Mr. Mark A. Petersen has been a Vice President of Exploration at New Gold, Inc. since June 30, 2012. Mr. Petersen is an economic geologist with over 29 years of experience in precious and base metals exploration throughout the Americas. Before joining New Gold in 2008, he served as the Vice President for Exploration at Metallica Resources Inc. since March 16, 2007, where he was responsible for leading the exploration and development of the Cerro San Pedro project in Mexico, serving as its Technical Liaison for the El Morro joint venture project in Chile, developing and managing a portfolio of earlier stage exploration projects in Chile, Brazil and Alaska and directing generative exploration work throughout the Americas. Since joining Metallica Resources in 1995, he served as Senior Project Manager, In-house Exploration Consultant and Exploration Manager. Prior to Metallica Resources, he held positions as an Exploration Geologist with major mining companies that included Lac Minerals Inc., Bond Gold Inc. and St. Joe Gold Inc. He is Economic Geologist/Certified Professional Geologist, AIPG.He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology from The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio. Mr. Petersen also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado and a Master of Science degree in Geology from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.