Juan Afonso

University of Twente

Juan is an associate professor in computational geoscience and geo-data integration at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. He also holds academic positions at Southern University of Science and Technology (China) and Macquarie University (Australia). His research focuses on the thermochemical structure and evolution of the lithosphere, the mechanical and geochemical interactions between tectonic plates and the sublithospheric upper mantle, and their effects on small- and large-scale tectonomagmatic processes and associated mineralization events. Juan is the developer of Multi-Observable Thermochemical Tomography (MTT), a technique that combines multiscale probabilistic inversion of multiple data sets, machine learning, and numerical modeling to address fundamental questions about the nature and evolution of the lithosphere, its mineral prospectivity, and geothermal potential.

Ross Beaty

Equinox Gold

Ross, Chair, Equinox Gold, founded Pan American Silver in 1994 and served as Chair until 2021; he was CEO of the company from its inception until 2004. Over 27 years, the company grew from a start-up to the world's second largest primary silver producer with the world's largest silver reserves and resources, while also becoming a significant gold producer.

Anna Bidgood

Carnegie Institution for Science

Anna is a Fulbright scholar at the Carnegie Institution for Science, where she is conducting phase equilibria experiments on cobalt sulfide minerals. This work is a continuation of her work at the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geoscience, where her research focused on technology-critical elements in hydrothermal sediment-hosted mineral systems, with a particular focus on the Central African Copperbelt. Anna moved into the field of economic geology after completing her Ph.D. degree in metamorphic geology at the University of Oxford. Her work also takes her to the Arctic, including Greenland, where she has a particular interest in mineral deposits, mineral systems, and the environmental and social considerations of exploration and mining.

David Boutt

University of Massachusetts-Amherst

David is a full professor in the Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Department of Geological Sciences at Michigan State University in 1997 and 1999. He earned his Ph.D. in hydrology from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, New Mexico, USA) in 2004 and held a postdoctoral position at Sandia National Laboratories before joining the faculty at UMass-Amherst in 2005. He leads a research group focused on improving the physical understanding of subsurface water storage and transport in different hydrologic environments. Ultimately the research group is motivated to integrate knowledge of hydrological systems to allow different stakeholders to make the best decisions for the sustainable management of earth resources. A key focus of his current work involves the extraction of lithium from salar and brine systems in Chile, Argentina, and the Great Basin of the western United States.

Mark Bristow

Barrick Gold Corporation

Mark is the president and chief executive of Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE: GOLD, TSX: ABX). Formerly, he was the chief executive of Randgold Resources, the company he built from a small Africa-focused exploration business into one of the industry's most profitable and best-managed gold miners. In January 2019, Barrick and Randgold merged. Bristow restructured and restrategized Barrick, and within months he was the prime mover in the combination of the Nevada assets of Barrick and Newmont, creating the world's single largest gold mining complex, Nevada Gold Mines, majority-owned and operated by Barrick. Bristow leads an organization with mines and projects in 18 countries, focused on long-life, high-margin gold and copper assets and containing six of the world's tier-one gold mines. A geologist by profession, Bristow holds a doctorate in geology. His goal is to make Barrick the world's most valued gold and copper producer, owning the best assets, managed by the best people, and delivering industry leading returns.

Mike Daly

Oxford University

Mike is a visiting professor in tectonics and resources in the Earth Sciences Department at Oxford University. After a decade of field mapping and a doctorate in structural geology, Daly joined British Petroleum (BP) as a research exploration geologist. Almost 30 years later, he left BP having been Chief Geologist, Head of Exploration, and an executive vice president on BP’s group executive team. Daly then joined Oxford and leads a research group in modern basin analysis, integrating basic geologic principles with leading-edge geophysical and geodynamic tools. He is a principal investigator in the UK’s Copper Basin Exploration Science project and sits on the board of CGG, a geoscience technology company. He is a Harvard Business School alumnus and past president of the Geological Society of London.

Quentin Dehaine

Geological Survey of Finland (GTK)

Quentin is a senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) where he has been leading several national and EU research and innovation projects on ore geology, mineral processing, and traceability and geometallurgy of battery minerals (cobalt, lithium) and critical raw materials (CRMs) such as rare earth elements (REEs). After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Lorraine (Nancy, France), he worked as a postdoc researcher at the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter (UK), working on the geometallurgy of cobalt from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2019, Quentin joined the GTK with the objective of developing innovative integrated approaches to supporting mine value chain optimization, responsible sourcing, reducing technical risk, maximizing resource efficiency, and minimizing environmental impacts. Quentin is also the officer for Scandinavia within the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Initiative on Forensic Geology (IFG).

Laurance Donnelly

AHK International

Laurance is a professional Chartered Geologist and head of the technical department and Chief Geologist at AHK International, responsible for global inspection and associated sample preparation. He is also a Chartered Scientist, European Geologist, and elected fellow of the Geological Society of America. He holds a first-class honors degree (mineral exploration and mining geology) and a Ph.D. (fault reactivation and geological hazards) and has 34 years of international experience in mineral exploration, mineral resource evaluation, mining geology, forensic geology, engineering geology, geophysics, and geological hazards. He is the founder of the Forensic Geoscience Group, of the Geological Society of London, and served as its first Chair. He is also the founder and current Chair of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) Initiative on Forensic Geology (IFG).

John Elkington

Volans

John, Founder and Chief Pollinator at Volans, is one of the founders of the global sustainability movement and has worked as a strategic advisor to businesses across the globe for more than 40 years. He has served on over 70 boards and advisory boards and currently chairs an advisory council on sustainability and new markets for Neste (Finland) and an impact valuation advisory council for Novartis (Switzerland). John is also a highly regarded keynote speaker and author; he has addressed over 1,000 conferences around the world and is the author or co-author of 20 books. In September 2021, John won the World Sustainability Award.

Karen Hanghøj

British Geological Survey

Karen is the director of the British Geological Survey. She is a geologist with extensive experience in research and innovation management and the minerals and metals industry. Karen is passionate about understanding the complexity of resource management, about environmental and social sustainability, and about the role of geoscience in finding solutions to societal challenges.

Karen holds a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Copenhagen. She worked with research on geologic processes in the lower crust and mantle and their associated mineral deposits before taking senior leadership roles in research and innovation organizations. She is a member of a range of international committees and working groups.

Kate Harcourt

Independent Environmental and Social Adviser

Kate is a sustainability professional with over 30 years of experience across the mining industry. She works as part of owner's teams with leadership on sustainability issues and for Equator Principles financial institutions and engineering groups. She serves as Non-Executive Director to Condor Gold, Fortuna Silver (transitioning from Roxgold Inc), Orezone Gold Corporation, and Atalaya Mining. Kate works on projects mainly in Europe and Africa, developing policy and environmental management frameworks and navigating local and international ESIA processes, stakeholder engagement and permitting, lender liaison, annual reporting, and construction supervision. She has joined due diligence teams on high-profile new projects and has contributed to documentation on industry good practice. In 2018, she was nominated one of the "Top 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining."

David Holwell

University of Leicester, 2023 SEG Distinguished Lecturer

David is an associate professor in applied geology in the Centre for Sustainable Resource Extraction at the University of Leicester, UK. He completed his Ph.D. research at Cardiff University on the Platreef deposit in the Bushveld Complex, and, after three years working as a consultant exploration geologist on a range of commodities across the globe for SRK Exploration Services, he joined Leicester in 2009. His main research areas focus on magmatic ore deposits, especially Ni-Cu-Co-platinum group element (PGE) sulfides, including PGE deposits in the Bushveld and Skaergaard Complexes, and a range of Ni-Cu sulfide systems across the globe, with a specialization in southern Africa. He has led, and been involved in, numerous projects funded by NERC in the UK and by global industry, including BHP and Anglo American, that apply fundamental geoscience to exploration targeting and the understanding of orebodies and the crustal cycling and concentration of critical metals required for the energy transition. Most recently, he has been researching more unconventional Ni-Cu-Co-PGE-Te systems and investigating the links between the magmatic sulfide mineral system and porphyry epithermal deposits at a translithospheric scale. He is a Fellow of the SEG and an Associate Editor of Economic Geology, most recently guest editing the Special Issue in memory of the late Tony Naldrett.

Julian Kettle

Wood Mackenzie

Julian is the Vice Chairman of Metals and Mining at Wood Mackenzie, having been with the company since 1989. He holds a degree in metallurgy and microstructural engineering and has over 30 years of experience in analysis of the metals and mining industry in relation to base metals, battery raw materials, and bulk commodities. Based in the U.K., he travels extensively and regularly presents to senior industry, government, and financial community stakeholders, leveraging his in-depth knowledge of the key factors influencing the industry and issues that stakeholders face to provide strategic advice to clients. Julian has been involved in market environment assessment, expert witness, raw materials sourcing, contract pricing, portfolio optimization, and strategic advisory relating to brownfield and greenfield investments across the value chain.

Rebecca Major

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP

Rebecca is a corporate and projects partner at international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills LLP and head of the firm's mining and energy practice in Paris. She has significant experience advising the firm's clients on a broad range of legal matters arising from their planned investments and ongoing activities in the mining and energy sectors throughout the world. She has a particular focus on Africa but also works on matters in Europe, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Rebecca is consistently singled out for her expertise in the energy and mining sectors by the leading independent benchmarking publications (Chambers Global, Legal 500 EMEA, Who's Who Mining). She has been a lawyer for more than 25 years and a partner for over 17 years.

Catherine Mottram

University of Portsmouth

Catherine completed her undergraduate studies in geoscience at the University of St. Andrews before moving to The Open University to work on her Ph.D. in Himalayan tectonics. She spent time as a Fulbright postdoctoral scholar at the University of Santa Barbara, USA, and as a Killam postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University in Canada before moving to the University of Portsmouth in 2017, where she is currently a senior lecturer in structural geology and tectonics. Catherine is a passionate geology educator and science communicator. Catherine’s research focuses on directly dating deformation from the ductile to brittle crust using various geochronometers. She has been working on a major project, in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Canada and local exploration companies, focused on understanding structural controls on Au-Cu-Mo mineralization in the Yukon and northern British Columbia, Canada.

Lee Ann Munk

University of Alaska Anchorage

Lee Ann is a professor of geochemistry and geological sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Her research expertise is in environmental geochemistry and resource geology centered on climate change solutions and the energy transition. She is focused on improving the understanding of the origin of continental lithium brines and the connections between brines and volcanic-sedimentary lithium deposits as controlled by basin dynamics, hydrogeochemistry, and paleoclimate. Her research team is also a global leader in the development of watershed-scale frameworks for sustainable approaches to lithium brine extraction. Their innovative work synthesizes remote-sensing, hydrogeologic, geochemical, and subsurface data sets to address not only new science questions but also issues relevant to stakeholders.

Glen Nwaila

Wits Mining Institute

Glen is the director of the Wits Mining Institute and an adjunct professor at the School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Prior to joining Wits in 2017, he worked in the mining and consulting industries for 12 years, where he led teams of mining professionals and led audits in mineral resources and extractive metallurgy plants. In mining, Glen led the geology functions for various companies. He also served as manager at Deloitte. Glen has been an Erasmus Mundus Scholar at Uppsala University since 2018. He completed his Ph.D. magna cum laude at Würzburg University in Germany, an M.Sc. in chemical engineering at the University of Cape Town, and a geology degree at the University of Johannesburg. Glen is a professional natural scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions and is a fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa.

Sabina Strmic Palinkas

UiT the Arctic University of Norway

Sabina is an associate professor in geochemistry and ore geology at UiT the Arctic University of Norway. She also holds an adjunct professor position at the University of Bergen, Norway. After receiving a Ph.D. degree in ore deposit geology from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, in 2009, she worked as a research fellow at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and as an assistant professor at the University of Zagreb. In fall 2015, she joined UiT, where her main goal is to establish an internationally recognized research program in ore geology and mineral resources. Her area of expertise comprises aqueous and high-temperature geochemistry, geochemical and thermodynamic modeling, and applications of organic geochemistry and stable isotope systematics to ore-forming and environmental processes. Her recent research interest is focused on submarine hydrothermal systems, including recent systems along the Arctic mid-ocean ridges as well as ancient systems preserved along the Scandinavian Caledonides and within the Fennoscandian Shield.

Jim Royall

Pan Global Resources Inc

Jim has worked in the mining industry for over 20 years on early-stage and advanced exploration projects for a diverse range of commodities in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. This includes 10 years with Rio Tinto and senior management positions for various junior mining companies. Jim has lived in Spain for many years and has extensive experience throughout the Iberian Peninsula, where he has managed a number of important exploration and development projects. Jim has a bachelor of science degree in geology from Oxford Brookes University, is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG), a fellow of the Geological Society of London, and served as qualified person for several mineral exploration companies.

Kate Rubingh

MDRU (Mineral Deposit Research Unit)

Kate is a postdoctoral fellow with MDRU (Mineral Deposit Research Unit) at the University of British Columbia, having obtained an M.Sci. in geological sciences from Durham University, an M.Sc. in mineral exploration from Queen's University, and a Ph.D. from Laurentian University. Kate is a field economic geologist with research experience in gold deposits of the Paleoproterozoic and Archean, focusing on the application of volcanic stratigraphy and structural analysis to refine the structural framework at both the deposit and regional scale. Kate's current research in the Golden Triangle area of British Columbia will use new lithogeochemistry and geochronology to refine the paleovolcanic architecture of the Hazelton group stratigraphy and its controls on the distribution of mineral deposits to understand metal endowment in the Golden Triangle area.

Charlotte Seabrook

Rupert Resources

Charlotte has been Exploration Manager at Rupert Resources in Finnish Lapland since 2018 and led the exploration team to the greenfields discovery of the Ikkari gold deposit in 2020. Charlie has nearly 20 years' experience in multicommodity exploration in various terranes including Australia and West and Central Africa. Her experience includes exploring the Central African Copperbelt and Birimian basin of West Africa, where she was integral to several discoveries in Ivory Coast while working for Newcrest as the district geologist. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of the Witwatersrand, holds an M.Sc. in mineral resources from the University of Wales (Cardiff), and is currently based in Finland.

Richard Sillitoe

Independent Consulting Geologist

Richard graduated from London University in England where he went on to earn a Ph.D. degree in 1968. After three years with the Geological Survey of Chile and a Shell postdoctoral research fellowship at the Royal School of Mines in London, he has operated for five decades as an independent consultant to mining companies, international agencies, and foreign governments. He has worked on a wide variety of mineral deposits and prospects in 100 countries worldwide but focuses on the epithermal gold and porphyry copper environments. Published research has earned him awards in Europe, Australia, and North and South America, including the Robert M. Dreyer Award (Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration), the SGA-Newmont Gold Medal (Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits), and the R.A.F. Penrose Gold Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists, of which he was President in 1999 to 2000.

Matthew Steele-MacInnis

University of Alberta

Matthew is a professor of geology at the University of Alberta whose research focuses on geologic processes that involve fluids, especially formation of mineral deposits. Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, he first studied geology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, then did a Ph.D. at Virginia Tech, after which he held a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at ETH Zurich. Matthew has been a recipient of the Hisashi Kuno Award from the American Geophysical Union, a CAREER Award from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Young Scientist Award from the Mineralogical Association of Canada, and the SGA Young Scientist Award from the Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits.