Meet the dedicated Advisory Board Members

Edson Ribeiro

Chairman of the Board

  • Director, Project and Technical Development
  • Vale Global Exploration, Brazil

Edson Ribeiro has over 27 years of experience in the mining industry, having devoted most of his career to the evaluation of mineral resources covering a broad range of ore types and deposit styles, including iron ore, manganese, nickel sulphides, nickel laterites, copper sulphides and oxides, bauxite, kaolin, potash, phosphates and coal.

Graduated with a B.Sc. Degree in Geology at the University of São Paulo in 1987, he obtained his M.Sc. degree in Metalogenesis at University of Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil) in 1994.

Edson currently leads Exploration and Mineral Projects at Vale S.A., being responsible for conducting geological exploration, mineral technology development and pre-feasibility studies worldwide. He also coordinates Vale´s Global Committee for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves.

Marcelo Godoy

Board Member

  • Chief Technology Officer
  • AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, USA

Marcelo Godoy joined AngloGold Ashanti in October 2021 as Chief Technology Officer. He is a recognised leader in the fields of resource evaluation and strategic mine planning. With over 25 years of experience in the mining industry, Marcelo was previously Senior Vice President Exploration at Newmont Corporation where he led the development of numerous innovation programs, including a world-class orebody risk management system that delivered a step change in the reliability of production forecasts. Prior to joining Newmont, he was Mining Sector Leader for Golder Associates in South America and a Director at Golder’s Global Board of Directors. During his tenure at Golder, Marcelo managed major mining feasibility studies and reserve compliance audits for Codelco, Vale, BHP, Anglo American and Antofagasta Minerals. Marcelo is a Mining Engineer and holds a Master’s degree in Geostatistics from the University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil, and a PhD in Strategic Mine Planning from the University of Queensland, in Australia.

Marco Maulen

Board Member

  • Technical Manager, Mine Planning
  • BHP, Chile

Marco Maulen has been working in the mining industry for more than 22 years with extensive experience in mine planning and project development. In his current role as Practice Lead of Mining Technical for BHP Minerals Americas, he works with various mine-planning groups throughout the organization as a mentor and technical expert setting the standards and best mine planning practices across the region. He is a member and chartered professional in mining of the AusIMM.

His technical skills include optimization, mine designs, production schedules and economic estimations for different stages of mining projects ranging from scoping studies up to operational improvements. These areas of interest are currently aimed at improving the strategic and business planning process, methodologies for economic evaluation in mining projects, analysis of stochastic variables (their impact on the results and decisions) and in general, the enhancement of the mining and business planning process.

Stephen Eddy

Board Member

  • Vice President of Business Development
  • IAMGOLD Corporation, Canada

Stephen Eddy is the Vice President of Business Development at IAMGOLD Corporation. Over the last 10 years Stephen has held various positions within IAMGOLD which include the VP of Sales and Marketing of IAMGOLD’s Niobec division and was instrumental in the sales process of the division in 2015. Prior to that his work focused on valuations, such as purchase price allocations, impairment testing and acquisition valuations. In his current role, he oversees IAMGOLD’s overall business strategy, including life of mine modeling for strategic purposes, assessment of potential transactions, due diligence procedures, recommendations on appropriate financing for transactions and has worked on major acquisitions and dispositions. Stephen’s academic credentials include an honors degree in economics from the University of Western Ontario, a Masters in Management and Professional Accounting from the University of Toronto and he received his CA designation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.

Mark Casper

Board Member

  • Vice President Resource Evaluation & Mine Planning
  • Newmont, USA

Mark Casper has more than 30 years of experience in the resource sector and brings technical, operating, project and corporate knowledge from across the value chain. His experience spans multiple commodities, geographies, and cultures, including building and leading multi-disciplinary teams. Mark joined Newmont in early 2019 as Group Executive, Strategic Resource Development before taking the position of Vice President Resource Evaluation and Mine Planning.

Prior to joining Newmont, Mark served as the General Manager for Strategic Production Planning at Rio Tinto. In that role, Mark was instrumental in developing and deploying an industry-leading methodology on advanced optimization, planning, modelling and evaluation. Mark holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mine Engineering from the University of Utah.

Malcolm L Thurston

Associate Board Member

  • Head of Mineral Resource Management
  • De Beers, Canada

Malcolm is the Head of Mineral Resource Management for De Beers Group and provides guidance and leadership in all aspects of mineral resource estimation. Malcolm has more than 30 years’ experience in the minerals industry with in-depth knowledge of mineral resource estimation in gold, base metals and diamonds. He has worked as a mineral resource consultant outside of De Beers gaining specialized experience in third party auditing and has travelled to Kimberlites around the world including Southern Africa, Middle Africa, Canada and Russia. Malcolm has a PhD in Geostatistics, is a past chairman of the Geostatistical Association of South Africa, has co-authored papers on resource estimation and presented talks at various professional meetings.

Agung Prawasono

Board Member

  • Director, Mine Planning
  • Kinross, Toronto

Agung Prawasono is a Director, Mine Planning at Kinross, working with the Technical Services team in Toronto. Agung provides leadership for the Corporate Mine Planning team on a global basis. Agung started his career with Freeport Indonesia in a number of positions including Chief Mine Engineer, before working in India with Vedanta Resources and then with Amec based in Vancouver. Agung is a Professional Engineer (Ontario) and Project Management Professional.

Andre Leite

Board Member

  • Vice President
  • Agnico Eagle, Canada

Mr. Leite is Vice President, Ontario. Prior to this role, he was Vice President, Technical Services for Kirkland Lake Gold (2021 – 2022). He has held senior leadership roles with Detour Gold and Vale Base Metals in Canada, Australia and New Caledonia and began his career in Brazil working in the iron ore and mine technology industries.

Mr. Leite is a professional Engineer with close to 20 years of operational, technical and project management experience in the gold, base metals, uranium and iron ore mining industries.

Mr. Leite holds a Master’s degree in Mining Engineering focusing on Mineral Resource Modeling and Strategic Mine Planning (McGill University) and a Bachelor’s degree in Mining Engineering (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil).

Dyane Duquette

Associate Board Member

  • Vice-President, Mineral Resource Management
  • Agnico Eagle, Canada

Ms. Duquette is Vice President, Mineral Resources Management (2023). Prior to her appointment, she served as Corporate Director, Mineral Reserves Development (2019 – 2022) and Senior Advisor, Business Strategy (2017 – 2019).

Ms. Duquette has worked in the mining industry for nearly 30 years and has extensive technical and operational expertise. Since joining Agnico Eagle in 1997, she has held several key positions including Superintendent, Geology at Goldex mine, Principal Geologist – Technical Services, Production Geologist at LaRonde Complex, and Exploration Geologist at Goldex mine.

She also worked at Premier Gold Mines (2013 – 2015) and Greenstone Gold Mines (2015 – 2017) as the Director, Geology.

Ms. Duquette holds an Honours Bachelor of Science in Geology (University of Ottawa). She is a Member of the Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (PGO) and the Quebec Order of Geologists (OGQ). She was also a Member of the Board of Directors of the OGQ (2010 – 2014).

Daniel Kahler

Associate Board Member

  • Global Practice Lead Mine Planning
  • BHP, Australia

Daniel Kahler has worked in the minerals industry since graduating as a mining engineer in 1996 (+25 yrs). He is a Fellow and Chartered Professional of the AusIMM.

Daniel is BHP’s Global Practice Lead Mine Planning. Throughout his career Daniel has worked in operational, technical, leadership, and governance roles. Daniel previously served as an executive board member and committee chair on several international boards including an investment company (AHL) and consulting company (AMC).

Daniel’s technical expertise is strategic business optimisation of mineral assets. He is familiar with a range of approaches and tools used to identify optimised strategies for minerals assets. He has extensive experience in most underground metalliferous mining methods. These include block caves, sub-level open stoping, narrow-vein deposits, and hand-held stoping.

Glenn McDowell

Associate Board Member

  • Innovation and Technology
  • Vale Exploration Canada Inc., Ontario

Luke Mahony

Associate Board Member

  • Head of Geology, Mine Engineering, Geotechnical, Tailings Dams and Technology
  • Vale Base Metals, Toronto

Luke Mahony is the Head of Geology, Mine Engineering, Geotechnical and Technology & Innovation for Vale’s Global Base Metals Business based in Toronto, Canada. Prior to moving to Canada, he headed up the Strategic and Short Term Mine Planning, Exploration, Studies & Projects, Engineering and Integrated Planning for Vale’s Coal Business based in Mozambique for 5 years. Prior to working for Vale, he worked 10 years for BHP in various managerial roles covering technical, operational and financial positions.

Luke holds three Masters’ Degrees in Mining Engineering, Geomechanics and Finance, a bachelor of Engineering in Mining Engineering plus other Executive and Technical statutory qualifications.

Rafael Ajub

Associate Board Member

  • Technical Manager
  • Vale Global Exploration, Canada

Rafael Ajub has over 18 years of mining industry experience, predominantly at Vale S.A., managing the Mineral Resource Evaluation group, leading pre-feasibilities studies worldwide and managing the Sossego copper mine planning.  He graduated from the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil and received his Master’s degree in Geoscience at the same university.  At present, he oversees advanced exploration studies for copper and nickel projects.

 

Conor Meagher

Associate Board Member

  • Newmont, USA

Arja Jewbali

Associate Board Member

  • Head of Resource Management
  • Newmont, USA

Arja Jewbali is Head, Resource Management, Global with Newmont Mining Corporation. Arja is a Geostatistician with close to 20 years of technical experience in the application of advanced geostatistical methods for resource modeling in the gold, base metals, and iron ore mining industries. Arja started her career with Rio Tinto Iron Ore in a number of positions including Resource Geologist and Senior Geostatistician. Arja has a B.S in Geology from the Anton de Kom University of Suriname and a PhD in Geostatistics from the University of Queensland in Australia. She has co-authored multiple papers on geostatistics and resource modeling. She has a specific interest in the application of advanced innovative geostatistical techniques for quantification of resource uncertainty and its corresponding impact on mine planning.

Jason May

Associate Board Member

  • Senior Vice President Technical Services
  • AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa

Jason May is the Senior Vice President Technical Services for AngloGold Ashanti which includes leading the Mining, Geology, Geotechnical, Engineering, Tailings and Metallurgy disciplines for the company. Jason has more than 25 years in the mining industry and joined AnglogGold Ashanti in 2008. Prior to joining AngloGold, Jason served as Group Manager Mine Planning for Newcrest. While at Newcrest, Jason was involved in setting up the planning processes for the start-up of the Ridgeway and Telfer SLC mines along with leading the designs of Kencana, Cracow and Cadia East projects. Jason holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mining Engineering from the University of South Australia.

 

Orlando Leiva

Board Member

  • Head of Resource Development Planning
  • Anglo American, Australia
 

Cristián Rojas

Associate Board Member

  • Lead Resources Development Planning
  • Anglo American, Chile