Early Career Professionals

Benjamín has worked closely with the mining explosives industry since he achieved a B.Sc. degree in Geology in 2018 from University of Concepción, Chile. His thesis project involved studying the interactions between common ammonium nitrate explosives used in mine blasting and the iron sulfide minerals present in porphyry-copper deposits, in order to identify the conditions that might cause a spontaneous reaction inside the blast holes prior to loading. Since then, he's been working on different projects related to the interaction of explosives and the rock mass for his company, which ignited his efforts towards a better understanding of the life-cycle of a mine, from its discovery until it's closure.

Isaac is a Ph.D. student at Colorado School of Mines (Mines) researching hydrogeochemical signatures in areas of artisanal & small-scale mining in Arequipa, Peru. Isaac has a B.Sc. in Geology from California State University Northridge and an M.Sc. in Economic Geology from Mines. Prior to returning to Mines, he worked in production for Freeport McMoRan then did contract exploration work on a greenfield project with Newcrest. Isaac has been actively involved with SEG since 2017 through SEG Student Chapter events and now through a variety of SEG committee roles including SEG conference planning and Diversity Equity and Inclusion.

Axel is an Argentine-Italian geologist who studied Geology in University of Córdoba, Argentina. He is currently a PhD Candidate at CODES (University of Tasmania) where his main focus for the next years will be developing vectoring and fertility assessment tools for Porphyry Cu-Au deposits by studying mineral inclusions in chlorite and muscovite from its alteration haloes. Axel has over 4 years of industry experience, for most of which he worked in high sulphidation epithermal Au deposit exploration at El Indio Belt in the Argentine Andes for Barrick. He also worked in metamorphosed low-sulphidation deposits at the Tipasjärvi Greenstone belt in Finland, where he also received his MSc. in Economic Geology degree from University of Oulu.

Angela is a PhD candidate at CODES (Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Science) as part of a regional initiative towards critical minerals in Tasmania. Before joining CODES, Angela worked for 4 years in the mining industry, first as a mine geologist for Vale company in Sossego, a deposit related to the Southern IOCG Copper Belt in Carajás Brazil, and after as a project geologist at Anglo American Group of Discovery and Geoscience focused on Ni-Cu-PGE potential in Brazil. She holds a Bachelor’s in Geology and a Master of Business Administration in Data Science, both from the University of São Paulo. Angela has been involved with SEG since 2017 when she was in her bachelor’s as an active member of the Student Chapter in the University of São Paulo where she organized several events and students field trips.

Jackline is a geoscientist who graduated from the University of Zambia with a Bachelor's degree in 2017. She joined First Quantum Minerals Ltd in Zambia as an Exploration Geologist in 2018, exploring for Sediment Hosted Copper deposits in the Katangan Basin.

Since leaving university, she has worked on regional generative exploration aimed at regional prospectivity evaluation of parts of the Katangan Basin, involving collection and assessment of regional geological, geochemical and geophysical datasets to constrain regional stratigraphy, gross depositional environment, structure and mineral systems. She has also been involved in project scale work involving drilling of exploration targets, logging, supervision of drilling programs, oversight of geochemical and geophysical surveys and data integration and interpretation. She is currently on a six-month secondment in Australia, exploring for Orthomagmatic Nickel Deposits in the Yilgarn Craton.

Her interest in geology arose from the adventure of exploring different places and the thought of having specialised knowledge to uncover the hidden natural resources (ore deposits) that the earth offers. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching documentaries, visiting new places and reading novels.

Joe is currently a postdoctoral research scientist at the German Research Centre for the Geosciences (GFZ Potsdam). Joe completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Environmental Geology and Geochemistry at the University of Leeds (UK), before moving to Canada to complete a Ph.D. in Economic Geology at the University of Alberta (Canada). Joe’s research is focused on the genesis of mineral resources in sedimentary basins, and he is broadly interested in the role of resource extraction in sustainable development.

Pearlyn is currently an Assistant Professor in Akita University, Japan. Her current research interests include the mineralogy and geochemistry of ore deposits. Her research experience also includes geophysical methods for ore exploration. She conducts research in collaboration with several exploration and mining companies in the Philippines and Japan. She teaches field and laboratory techniques to undergraduate and graduate students. She holds a D.Sc. degree from Akita University and earned her B.Sc. degree in Chemistry and M.Sc. degree in Geology from the University of the Philippines – Diliman. She is a mother to Zij (9) and Zyra (7).

Luca is currently working as an exploration geologist with LKAB on the Kiruna IOA deposit in northern Sweden, where his main focus is on the understanding of the hydrothermal alterations associated with the deposit. Luca has over 3 years of industry experience, for most of which he worked in porphyry Cu-Au deposit exploration with NuevaUnión (Teck-Newmont JV) in Chile. He also worked in epithermal deposit exploration in Mexico on projects in different stages of exploration. Luca received both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in geology from University of Geneva, Switzerland. For his M.Sc. thesis he studied the metallogenesis of the Kışladaǧ porphyry gold deposit in Turkey.