RE: A fair question "If Rob McEwan is employed by PCY in any capacity, what is his function?"
In 2010 and the first part of 2011, RMac was listed as an "advisor" to PCY. In the 2010 letter to shareholders, Mr. Lee talks about a recent sit down he had with RMac. In fact, and imo, Mr. Lee does the year end shareholder letter to shareholders in large part because of Mr. McEwen (ie: year end letters to SH was and is a common practice of his). As for his advisory role, the spin of of the metal assets (and other strategic input) is my best guess as to his contribution.
RMac being made an advisor is what first brought PCY to my attention. And truth be told, I kinda forgot about Rmac. Whether or not he was ever compensated by PCY, I do not know. Whether or not he continues as an advisor, I do not know. I do know that he is busy with the UXG/MAI merger. As for his role with PCY, I think it was more along the lines of being a mentor for John Lee. PCY is/was, afterall, Mr. Lee's first dealings with a publicly traded company as opposed to being an analyst/investor in the same. That said, I hold no doubt that he approached persons like Mr. McEwen per professional contacts and dealings to garnish their input and opinion on a vast array of subjects. Outside of that, I do not think we should put any more weight to his name attached to PCY. Like in your post "a director (or other officer) of PCY" is the common weight given by shareholders when all he was (or is) is an advisor where he and Mr. Lee might get togther twice a year to have dinner. Early on, I made the same mistake by thinking he was a director (or other officer) more closely involved with PCY as well. But I later realized that being an "advisor" is not anywhere close to being a "director (or other officer)" of PCY.