30 September 2026, the S&P 500 tracker SPY stood at $767.39, up 0.42%, with the Nasdaq 100 proxy QQQ at $742.12, up 0.57%, and the Dow tracker DIA at $513.19, up 0.06% — a broadly constructive backdrop, though large-cap index levels tell you almost nothing about the appetite for micro-cap exploration financings.

What to watch from here

The test of this appointment is what follows it. Three things would confirm the read that Visible Gold is gearing up rather than treading water: a defined exploration program with a stated budget and target list; a financing to fund it, and the terms on which it is struck; and any change to the project portfolio, whether staking, option agreements or divestment of ground the board decides is not worth carrying.

A director hired for discovery track record is generally hired to be used. If the next twelve months bring no drill program, the appointment will have signalled intent without delivery. If Caumartin's Abitibi background translates into a sharpened target list on ground the company already holds, shareholders will have a far clearer basis for judging whether the board change was substantive.

Key facts

• Company and listings: Visible Gold Mines Inc. — TSXV: VGD, OTC: VGMIF, FRANKFURT: 3V41
• Appointment: Carl Caumartin, P.Eng, MBA, to the board of directors, effective immediately
• Outgoing director: Joël Gagné, resigned from the board
• Market backdrop: SPY $767.39 (+0.42%) as of 13:55 GMT, 30 Sep 2026

Frequently asked questions

Who is Carl Caumartin?

Carl Caumartin is a mining executive and consultant with more than 35 years of international experience covering exploration, resource and reserve optimization, project evaluation and management, feasibility studies, and open-pit and underground operations, mainly in precious and base metals. He holds a B.Sc. in Geological Engineering from Queen's University and an international MBA from the University of Sherbrooke and E.S.S.C. Angers in France.

Why did Visible Gold appoint him now?

The company announced the appointment as effective immediately, with Caumartin succeeding Joël Gagné, who resigned from the board. No reason for the resignation was disclosed. For a junior explorer with no revenue, adding a director with a discovery and feasibility-study record is one of the clearest available signals about where management intends to focus its exploration spending.

What was the Adina lithium discovery?

Adina is a lithium project in northern Quebec associated with Winsome Resources. Caumartin joined Winsome in November 2021 as Vice President Exploration and General Manager and played a key role in the Adina discovery within 10 months of that company's listing. The discovery was followed by a positive preliminary economic assessment, an early-stage engineering study of a project's indicative economics.

Where does Visible Gold's stock trade?

Visible Gold Mines Inc. trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol VGD, in the United States over the counter as VGMIF, and in Germany on the Frankfurt exchange as 3V41. The Venture listing is typically where the bulk of trading volume and price discovery occurs for a company of this size and profile.

Does a board appointment usually move a junior miner's share price?

Not reliably. Governance changes at micro-cap explorers can attract attention, but with no revenue or production, valuation ultimately rests on drill results and the ground a company controls. In thinly traded names, small order flow can move quoted prices sharply in either direction without any change in the underlying asset base, and bid-ask spreads can be wide.

What should investors watch next from Visible Gold?

Three follow-through items would test whether the appointment is substantive: a defined exploration program with a stated budget and target list, a financing to fund that program and the terms on which it is raised, and any change to the project portfolio through staking, option agreements or divestment. A director hired for discovery track record is generally hired to be deployed.

Sources

• Visible Gold Names Carl Caumartin as Director — INN Precious Metals

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