COSMO — Stochastic Mine Planning Laboratory

Vaughan Chamberlain

Vaughan Chamberlain is the Senior Vice President: Strategic Technical Group, Planning and Technical at AngloGold Ashanti. He has a BSc Hons Geology from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg and a MSc Mining Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Vaughan has spent most of his career working in gold, having spent time at Tau Tona and Elandsrand as a Mine Geologist, then moving on to Gold Exploration working out of Carletonville. He then spent 6 years working for Mineral Resource Evaluation Department of AAplc (Minred) before moving to AngloGold when it was formed in 1998.

Carmen Letton

Carmen is a mining engineer with 30 years of global mining exposure and a PhD in Mineral Economics from the University of Queensland. She has worked for major and mid-tier mining houses in senior management and leadership roles. Carmen’s background is in operations, corporate strategy development, asset and business development and multidisciplinary engineering. Carmen is currently the Head of Resource Development Planning and Life of Asset Planning for the Technical and Sustainability Group in Anglo American. She has also worked on the Board of Directors for Gold Fields since May 2017.

Carmen has a background spanning production/operations and technical roles, open pit and underground operations, and multi-commodity and continent experience. She has worked across all phases of project development, from studies through to construction-commissioning-execution, operations and business improvement phases, project recovery and mine closure. With experience at large and medium-sized mining assets in Australia and overseas, Carmen specialises in providing sound operations capability, with an ability to solve complex technical and financial problems. Carmen brings diverse technical expertise and a focus on innovation to the mines she works at. Her expertise also extends to due diligence work, corporate governance, risk management and corporate strategy.

Leonardo Fusciardi

Leo Fusciardi is the Head of Technical for De Beers Canada in Calgary, Alberta. He has extensive mining industry experience over 22 years, working in Europe, Southern Africa, Australia, South America and Canada. He has been involved at all levels in mining, exploration and mineral project evaluation in gold, base metals, mineral sands and diamonds. His key managerial roles include Exploration Manager for a London listed junior, Navan Resources, Chief Geologist at Anglo American’s Lisheen Mine in Ireland and Geosciences Discipline Lead for Anglo American Base Metals in Johannesburg where he developed the geosciences governance and technology strategy. He has played a major role in the advancement of technical initiatives at both Snap Lake and Victor mines, as well having spearheaded the Snap Lake Optimization Study.

Leo has a BSc in Geology from Trinity College, Dublin and an MSc from Leicester University. He is a professional member of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, the Institute of Geoscientists of Ireland and the European Federation of Geologists.

Larry Allen

Lawrence (Larry) Allen is the Senior Director of Geostatistics for Newmont Goldcorp based in Denver, Colorado.

He has a M.S. in Mining Engineering from the University of Arizona, a M.S in Environmental Science and Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, and a B.S. in Mining Engineering from New Mexico Tech.

Larry has over thirty-five years of experience in geostatistics and mine planning. He has worked for a variety of operating and consulting companies, concentrating on mining and environmental geostatistical applications.

Patrick Garretson

Patrick Garretson is the Senior Director of Life of Mine Planning for Barrick Gold Corporation based in Tucson, Arizona. He has a B.Sc. Degree in Geology from Fort Lewis College.

Patrick has 26 years of experience in the mining industry with 17 years at the operations level spanning a broad range of deposit styles including copper, coal, manganese and gold. He has worked as a production geologist, resource geologist, planning engineer and technical services superintendent. His current responsibility is the oversight and facilitation of the Barrick Business Planning Process working within the Toronto Finance Group.

Scott Hicks

Scott Hicks is the Vice President of Mine Planning and Project Studies with Kinross Gold Corporation, where he oversees global open pit and underground mine planning.  Scott joined Kinross in 2011 as Director, Strategic Business Planning.

Prior to joining Kinross, he held positions of increasing responsibility with Inco Ltd. (now Vale) in the areas of corporate development, strategic planning and financial evaluation, including several years in Indonesia at one of the world’s largest integrated nickel mines.  Scott also has several years of Management Consulting experience with Mercer (now Oliver Wyman).

Scott holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) charterholder.

Scott Buchanan

Peter Fenato

Brian Baird

Brian Baird has been working in the mining industry for more than 30 years with extensive experience in mine planning and project development.

Brian has worked in precious metals and base metals for the majority of his career. Starting in gold in the 80’s he worked along the Carlin trend of Nevada and was involved in the successful development of several gold mines in the area. In the early 90’s he moved into base metals where he worked on the development and start-up of the Robinson Mine in Nevada. In 1997 he moved to Santiago taking a position with the Copper Project Development group as Senior Project Engineer. In this role he worked closely with engineers from Escondida in the development of Escondida Phase IV, Norte and Sulfide Leach projects. He has also worked on numerous merger and acquisition studies for the Copper division.

In his current role as the Technical Manager, Mine Planning Strategy and Development at BHP-Billiton, he works with various mine-planning groups throughout the organization as mentor and technical expert. He is a Registered Member of SME and a member of AusIMM.

Richard Adofo

Richard Adofo is Directory Geology for Barrick Gold Corporation based in Toronto Canada. He leads the Geology function to provide operational and technical support in the area of mining geology, mine-to-mill reconciliation and Mine-based exploration programs.

Richard holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) degree in Geological Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Mineral Exploration from the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. He also earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice and an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Richard joined Barrick in 2006 as the Regional Geology Manager for the Africa Regional Business unit, became the Corporate Geology Manager for African Barrick Gold and in 2012 appointed as Director Geology. Before joining Barrick, Richard was Geology Manager for AngloGold Ashanti’s Geita Gold Mine where he played a key role in the exploration, evaluation and expansion of the Geita Resource and Reserves. He also worked for Ashanti Goldfields Company in Obuasi, Bibiani and Accra in various geology positions.

Joel Hrominchuk

Joel Hrominchuk is currently the Manager of Exploration Innovation and Technology for Vale.

He graduated with a Hons. B.Sc. from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario and a M.Sc. from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario.  He joined Vale in 2011 as Greenfields Exploration Manager Base Metals for North America progressing to his current role in 2015. Prior to joining Vale he was involved with various junior mining companies exploring for base metals around the globe from 2006 to 2011. He began his career working for Noranda-Falconbridge (now Glencore) in North America and eventually in global exploration in increasingly senior roles from 1996 to 2006.

David Londono

David Londono has been appointed Manager of Open Pit Support at AngloGold Ashanti Limited. David is a mine engineer with more than 25 years of experience in operations, engineering and financial analysis, including international assignments in Mexico, Colombia, Bolivia and Mongolia.

He came to AngloGold from Barrick where he was Director, Open Pit LOM Business Planning. He has previous experience in mine planning software, industrial metals and coal mining, mine start-ups, and mine management. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, specializing in Mine Optimization and Earth Systems. He also earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Regis University in Denver.

Gavin Yeates

Gavin Yeates is the Vice president of Mine Optimisation for BHP Billiton in Melbourne. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Geology and Economic Geology from the University in Adelaide in 1980 and a Grad. Dipl. Bus. From Curtin University in 1990. He has expertise in mining geology, ore reserve estimation, economic evaluation of mineral deposits, mine planning and application of information systems and technology to the mining industry. His project management expertise is in the mining and information systems areas. Gavin is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), and a Certified Professional Geologist.

Gavin has been with BHP for over twenty years in mining and related fields. He has commodity experience to a Competent Person level in iron ore, industrial minerals, silver lead zinc, copper, gold and mineral sands. He has also worked the fields of operations, planning and consulting, and more recently in project management roles with exposure to all aspects of the mining business.

Jean-Yves Cloutier

Jean-Yves Cloutier is the Director Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves for Vale based in Mississauga Ontario. Jean-Yves joined Inco, now called Vale, in 1981 as exploration geologist for gold mineralization. He then moved to operations as Chief Mine geologist, Superintendant of technical Services and finally as Mill Superintendant at Casa Berardi gold mine. In 1993 he transferred to the Inco nickel laterite group as an evaluation engineer where he provided training and support to nickel laterite operation and projects in the field of resource estimation. Jean-Yves is a Geological Engineer graduated from Université de Laval with over 29 years of experience in the mineral industry.

Ian H. Douglas

Ian Douglas is Newmonts Group Executive, Value Assurance based in Denver. He holds a MSc degree in Ore Deposits from Stanford University and a BSc from University of California Los Angeles. Ian has over 25 years experience in the mining industry. Prior to his current position as Group Executive, Reserves and Geostatistics and the last 10 years with Newmont Mining Corporation based in Denver, his experience includes 10 years exploration in the Great Basin of western US, 2 years in development at the Beartrack Project in Idaho, 2 years in mine geology at Jerritt Canyon, Nevada.
 
Between this period and joining Newmont in 1996, Ian worked for MRDI consulting group gaining a wide experience across the globe and in many deposit styles including stratiform zinc in Australia, copper belt in Zambia, Iron and Manganese deposits in Brazil. He lives in Denver with his wife, daughter and 2 sons.

Jean-François Métail

Jean-François Métail is Director Geology and Reserve Strategy, within the Operations Support group at the Barrick corporate office in Toronto.
 
His current responsibilities include reserves strategies and stewardship, ensuring timely and efficient conversion of resources to reserves, setting up best practices and procedures for QA/QC, grade control, modeling, and reconciliation. Jean-François has been with Barrick Gold Corporation for the last 14 years, working in various positions including Sr. manager of reserves and resources. He has also been involved in project development and exploration.
 
Prior to joining Barrick, he worked for 5 years with Placer Dome Inc as exploration geologists. He graduated from Universite de Montreal with a BSC (geology) in 1991.

Christophe Pierre

Christophe Pierre chairs International Industry Advisory Board of COSMO and is the Dean of McGills Faculty of Engineering. He is a recognized expert and accomplished academic as well as the Canada Research Chair in Structural Dynamics and Vibration (Tier I).
 
Christophe is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering; he holds a PhD from Duke University, a MSc from Princeton University, and the Diplôme d’Ingénieur Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures de Paris, France. He has published extensively and his research activities expand to several continents.

Richard Allan

Rick Allan is currently Senior Director – Mining for Barrick Gold Corporation, based in Toronto. Richard re-joined Barrick in March 2003, as Director of Engineering and Mining Support, and was the Chief Engineer at the Holt-McDermott Mine from 1987 to 1991. He is a Mining Engineering graduate from Queen’s University with over 25 years of experience in mine operations and project management.
 
Experience includes engineering design and construction, mine operations and environmental management in North and South America as well as Africa.
 
Specific expertise is in underground mine planning and operations including a variety of stoping methods, infrastructure development and equipment selection. Previous employers included Manhattan Minerals, Royal Oak Mines, Barrick, Canada Tungsten and Eldorado Nuclear.

Olivier Tavchandjian

Olivier Tavchandjian is currently General Manager – Strategic Planning for ArcellorMittal Mines Canada. He worked for Vale (Inco) Ltd in Sudbury and Toronto for 10 years in various roles involving technical support, corporate governance and internal auditing of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimation and life of mine planning. Prior to his involvement with Inco Ltd, he was involved in research, teaching in Universities and consulting. He holds a Ph.D. in Mineral Resources from the University of Quebec and an MSc from the University of Aix-Marseille in France.

John Vann

John is Group Head of Geosciences at Anglo American plc. He is an innovative geoscientist with over 25 years of business experience in base metals, iron, precious metals, coal, nickel, bauxite and manganese projects. He has project experience on all inhabited continents. John is also currently Adjunct Professor of Geology at the University of Western Australia and holds adjunct positions at the Universities of Adelaide and Queensland.

Jaimie Donovan

Jaimie Donovan is currently an Engineering Manager within the Technical Services Group at Barrick Gold Corporation. Responsible for a number of mining projects, specifically related to innovative underground mine design. Jaimies experience includes operational & engineering roles, at several gold mining operations in Australia, and senior technical roles at the Hemlo camp in Northern Ontario.
 
Jaimie graduated from the University of Western Australia, in Perth, with a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honors) and a Bachelor of Commerce. Jaimie is a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM).

Allen Cockle

Allen Cockle is Newmonts Vice-President, Technical Services. He was previously Corporate Director, Mining, and has been with Newmont for 33 years. Allen represents a wealth of mining expertise and has varied engineering and management experience covering exploration and acquisition, resource development, mine planning, reserve estimation and economic evaluation for new and existing mines.

Wynand J. Kleingeld

Wynand Kleingeld has recently retired from his position of Group Manager Mineral Resources at De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. He obtained his Doctors Degree in Mining Engineering specializing in Geostatistics in diamond evaluation from the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Mines de Paris, Fountainebleau, France.

Dr. Kleingeld was involved with the evaluation of resources and reserves for a quarter century, working on most based metal deposits e.g. gold, nickel, copper, niobium and platinum. He is best known for his work with diamonds,and is involved world wide in the issues related to mineral resources and reserves. Dr. Kleingeld is a Competent Person in the evaluation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, a member of the Geostatistical Association of Southern Africa, and was formerly Chairman of the Diamonds Working Group of the South African Mineral Resource Committee (SAMREC).

In memoriam

Ielca Torok

Ielca Torok is the Manager for Exploration R&D for greenfields exploration worldwide at Vale. She is based in Mississauga.
 
Her overall responsibility is to generate solutions to mineral exploration technical challenges through R&D projects. This includes identifying and prioritizing short and long-term technical challenges and their solutions; developing new internal projects; evaluating external project proposals; managing the portfolio of R&D projects; and promoting innovation within Vale. She has been with Vale since 2008. Prior to Vale she worked for BP Mining in Brazil, owned her own consulting business in Thunder Bay and most recently worked for Fugro Airborne Surveys in Ottawa.
 
Ielca graduated from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with an Honours B.Sc. in Geology (1983) and from MINEX program at McGill University with an M.Sc.(A) (1988).

Richard Peattie

Richard Peattie has over 20 years of experience in the mining industry, working and living in a  number of countries including South Africa, Mali, Australia and the Democratic republic of Congo. He has been involved in a number of different facets of mining, including exploration, project evaluation, estimation and production. Richard is currently the Vice President Mineral Resource at AngloGold Ashanti and has a MPhil in Geostatistics from the University of Queensland.

Tom Gell

Thomas (Tom) Gell is the Vice President Mineral Resources employed by AngloGold Ashanti in their Johannesburg office. He qualified with an BSc (Hons) degree in Geology from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1990 and has 28 years’ experience mostly with Anglo American or AngloGold Ashanti and dominantly in gold mining – both open pit and underground. He has operational experience from his time on mine sites as well as oversite and strategic exposure from Corporate rolls based in AngloGold Ashanti’s Johannesburg office. He has a wide range of Brownfields exposure but sees Resource modelling and Mine Geology as his core skills.