Soma Gold Names Sergio Rios President, Keeps Hampson as CEO

Soma Gold Corp. (TSXV: SOMA, OTC: SMAGF) appointed Sergio Rios as President effective immediately and announced a grant of stock options, with Geoff Hampson continuing as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.

Soma Gold Corp. (OTC: SMAGF), which also trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SOMA and in Germany under WKN A2P4DU, has appointed Sergio Rios as President, effective immediately. Geoff Hampson remains Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. The company also announced a grant of stock options alongside the appointment.

The move splits the top operating job from the chief executive role without displacing the incumbent — a structure that usually signals a company wants dedicated senior attention on the mine and the mill while the CEO keeps the capital markets, board and strategy work. What makes this particular appointment worth reading closely is not the title but the specific operating method Rios is known for.

The man who built 'Modelo Bonanza'

Rios brings nearly 30 years in Central American gold mining. Between 2006 and 2014 he was President of Hemco Nicaragua S.A., the operator of the Bonanza gold mine, where the company grew from a 29,000-ounce-per-year producer into a diversified natural-resources group.

His signature contribution there was the Artisanal Mining Model, known as Modelo Bonanza. The design is straightforward to describe and notoriously difficult to execute: informal, small-scale miners working ground in and around a concession are organized into legalized, accredited cooperatives. Those cooperatives then deliver their ore to a dedicated processing plant, where it is treated without mercury, and the material is tracked with full traceability from the point of extraction all the way to the refinery.

Each of those three elements solves a separate problem. Legalizing and accrediting the cooperatives converts a source of conflict — trespass, blockades, disputed ground — into a supply relationship. The dedicated plant gives the operator throughput it did not have to find through its own drilling and development. Mercury-free processing removes the single biggest environmental and reputational liability attached to artisanal gold. And traceability from pit to refinery is what allows the metal to clear the due-diligence screens that refiners and banks apply to gold sourced near informal mining.

Rios has since applied the model to develop three plants: two during his tenure at Hemco and one more as an independent operator. Earlier in his career he held senior roles at Greenstone Resources and at RNC Gold Ltd., a TSX-listed producer that was acquired by Yamana Gold in 2006.

Why a Colombian producer hires this particular resume

Artisanal and small-scale mining is a structural feature of gold production in Colombia, as it is across much of Latin America. For a junior producer with a permitted plant, nearby informal workings are simultaneously a risk and an unexploited feedstock. Companies that treat them only as a risk spend money on security and litigation. Companies that convert them into an accredited supply chain can raise mill utilisation without the capital cost and lead time of new development.

That is the practical bet implied by bringing in the person who designed the model rather than someone who has merely read about it. The announcement, carried by INN Precious Metals, does not attach production targets or a timeline to the appointment, and investors should not read one in. What it does establish is the skill set the board has decided it wants close to the asset.

The Hemco trajectory is the reference point Rios carries: a mine producing 29,000 ounces a year when he took over that became the core of a broader resources business. That is a historical figure from a different asset in a different country under different gold prices, and it is not a forecast for Soma. It does, however, describe the kind of growth path the model was built to support — incremental ore volumes feeding a central plant, rather than a single large capital project.

Stock options and the parts that were not disclosed

The company announced a grant of stock options in the same release. Terms — the number of options, exercise price, vesting schedule and expiry — were not specified in the summary of the announcement, and readers who care about dilution should look for those details in the full filing on SEDAR+ and in the TSX Venture Exchange acceptance notice.

Option grants tied to a senior appointment are routine at the junior end of the mining market, where cash compensation competes with exploration and working-capital needs. They are also the clearest available statement of how the board is trying to align a new executive with shareholders. The exercise price relative to the current market, and how much of the grant is time-vesting versus performance-vesting, are the two variables worth checking.

Where the shares stand

They are also the clearest available statement of how the board is trying to align a new executive with shareholders.

SMAGF last traded at 0.52 on the OTC market, down 0.19% on the day, having closed the prior session at 0.52 as well, according to market data as of 20:00 GMT on Sept. 24, 2026. The day's range was 0.51 to 0.52. That is a thin band, and it is worth noting the quote is for the U.S. over-the-counter line; the TSX Venture listing in Canadian dollars is the primary market and the one where most of the volume in a company of this size normally sits.

For context on the tape that day, the broad U.S. market was essentially flat: the S&P 500 tracker closed at $767.18, down 0.08%, the Nasdaq 100 tracker at $741.10, down 0.01%, and the Dow tracker at $512.68, down 0.32%. In other words, nothing in the index backdrop was pushing small gold names in either direction.

What to watch from here

Three things will tell investors whether this appointment is more than a title change. First, the option terms once they are filed — size, strike and vesting. Second, any disclosure about ore-purchase or cooperative agreements around Soma's Colombian operations, which would be the first visible sign that the Bonanza approach is being transplanted. Third, mill throughput and head grade in subsequent operating updates, since third-party ore delivered to a central plant shows up in exactly those two lines before it shows up anywhere else.

Until those appear, what shareholders have is a credible operator with a specific, tested playbook for the exact environment the company works in, and a CEO who has stayed in place to run everything else.

Key facts

Stock: SMAGF last close 0.52, -0.19%, as of 20:00 GMT Sept. 24, 2026
Appointment: Sergio Rios, President, effective immediately
Listings: TSXV: SOMA; OTC: SMAGF; WKN: A2P4DU
Track record: President of Hemco Nicaragua 2006-2014; Bonanza mine at 29,000 oz/year

Frequently asked questions

Who is Sergio Rios?

Sergio Rios is the newly appointed President of Soma Gold Corp. He has nearly 30 years of experience in Central American gold mining, including serving as President of Hemco Nicaragua S.A. from 2006 to 2014, operator of the Bonanza gold mine. He previously held senior roles at Greenstone Resources and RNC Gold Ltd.

Does Geoff Hampson remain in charge of Soma Gold?

Yes. Soma Gold confirmed that Geoff Hampson continues to serve as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. The appointment of Sergio Rios as President separates the senior operating role from the chief executive position rather than replacing Hampson in either of his existing capacities.

What is the Modelo Bonanza artisanal mining model?

Modelo Bonanza is the Artisanal Mining Model designed and implemented by Sergio Rios at Hemco Nicaragua. It organizes artisanal miners into legalized, accredited cooperatives that deliver ore to a dedicated processing plant for mercury-free treatment, with full traceability maintained from the point of extraction through to the refinery.

How many plants has Rios developed using the model?

Three. According to the company, Rios applied the Artisanal Mining Model to develop two plants during his tenure as President of Hemco Nicaragua and one additional plant later as an independent operator. The model has therefore been implemented more than once and outside a single corporate structure.

What were the terms of the stock option grant?

Soma Gold announced a grant of stock options alongside the appointment, but the number of options, exercise price, vesting schedule and expiry date were not detailed in the announcement summary. Those terms would normally appear in the company's regulatory filings and in the TSX Venture Exchange acceptance documentation.

Where does Soma Gold stock trade?

Soma Gold Corp. trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SOMA, on the U.S. over-the-counter market as SMAGF, and in Germany under WKN A2P4DU. SMAGF last traded at 0.52, down 0.19% on the day, as of 20:00 GMT on September 24, 2026, within a day range of 0.51 to 0.52.

Sources

SOMA GOLD ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF SERGIO RIOS AS PRESIDENT AND GRANT OF STOCK OPTIONS — INN Precious Metals