Sustainably Funding Global Mineral Supply Chains - view on-demand now

Tim Alch is Executive Director (2016-21) and Executive Committee Member (2008-16) of NY SME, Managing Partner of TAA Advisory and Mining & Development Services. Since 2012, Tim has chaired more than 25 expert panel discussions and was co-chair of NY SME’s annual Current Trends in Mining Finance (CTMF) Conferences. His work spans equity, management and investment analysis focused on metals, mining and energy, and executive placement. He is a Senior Associate and was a Managing Director of Behre Dolbear; SVP of Anderson & Schwab; Equity Analyst at Paine Webber, Prudential Securities, and Dean Witter Reynolds and Senior Industry Analyst at CRU International (London), World Steel Dynamics (New York) and Resource Strategies (Philadelphia). He is an Honors Geology graduate, and John Mason Clarke fellow of Amherst College; studied Mineral & Energy Economics at Pennsylvania State University; and member of SME, AEMA, PDAC and NCUSCR and was a SME Finance Strategic Committee member (2017-20). In 2020 Tim was selected as the 2020 recipient of the SME President’s Citation for Local Section Service Award.

Alan Oshiki is the Executive Vice President of Abernathy MacGregor (New York), one of the world’s top corporate, strategic and financial communications consultancies. Alan advises on event-driven stakeholder engagement for initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, crises, activist shareholder defense, litigation, bankruptcy and financial restructuring, as well as innovative, high-impact approaches to ongoing communications with business audiences. Alan helps management teams and boards of directors engage their investors, customers, employees and other important stakeholders to attract capital and deal flow, generate revenue, and build loyalty and support. He works with some of the world’s largest corporations, as well as middle-market companies, start-ups, private equity sponsors, professional services firms and industry associations. Alan has over ten years of direct mining industry experience in engineering, management and finance with BHP/Magma Copper. His mining industry clients have included Alpha Natural Resources, Hecla Mining Company, Coeur Mining Inc., and Joy Global Inc. He holds an MBA from the University of Arizona and a BS in Mining Engineering from the University of Idaho. A published author as well as a frequent speaker and workshop leader, Alan is also Chairman and Treasurer of the New York Section of the SME.

Since joining SME in 2004, Dave Kanagy has been largely responsible for the Society’s success. Focusing on growth, innovation and opportunity, SME has become the world’s largest mining related organization. He is the recipient of two prestigious awards including the Colorado Society of Association Executives’ Professional of the Year award and the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America’s Gold Medal award. He has a B.S. degree in industrial education from the University of Maryland, a M.S. degree in technology education from Eastern Illinois University and is a certified association executive by the American Society of Association Executives.

Robert W. Schafer is a Registered Professional Geologist with +30 years international experience exploring for mineral deposits and identifying, evaluating and structuring business transactions globally having worked in more than 80 countries, notably Russia, Australia, Afghanistan, China, India, and most countries in Africa and South America. As a field geologist, manager and executive, Mr. Schafer led teams to the grassroots discovery of mines in the western USA and Russia, as well as developing strategies that lead to brownfields discoveries in western Canada and southern Africa.

Bob is an active member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME), its President 2020-2021, and served on the Board for more than a decade. He is also Past-President of the PDAC, the CIM and the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America. Bob was a member of the Board of Governors for the US National Mining Hall of Fame and the Board of Directors of the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. He is the first person to hold such leadership roles in both the USA and Canada.

Bob is the recipient of the William Lawrence Saunders Gold Medal from AIME, as well as the prestigious Daniel C. Jackling Award and Robert A. Dreyer Award from SME for technical achievements and leadership in the mining industry during his career. He is a Fellow of SME, CIM and SEG. Bob earned his BSc and MSc degrees in Geology and in Mineral Economics. In addition, he completed the Executive Management program at Stanford University. Bob is also a Certified Corporate Director (ICD.D) and a Registered Professional Geologist in the States of Wyoming and Utah. He is founder and CEO of Eagle Mines Management and is a member of the Board of Directors of select mining companies.

Don Marleau is Natural Resources Lead at S&P Global Ratings. Don has analytical oversight for the metals and mining, building materials, forest products and building sectors. Don also covers industry-leading credits in each industry, including Newmont, Alcoa and Lennar. As Sector Lead, Don is responsible for ratings quality, industry-level credit themes and commentary and outreach to investors. Don has covered issuers in various materials industries since 2000, serving as a global coordinator for metals and mining since 2008. Don also covered asset-backed securities in the early 2000's. Don holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and a Bachelor of Commerce with Honours from Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

Session Chair: Mike Jones has enjoyed a successful operating career in various levels of mine management, supplemented by the experience gained as a senior executive in the corporate finance industry, and latterly in corporate executive management, and brings significant cross-functional corporate executive capability that encompasses all types of open pit and underground mines, in every major commodity, on 6 continents, from private grassroots exploration to multi-billion dollar global businesses. Mike is a Professional Mining Engineer carrying out various levels of mine management in a number of operating open pit and underground operations for 13 years (Gencor, De Beers, Debswana, Iscor), then was a top rated mining analyst and international corporate finance professional focused on the small and mid-cap resources sector for another 13 years (Canaccord Capital, now Canaccord Genuity). Mike’s experience leads him to be considered a specialist within HATCH's advisory business in the fields of Transactional support and Operational Improvement, amongst others. Mike has a B.Sc. (Eng)(Hons)(Mining) from Imperial College / Royal School of Mines, and a postgraduate business qualification from UNISA School of Business Leadership, is a member of the IMMM, and is a registered Professional Engineer (South Africa) and Chartered Engineer (UK).

Randy Smallwood, President & Chief Executive Officer of Wheaton Precious Metals holds a geological engineering degree from the University of British Columbia and is one of the founding members of Wheaton Precious Metals. In 2007, he joined Wheaton full time as EVP of Corporate Development, primarily focusing on growing the company through the evaluation and acquisition of streaming opportunities. In January 2010, he was appointed President, and in April 2011, he was appointed Wheaton's CEO. Mr. Smallwood originally started as an exploration geologist with Wheaton River Minerals Ltd., and in 2001, was promoted to Director of Project Development, a role he held through the 2005 merger with Goldcorp (which has since merged with Newmont). Mr. Smallwood was an instrumental part of the team that built Wheaton River/Goldcorp into one of the largest and, more importantly, most profitable gold companies in the world. He is now focused on continuing to add to the impressive growth profile of Wheaton and leading the World Gold Council as its current chair.

Chris Taylor is a structural and economic geologist and mining entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience with both producers and exploration companies. He is CEO, President and Director of Great Bear Resources Ltd since December 2010. He is currently Chairman of TSX.V listed Kodiak Copper Corp. and formerly a geologist with Imperial Metals Corp., a TSX company from 2004 to 2009. Mr. Taylor graduated with a Bachelor of Science honors degree in Earth Sciences in 2000, and a Master of Science degree in Structural Geology from Carleton University in 2003.

Phillips S. Baker, Jr., has worked for Hecla Mining Company, the largest silver miner in the US, for the past 20 years. He was appointed its CEO in 2003. With Hecla 130 year history of operating mines in communities and with changing technologies, Phil has a unique perspective on ESG, both on the ground and in their measurement. He has been a proponent of CoreSafety that has made mines safer over the last decade, increase use of solar technology and recognition of the role that mines play in improving the lives of the people in the communities in which we operate.

Session Chair: Jeff Parshley is Group Chairman of SRK Consulting Inc. Jeff has over 40 years of environmental and mine closure experience. He has helped develop regulatory guidelines for mine closure and closure cost estimating and assisted several clients in developing closure-related corporate standards and guidance documents. He has worked with the legal and policy aspects of mining projects since early in his career, regularly working on World Bank and IFC compliance projects, and is one of SRK’s most experienced mine closure strategists and regulatory specialists.

Session Chair: Terry Scarrott is a Principal Consultant with Benchmark, advising clients, including OEMs, mining companies, government entities and others in the EV market and battery raw materials markets. Terry has significant experience across the energy mix including the full EV supply chain; from mining extraction to cell manufacturing, battery technologies, stationary storage, and ESG; market strategy and corporate development advisory. From 2006-2016, he worked as a geoscientist in the Upstream Oil and Gas industry, holding several operational and research roles before transitioning to Management Consulting and advisory roles with energy majors. Terry graduated with an MBA with Energy specialization from Cranfield School of Management, having previously studied MSc Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, MSc Petroleum Geoscience and BSc Geology at Imperial College London.

A veteran of the automotive industry, Michael Maten is the Electric Vehicle Strategy expert for GM’s Public Policy Team. He has worked in the Electric Propulsion space for over 10 years as part of GM’s Product Planning and Strategy group. He led the advanced planning effort for GM’s next generation of battery electric vehicles, debuting in the next few years. Before that, he spent several years at GM’s OnStar business unit.

Michael has worked all over the globe on electrification and strategy projects, focusing primarily in China and Europe, including a 3-year assignment in Frankfurt, Germany. He is the architect of GM’s National Zero Emission Vehicle Program, which was unveiled in October 2018. He is a member of the Massachusetts Zero Emission Vehicle Commission, and also sits on the advisory panel for Drive Change, Drive Electric, a public/private partnership between automakers and Northeast states to promote electric vehicle ownership. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Kiril Mugerman is a well-travelled young entrepreneur that grew up in 4 countries and speaks 5 languages. In 2001 he settled in Montreal, Quebec where he received a bachelor’s degree with Honors in Earth and Planetary Sciences and Geology from McGill University. In 2008, he joined Gold Fields, the 4th largest gold producer at the time, to work on advanced stage exploration projects internationally including West Africa, central Asia and Latin America. In 2011, he returned to Montreal to join Industrial Alliance Securities as a mining analyst in the industrial minerals sector focusing on rare earth elements, graphite and potash.

In 2014, Mr. Mugerman joined Geomega and in 2015, he was nominated President and CEO to transition towards a mining & technology company. In March 2017, as part of the restructuring process, Mr. Mugerman created Kintavar Exploration to conduct exploration activities for non-rare earth assets that were previously owned by Geomega. His team is now actively developing a base metals camp in central Quebec. Currently, Mr. Mugerman leads both public companies and is advancing Geomega to build the first rare earths refining and recycling plant in Quebec.

Jean-Christophe Lambert, Business Development Manager, Lithion Recycling Inc. holds a bachelor’s degree in international business from Laval University in Quebec City, Canada. Prior to joining Lithion in December 2019, he was an advisor for International Market Development for the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal where he led multiple international delegations, consulting mandates and export projects. In his role at Lithion as business development manager, he oversees business partnerships and initiatives as well as communications and marketing.

After graduating from Laval University in Geological Engineering, Ken Fallu has developed expertise in several large-scale companies and has been working for OPTEL GROUP for 10 years. He is now the Head of Strategy for Mines and Natural Resources at OPTEL, working on the implementation of advanced technological solutions to achieve transparency and traceability of sustainable materials, ensuring complete supply chain visibility. Mr. Fallu is also involved in the Global Battery Alliance.

Session Chair: Jean-François Béland was named Vice-President of Ressources Québec at Investissement Québec in 2021. He was, from 2015 to 2021, Vice-President, Strategy and Corporate Affairs at General Fusion Inc., based in Vancouver, British Columbia. From 2007 to 2015, he worked at AREVA S.A. in Paris and Toronto, chiefly as Executive Vice-President of AREVA Canada Inc. Before moving to the private sector, Mr. Béland worked in the Canadian civil service and in the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada as an Advisor on governance policies and the Treasury Board of Canada.

Mr. Béland is a graduate of Université de Montréal (B.Sc.), École nationale d’administration publique (MPA and post-graduate diploma in public administration), École des hautes études commerciales (post-graduate diploma in management), Bordeaux École de Management (MBA), Université Paris IX Dauphine (M.Sc., strategic management) and University of British Columbia (project management certificate). In 2014, he completed the Senior Nuclear Plant Management course (SNPM). Mr. Béland is a Knight [Chevalier] of the National Order of the French Legion of Honour.

Michelle Ash, CEO of GEOVIA at Dassault Systèmes, has made significant contributions to the mining sector with a focus on Innovation Strategy, Technology, and Digital Transformation. Michelle is highly passionate about Mining and Infrastructure and remains focused on delivering sustainable solutions that help these sectors to continue to create and shape the world in which we live, through digital transformation and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

As Chair of the Global Mining Guidelines Group – GMG, Michelle has contributed to develop best practices and guidelines for the implementation of technology and socially enabled changes in the mining industry. She is also on the advisory board of several start-ups such as Petra Data Science, OffWorld, Behault, Descartes Labs and MineSpider.

Previously she was Chief Innovation Officer at Barrick Gold Corporation where she oversaw the company’s innovation program, looking both at how innovation can drive productivity in the existing business as well as how it can be harnessed to deliver alternative business models. She began her career as a blasting engineer with Rio Tinto and has held several operational roles in various mining companies and across commodities.

Michelle was named to the 2016 list of “100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining” by Women in Mining UK and won the Technology Innovator of the Year Award by Mines and Technology in 2019. She holds a degree in Civil Engineering and an Executive MBA from the Melbourne Business School; she also holds a degree in Psychology from Deakin University. Follow Michelle on Twitter: MichelleAsh18

Karri Howlett has worked with businesses providing corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, financial due diligence and risk analysis for over 20 years. She currently sits on the Boards of NexGen Energy (as Chair of the ESG Committee), and Saskatchewan Trade Export Partnership (as Vice Chair), and March Consulting. Karri recently served as the Chair of the Safety, Environment and Corporate Responsibility Committee for SaskPower, leading the development and implementation of net zero carbon emissions strategies for a large carbon-based power utility. Karri was previously President of RESPEC Consulting Inc. (formerly North Rim Exploration Ltd.), which is a geoscience and engineering consulting company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and led the acquisition of the company in 2009 and subsequent sale to RESPEC in 2016. She holds a bachelor of commerce (with honors) in Finance from the University of Saskatchewan and have earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and the Chartered Director designation. In addition, Karri has several leadership and professional training certifications in corporate strategy and risk.

Session Chair: Tabetha Stirrett, P.Geo., CPG is a Senior Geologist at RESPEC Consulting. Tabetha is a geologist with nearly 25 years of mining industry experience and is the Co-President of the Canadian branch of RESPEC. Her focus is growing the mining and energy business for RESPEC in Canada. She has been working on oil and gas, potash and coal projects with a focus on exploration targeting, resource estimations, reporting, and due diligence reviews. Tabetha has assessed industrial mineral properties in many of the world’s evaporite basins. More recently she has been focusing on applying unique mining methods for more sustainable solution mining of potash and salt deposits.

Dr. Erin R. Bobicki is an Associate Professor of mineral processing in the department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Alberta. Professor Bobicki’s research interests include microwave applications in mineral processing, comminution, bioreagent development, the rheology of complex mineral slurries, and value recovery from waste materials. She has worked as a researcher and plant metallurgist for Vale, as a Process Technology Development Engineer for Intel Corporation, and most recently was an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She is currently commercializing microwave technology for the mining industry with Sepro Mineral Systems, and is a Founding Director of Aurora Hydrogen, a startup developing technology for emission-free hydrogen production.

James Babbitt is a Principal in EDC’s Structured and Project Finance Group with a focus on mining. With over 20 years’ experience, James has structured and closed mining project financings across a variety of commodities in both emerging and developed markets, and has worked extensively with ECAs, multilaterals and commercial financial institutions.

Ulrich Schulte Lünzum is an Executive with Euler Hermes acting as Export Credit Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. Within that role he is responsible for project and structured financings supporting both exports of equipment from Germany as well as imports of raw materials on the basis of longterm offtake agreements. As such he has a focus on mining and has recently been involved in Teck’s Quebra-da Blanca 2 project in Chile, Minsur’s Mina Justa project in Peru and the Nevada Copper’s Pumpkin Hollow project in the US. Ulrich has been with the German ECA for more than 17 years, with more than 10 years focusing on Project Finance. Before taking on his current role as Head of Project Finance and Untied Loans he acted as Deputy Head of Hermes’ Berlin Liaison Office. As such he was responsible for advising the German Government in operational questions concerning the German ECA-business.

Remko Van de Water is Managing Director, Head of Metals & Mining, Americas at ING Capital and responsible for origination and execution of metals & mining structured financings in the region, including working capital, project financing, pre-export and M&A. He has experience in financing transactions in all major commodities and throughout the value chain. He has over 16 years of experience in leading and advising on financings in the resources sector globally, having closed many landmark transactions including for Guyana Goldfields’ Aurora project in Guyana, Torex Gold’s Minera Media Luna project in Mexico, Romarco Minerals’ Haile project in the U.S., Mountain Province’s Gacho Kue diamond project in Canada, Hudbay’s Constancia project in Peru and Antofagasta’s Esperanza and Antucoya projects in Chile. Remko holds a M.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Delft Technical University and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business, NY.

Mr. Neil Pereira is a Principal Investment Officer in the Mining Division at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group. As project lead, Mr. Pereira is involved in identifying, structuring and executing new transactions, as well as the ongoing management of a number of portfolio projects. His experience includes working on projects in Africa, Latin American & the Caribbean and East Asia. Mr. Pereira joined IFC in Washington, DC in 2003 and prior to this, spent 4 years working with Citibank, N.A. in Nairobi, Kenya, focusing on corporate finance transactions across the Africa region. Mr. Pereira has a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a Master of Business Administration degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Pereira is also a CFA® charterholder.

Randy Shefman is Vice President and General Counsel at Royal Gold. Mr. Shefman has more than 20 years of legal experience in international transactions across the mining, oil and gas, and power sectors. He joined Royal Gold in 2011 as Associate General Counsel and served in that capacity until his appointment as Vice President and General Counsel in January 2020. Prior to Royal Gold, Mr. Shefman was in private legal practice with regional and international law firms, including LeBouef Lamb Greene & MacRae, Holland & Hart and Hogan Lovells. Mr. Shefman holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado, an LL.M. in Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy from the University of Denver, and a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Michigan.

Session Chair: Cynthia Urda Kassis is a Partner in the Projects Practice of the law firm, Shearman & Sterling, and Head of their Mining & Metals Group. She represents sponsors/ borrowers/ lenders/ alternative financiers in project transactions worldwide, with extensive experience in the mining and infrastructure industries. She is consistently ranked a leading project finance lawyer by Chambers, IFLR 1000 and Legal 500. Who’s Who named her “Project Finance Lawyer of the Year” three times and also named her among the “most highly regarded individuals in the world” in project finance and mining. Her recent work includes representing Nevada Copper on its Pumpkin Hollow Copper Project (“North America Mining Deal of the Year” (2020) by IJGlobal) and Orion and Blackstone on Lundin Gold’s Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador (“Latin America Mining & Metals Deal of the Year ” (2017/18) by IJ Global).

In his role as Vice President, Technology, based in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec, Canada, Didier Arseguel coordinates the overall development of technology, products, and operating procedures for the Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium (RTIT) business unit which includes the operations of Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium in Canada, Richards Bay Minerals in South Africa, QIT Madagascar Minerals in Madagascar, and the Suzhou metal powder plant in China. Moreover, Didier is responsible for the Critical Minerals and Technology Centre, which is also based in Sorel-Tracy. Under his leadership, the center has become a hub of innovation for the industry, particularly through the development of the UGS process and the discovery of a method to extract scandium from waste streams.

Didier joined Rio Tinto in 1990 as a research and development engineer for the talc market. During his 30-year tenure with the global company, Didier has held various strategic positions in research and development, notably in France, the United States, and England. He holds a PhD in organic chemistry. Didier is a member of the RTIT leadership team and sits on the Board of Directors of PRIMA Québec.

Dr. Corby G. Anderson is a licensed Professional Chemical Engineer with over 40 years of global experience in industrial operations, corporate level management, engineering, design, consulting, teaching, research and professional service. He is a native of Butte, America. His career includes positions with Thiokol Chemical Corporation, Key Tronic Corporation, Sunshine Mining and Refining Company, H. A. Simons Ltd. and at CAMP-Montana Tech. He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and an MSc from Montana Tech in Metallurgical Engineering and PhD from the University of Idaho in Mining Engineering - Metallurgy. He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Chemical Engineers and of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He shares 14 international patents and 5 new patent applications covering several innovative technologies, 2 of which were successfully reduced to industrial practice.

Corby currently serves as the Harrison Western Professor in the Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy as part of both the Mining Engineering Department and the George S. Ansell Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. In 2009 he was honored by the Society for Mining Metallurgy and Exploration with the Milton E. Wadsworth Extractive Metallurgy Award for his contributions in hydrometallurgical research. In 2015 he was awarded the International Precious Metals Institute’s Tanaka Distinguished Achievement Award. In 2016 he received the Distinguished Member Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, the Outstanding Faculty Award from the George S. Ansell Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Colorado School of Mines and also became a Distinguished Member of the U of Idaho Academy of Engineering. In 2017 he received the EPD Distinguished Lecturer Award from The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society. In 2019 he was named as a Henry Krumb Distinguished SME Lecturer. In 2019 he was also appointed as a Visiting Faculty within the Minerals Engineering Department of Central South University in China, the largest program of Mineral Processing in the world. In 2021 he received another Outstanding Faculty Award from the Colorado School of Mines.