VERTICAL EXPLORATION INC. announced the appointment of Mr. Raphael Gaudreault to its Advisory Board. Mr. Gaudreault is part of the senior management team at Arianne Phosphate Inc. (Arianne), and currently serves as Arianne's Chief Operating Officer. Previous to his role at Arianne, Raphael served as the Mine Optimization Specialist at IAMGOLD Corporation.

Mr. Gaudreault graduated from Laval University with a degree in Mining Engineering (2004) and a certificate in Business Administration from MountSaint Vincent University (2005). Throughout his career, Mr. Gaudreault has held operational positions focused primarily on open pit mine development and optimization. Previous to his role at IAMGOLD, Raphael worked on two expansions of ArcelorMittal's Mont-Wright operation.

Mr. Gaudreault is a member of the Ordre des Ingnieurs du Qubec and came to Arianne Phosphate Inc. with extensive knowledge of Arianne's Lac Paul phosphate mining project in Quebec, having previously worked at Arianne as its Mining Director. Mr. Gaudreault is also currently acting as a technical advisor for Quebec Iron Ore and is providing consulting services for IAMGOLD's Corporate Office as well as their Westwood and Ct Gold mines. Finally, Raphael is also one of the co-founders and Director of Engineering at Airth.io.