Leaver, a 20-year veteran of the minerals and energy sector, will serve as lead geologist for Maxwell’s exploration of the mineral rights at Raton, including coal as well as gold, silver and other rare minerals.
A graduate of the Colorado School of Mines, he most recently served as vice-president of geology with Sun River Energy, and also worked with Thomason Partners Associates on prospect development in the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains and the Illinois and Michigan basins.
Maxwell officials are working to learn more about the Raton Basin using a 1991 US Geological Survey report authored by Charles "Chuck" Pillmore.
The findings of that effort were that the region may contain an “abundance of high-grade metallurgical (coking) coal” for steelmaking and ore production.
A USGS survey of the same region in 2005 found additional high-grade coal than was previously estimated.
In all, the explorer holds fee-simple mineral rights to 170,000 coal and mineral-rich acres in the Raton Basin.
“We have more than 265 square miles under our control in the Raton Basin, and we want to find the locations we feel will provide us the best return before we start exploratory drilling,” Maxwell president and chief executive Phillip Dias said.
