Jim Excell is President of Narego Solutions Inc., a consulting company to mining industry stakeholders and joined the board of directors in October 2009.  

He has more than three decades of operating and major project management experience in the mining industry having managed and developed some of the world's premier mining projects in Canada, the United States and Australia, including the Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Excell led the construction, commissioning and subsequent operation of the $700 million development of the Ekati Mine, Canada's first diamond mine.  He served as Chairman of BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. to June 2005 and from 1999 to 2003 was President and COO of Ekati Diamond Mine and BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. Jim managed copper operations in British Columbia, as well as metallurgical and thermal coal mines in Australia and the U.S.  In addition to his outstanding industry experience, he is recognized for fostering goodwill relations with government and aboriginal groups.

Jim has recently completed a 3 year term as President & CEO of North American Palladium Ltd – a public company with operations in northern Ontario and exploration interests in Finland.

For his contributions to the mining industry Jim Excell has been recognized with such awards as: Businessman of the Year from the NWT Chamber of Commerce, Resource Person of the Year by the Alberta Chamber of Resources, and on behalf of BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc., the Viola R. MacMillan Developers Award for outstanding leadership in management and financing for exploration and development of mineral resources.

Jim also serves as a director of Diamondex Resources Ltd. and Fortune Minerals Ltd. In addition, he is a director of the PDAC and serves on the Aboriginal Affairs Committee of the PDAC.