Daniel Kunz

Daniel Kunz
Nationality	American
Occupation	Mining executive, corporate director
Title	Chairman of the Board
Employer	Excellon Resources
Known for	Founding US Gold Corporation; serving as President of Ivanhoe Mines (Mongolia) during the development of Oyu Tolgoi; chairmanship of Excellon Resources

Daniel Kunz is an American mining executive whose career has spanned several decades and some of the most significant mineral development projects in the Western Hemisphere and Central Asia. He built his reputation working on the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia's South Gobi Desert at a time when the deposit was being established as one of the largest undeveloped mineral concentrations on the planet, and later turned his attention to the Americas, founding US Gold Corporation and eventually chairing Excellon Resources. Few figures in junior and mid-tier mining have held executive roles across so many distinct jurisdictions, from Nevada and Mexico to the steppes of Mongolia.

Early Life

Details of Kunz's early life, including his birthdate and place of origin, have not been disclosed in publicly available sources. He is American by nationality and entered the mining industry in the latter part of the twentieth century, building his expertise across exploration-stage and producing companies operating primarily in North America and Asia.

Career

Ivanhoe Mines and the Oyu Tolgoi Project

Kunz's most internationally prominent role came at Ivanhoe Mines, the Canadian major led by Robert Friedland, where he served as President of Ivanhoe Mines (Mongolia). In this capacity, Kunz oversaw operations and corporate development activities in Mongolia during a foundational period in the advancement of the Oyu Tolgoi deposit, located in the South Gobi region of Mongolia. Oyu Tolgoi, which translates roughly to "Turquoise Hill" in Mongolian, was being delineated through the early 2000s as a world-class copper and gold discovery, with resource estimates that would eventually place it among the top ten copper deposits globally.

The development of Oyu Tolgoi during this period was complicated by negotiations between Ivanhoe Mines and the Mongolian government over investment agreements, royalty structures, and the degree of state participation in the project. As the senior executive on the ground and in the corporate structure for Mongolian operations, Kunz was directly engaged in the operational and governmental relations dimensions of this effort. The project ultimately moved toward a landmark Investment Agreement with the Government of Mongolia, signed in 2009, which brought Rio Tinto into the ownership structure alongside Ivanhoe and the Mongolian state.

Kunz's tenure at Ivanhoe Mines (Mongolia) gave him direct experience navigating the intersection of large-scale mineral resource development, sovereign risk, and the logistical demands of operating in remote, infrastructure-limited environments. That background would inform the kinds of projects he subsequently pursued independently.

Founding of US Gold Corporation

After his time at Ivanhoe Mines, Kunz founded US Gold Corporation, a mineral exploration company focused on gold and copper properties in the western United States. He served as the company's Chief Executive Officer, guiding it through the early stages of property acquisition, exploration drilling, and public-market financing that define the junior mining cycle.

US Gold Corporation's flagship asset became the CK Gold Project in Wyoming, a copper-gold skarn deposit located in Platte County. The project attracted attention as one of the more advanced copper-gold development assets in the state. The company also held the Keystone gold project in Nevada's Cortez Trend, one of the most productive gold-bearing geological corridors in North America, and the Challis Gold Project in Idaho.

Under Kunz's leadership, US Gold Corporation listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the ticker symbol USAU, providing retail and institutional investors with a vehicle focused on domestic American precious metals exploration at a time of rising interest in critical and strategic minerals produced within United States borders. The company pursued a strategy centered on permitting advancement and technical de-risking of its properties rather than rapid production, reflecting the extended timelines characteristic of mine development in the American regulatory environment.

Kunz stepped back from the CEO role at US Gold Corporation as he took on board responsibilities at other companies, though he remained associated with its strategic direction during the transition period.

Excellon Resources

Kunz subsequently became Chairman of the Board of Excellon Resources, a Canadian-listed silver, gold, and base metals company with operating assets in Mexico and exploration assets in Canada and the United States. Excellon's primary producing asset was the Platosa Mine in Durango, Mexico, a high-grade silver-lead-zinc operation that had been in production since 2005 and was recognized in the industry for the exceptional silver grades it delivered from its carbonate replacement deposit ore bodies.

As Chairman, Kunz brought board-level oversight to a company navigating the challenges common to mid-tier silver producers: fluctuating metals prices, the operational complexities of underground mining in Mexico, and the capital requirements of sustaining production while advancing additional exploration targets. Excellon also held the Silver City Project in Saxony, Germany, a large-scale silver exploration property situated in a historically productive European mining district, which the company viewed as a potential long-term growth asset.

Excellon Resources was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and filed disclosure documents on SEDAR, providing Canadian and international investors with access to its technical reports and financial statements under National Instrument 43-101 standards. The company's assets spanned North America and Europe, giving Kunz's chairmanship a cross-jurisdictional scope consistent with the international character of his earlier career.

Board and Advisory Roles

Beyond his executive and chairman positions, Kunz has held directorial and advisory roles at other companies operating in the precious and base metals space. His background in project development across multiple continents and regulatory frameworks made him a sought-after board member for exploration-stage and development-stage companies seeking to add operational credibility to their governance structures.

His career pattern reflects a common but demanding arc in the junior and mid-tier mining sector: executive roles at exploration companies, transition to board governance as those companies mature or as new opportunities emerge, and periodic re-engagement as a founder or operator when a new asset warrants that level of personal commitment. This cycle requires the ability to manage investor expectations across long development timelines, maintain relationships with technical teams, and navigate the financing markets that sustain resource companies between exploration success and production.

Perspective on Critical Minerals and US Domestic Production

Kunz's focus on American mineral assets through US Gold Corporation aligned with a broader shift in North American policy toward securing domestic supply chains for gold, copper, and other metals increasingly classified as critical to national economic and defense interests. The Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy, published in 2022 by Natural Resources Canada, identified copper and gold among the minerals essential to the clean energy transition and to the security of North American supply chains, a framework that echoed concurrent American federal policy under the Energy Act of 2020 and subsequent executive orders. US Gold Corporation's Wyoming copper-gold asset, in this context, represented not only a financial bet on metals prices but a positioning play in a political environment increasingly favorable to domestic mineral development.

Kunz's public statements in this period emphasized the permitting challenges facing American mining projects, the length of time required to move a discovery from initial drilling through feasibility study and into production, and the capital markets dynamics that make sustained funding difficult for pre-revenue exploration companies during periods of low commodity prices.

Recognition

Kunz has not been the subject of major named industry awards as documented in Tier 1-3 sources available as of the publication date of this article. His recognition within the mining industry derives primarily from his association with landmark projects. His tenure at Ivanhoe Mines during the delineation and early development of Oyu Tolgoi placed him among a small group of executives who were directly involved in one of the most significant new mine development stories of the early twenty-first century. Coverage of his work has appeared in the Northern Miner, Mining Journal, and S&P Global Market Intelligence, the principal trade and data sources that track executive activity in the global mining sector.

His founding and leadership of US Gold Corporation drew coverage in junior mining financial media and in the context of broader reporting on American domestic gold and copper exploration, particularly as investor interest in US-domiciled mineral assets increased from 2018 onward.