Board & Staff

Jill Tsolinas has a wide breadth of experience having represented exploration, development, and operating mines throughout her career. She is versed in executive oversite, organizational management, corporate governance, and stakeholder communications. Jill desires to see the continual development and incorporation of innovative best-fit practices to sustain the mineral exploration and mining sector. She has been an advisory council member for the Centre of Training Excellence in Mining (CTEM) since 2015. Jill has additional corporate governance experience acting as corporate secretary for a private consulting company and overseeing the establishment of a private junior aggregate company. Jill is the executive director of CTEM where she uses her project management and partner engagement skills to facilitate collaborative and innovative training for mining in BC.

Jill is passionate about discovering strategic partnerships to strengthen collaboration. Jill has been on the AME board of Directors for 9 years and was a committee volunteer for many years before that. Jill was the Vice-Chair of the Roundup Organizing Committee (2015), was acting Chair of the ad hoc governance committee (2018) and has spent server years sitting on the Finance and Social and Environmental Sustainability committee.

Tara Hassan is a Mining Engineer with extensive experience in capital markets as well as mine operations and mining technology. She was a mining equity research analyst focused on small to mid-cap explorers, developers, and producers in the precious metals space for more than 13 years. She is currently VP Corporate Development at SilverCrest Metals and a Director of Maverix Metals.

Previously she worked at VRIFY Technology as a Director, Mining Content and Strategy. Tara worked as a mining engineer for Inco (now Vale) and Placer Dome (now Barrick Gold) holding operating, engineering and project-focused roles and working at eight different mines. She is a Professional Engineer (Ontario) and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Mr. Himmelright has over 25 years of experience in mineral exploration, environmental management and developing social licence for natural resource projects. He’s a graduate of Simon Fraser University (B.Sc.) and the University of British Columbia (M. Eng.) and is a Registered Professional Biologist in BC. Mr. Himmelright previously served as Vice President responsible for sustainability matters for several publicly listed exploration and mining companies and has also worked as a consultant to industry and Indigenous communities on mine development proposals.

He’s a former Board member of the Yukon Mine Training Association, a current Board member of the Mining Association of BC and an associate instructor at the Norman Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering (UBC) on the topic of Indigenous peoples and mining in Canada.

Andrea Ross holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Saskatchewan and worked as geologist in western Canada for 7 years in a variety of roles including geological mapping, prospecting, stream & sediment sampling, overseeing drill programs and as production geologist at an open pit copper mine. Following her time as a field geologist Andrea joined the Ministry of Energy and Mines in the NW Region as an Inspector of Mines focused on permitting.

In her 8 years with the Ministry, Andrea was focused on improving the review and adjudication process, including consultation associated with Notice of Work applications, and ensuring operators understood their responsibilities under their approvals. Andrea is currently Manager, Indigenous and Regulatory Affairs with Galore Creek Mining Corporation based out of their Smithers office.

Mrs. Black is a Partner and Senior Geologist with Equity Exploration, a leading provider of geological expertise and project management services for all stages of the exploration and mining cycle. Over the course of 15+ years industry experience, Eleanor has worked through positions of increasing responsibility with major and mid-tier mining companies including Goldfields and B2Gold Corp.

Her foundational years as a field geologist were focused on gold and base metal exploration projects in northern Canada performing integral roles on Prefeasibility to Feasibility level field programs. Eleanor is a registered Professional Geoscientist with EGBC, a graduate of the University of British Columbia (B.Sc.) and a Qualified Person as defined by NI43-101.

As board member for multiple not-for profit-organizations she has been able to contribute to the communities where she lives and works. This includes a director role with the Mineral Deposit Division of the Geological Association of Canada (MDD-GAC), and two childcare organizations each with active multi-year board positions.

Eleanor was born and raised in BC’s lower mainland where she now resides with her family.

Albert Chong is the Senior Director, Geology with Wheaton Precious Metals.  He has a wide range of progressive industry experience spanning more than three decades and has worked on projects and mineral deposits located on five continents.  This includes the technical due diligence for precious metal streaming agreements worth more than US$7B.

Prior to Wheaton, Albert’s experience includes exploration, development, mining, and consulting on base, precious, and rare-earth metal projects located in British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland, Nunavut, and Nevada.  During his early career, Albert was a member of the Noranda Exploration team credited for discovering the Eagle River gold deposit near Wawa, Ontario. Albert’s enthusiasm for giving back to our industry is demonstrated through his ongoing volunteer work with AME’s Roundup Committee and participation in AME’s Mentorship program.  He has also delivered informal technical talks at the University of British Columbia for geology and engineering students. Albert is a Professional Geologist (EGBC), has his M.Sc.-Exploration Geoscience (CODES, University of Tasmania, Australia), and B.Sc.-Geology (McMaster University, Ontario).  He resides in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia with his wife and two children.

Paul Jago is Chief Geologist for Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd. and a Professional Geologist with Engineers and Geoscientists BC. He is based in Prince George, British Columbia. Prior to joining Pacific Ridge, Paul was Exploration Manager with Centerra Gold Services Inc. (to June 2022) and BC Regional Geologist for the Northcentral-Northeast regions with Ministry of Energy & Mines (to June 2017).

He is a UBC graduate where he completed studies with the Mineral Deposit Research Unit. In his career, Paul has worked mainly in BC and Southwestern USA, with several years of field and office work for mineral exploration companies in northcentral BC followed by additional years of near-mine exploration with Freeport-McMoRan in Arizona and Colorado before returning to BC.
A paper summarizing his M.Sc. thesis on the Mt. Milligan porphyry gold-copper deposit was published in 2014 by in Economic Geology.

Paul has managed a range of exploration programs with a strong focus on team building and collaboration. As Chief Geologist with Pacific Ridge, Paul has returned to several of the projects he followed previously as BC Regional Geologist and is bringing new ideas in exploration of these.

Carmen’s background is in Geology (BSC Geology, 1993, UBC) and Education (B.Ed. 1997, M.Ed, 2016, UBC). She first worked in the mining industry as a student in the early nineties at Myra Falls and Premier Gold doing dirt bagging and water monitoring.

After graduating, Carmen worked as a Geology and Science Teacher in the K-12 system in BC and Alberta, which started her life-long passion for teaching young minds about this amazing industry. Since 2011, she has been employed by the University of British Columbia, Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, managing and directing the Master of Engineering Program.

She has had the opportunity to recruit, evaluate and advise students from all over the world and through this work has developed a broad knowledge of international educational programs for mining and geosciences.

Most recently, her program has set up UBC Applied Science’s first graduate certificate program in Mine Waste Management and she continues to develop other educational programs for the department with input from government, industry and communities. Her ongoing goal is to make lifelong learning accessible and flexible to people throughout their careers. She enjoys working in mining and looking for opportunities to attract people to careers in this industry.

Ms. Maggie Layman is a professional geologist with 18 years’ mineral exploration experience in diverse ore deposits throughout Canada and Mexico. Maggie is currently the Vice President of Exploration for
Osisko Development Corp and led the Barkerville Gold technical team on the Cariboo Gold Project from exploration to feasibility, running successful and compliant drill programs for the last seven years. Prior
to joining Osisko, Ms. Layman worked as a drill manager and project geologist for Vale and Independence Gold Corp. Ms. Layman holds a B.Sc. from Memorial University of Newfoundland and is registered as
a Professional Geologist with the Association of Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia.

Maggie has been an active volunteer with AME since 2014. Maggie volunteered with the former AME Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Committee (2014-2020), the Roundup Committee (2018) and the AME Mentorship program (2019 – present). Maggie is passionate about advancing exploration programs to the next stage by building talented and diverse teams, taking on technical challenges and ensuring a strong ESG performance.

Thomas is an exploration geologist specializing in magmatic mineral deposits and alpine geological mapping. He has extensive technical and project management experience in Au, REE, Cu-porphyry, and U deposits. He is a registered professional geologist with Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia (EGBC), and currently acts as the Vice President, Exploration for Scottie Resources Corp. He has served as a lecturer at Carleton University and British Columbia Institute of Technology. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from University of New Brunswick, and was awarded the Leopold Gélinas medal for the best M.Sc. thesis from the GAC Volcanology and Igneous Petrology division. He holds a Ph.D. from Carleton University focused on magmatic controls of the Nechalacho REE deposit in the NWT.

Steve Robertson has three decades of experience in exploration and mine operations in British Columbia. In November 2017 Steve joined Sun Metals as President & CEO, from Imperial Metals where he spent the previous 24 years. Steve earned his BSc in geology from University of Alberta in 1989 and the bulk of his career has been spent in exploration.

Steve has always been actively engaged in the mining community. He previously served as director for AME BC (then the BC and Yukon Chamber of Mines), sat on the Geoscience BC Technical Advisory Committee and was a founding director of the BC Aboriginal Mine Training Association. In 2016 Steve was awarded the E.A. Scholz Award for Excellence in Mine Development for his leadership in development of the Red Chris mine.

Andy is a professional geologist living in Vancouver who is tailoring his career to bring change to the minerals exploration industry. Since 2014, he has established his consulting business, SGDS Hive, which takes on graduate geoscientists and mentors them through a variety of exploration projects to help engage and educate the next generation of geologists. He also started a non-profit society, Below BC, to provide outreach to the public around Earth Science topics and create heritage resources across the Province. This project continues to grow, with the introduction of “Below Yukon” in 2020.
Andy was awarded the Bedford Young Mining Leaders Award from the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum in 2016 for his ongoing contributions to the industry. His latest venture, Aeonian Resources, is an exploration company that intends to invoke practical ESG needs at the earliest stages tied with novel geological projects to create a pipeline of proven future resources.

He gained his bachelors degree in Environmental Geoscience from the University of Cardiff (Wales). Outside of his own businesses, Andy also sits on the Geological Society Committee for the Canadian Institute of Mining, and several advisory committees relating to professional development, practice ethics and national educational programs.

Bruce Scott is Vice President, Corporate Affairs of Seabridge Gold Inc. since 2012 and counsel to Seabridge. For Seabridge, he provides legal services relating to corporate finance and mining matters and works extensively on the KSM Project on relationships with aboriginal groups, mineral tenure matters and support for permitting efforts, including its environmental assessment applications.  Bruce played a central role in the negotiation of Seabridge’s agreements with the Nisga’a Nation and the Gitanyow First Nation and is working towards agreements with other aboriginal groups. Formerly, from 1998 to 2011, Bruce was a partner at DuMoulin Black LLP.

Bruce has been a Director of AME since 2016 and is a member of AME’s Transboundary Relations Committee and Nenqay Deni Accord Task Force.

Victoria Sterritt is a skilled exploration and mining specialist currently in the role of Exploration Manager, Canada/USA for Teck Resources Limited. She joined Teck in 2007 as a Geophysicist and has held progressively more senior and diverse roles including as a Business Analyst in the Exploration Commercial team; as a Manager with RACE21 advancing automation and digital technologies for Teck’s operations and developing innovation strategies for geoscience, water, tailings, and project development; and as Principal Business Planner for Exploration, Projects and Technical Services. She holds a BScE in Applied Geophysics from Queen’s University, an MSc from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA from Queen’s University. Victoria is a registered Professional Engineer with EGBC and has contributed to her professional community as President of the BC Geophysical Society, Technical Advisor for Geoscience BC, Councillor with the Geological Association of Canada, and Director with Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster. Currently, she sits on the AME Awards Committee. In addition, she has mentored girls as a leader with the Girl Guides of Canada and a Big Sister with the Big Sisters of Vancouver, Big Brothers of
Squamish. Victoria lives in Squamish and spends her time skiing, climbing, hiking, paddling and
with friends, family, and her dog.

Ms. St-Germain is the Chief Financial Officer of Integra Resources Ltd. She is an experienced mining finance executive with an extensive background in banking, mining finance and financial management. She began her career in investment banking for Dundee Capital Markets Inc. As an investment banker, Ms. St-Germain worked exclusively with mining companies on M&A advisory and financing. In 2013, Ms. St-Germain joined Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. as CFO. During her tenure at Golden Queen, she played an instrumental role in securing project finance and overseeing Golden Queen as it transitioned from development and construction to commercial production. She joined Integra Gold as CFO in early 2017 and helped oversee the sale to Eldorado Gold Corporation in July 2017 for C$590 million. Ms. St-Germain is currently a director of Barkerville Gold Mines and Ascot Resources Ltd.

Ms. St-Germain holds an MBA (honours) from the Schulich School of Business (York University). She is the recipient of the Young Mining Professional Eira Thomas Award (2019) and the BMO Celebrating Women 2019 Trailblazer Award (Vancouver).

Laura graduated with a B.Sc in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of British Columbia in 2014. Having worked on various exploration and mining operations in both British Columbia and Saskatchewan, she is currently working as a geologist and project manager for TerraLogic Exploration. 

Her experience in the industry has included all aspects of mineral exploration, including: water, biogeochemical, till and soil sampling, prospecting, core cutting, geoteching, core logging, mapping, drill management, budget management, permitting, QAQC and management of data, and gamma-ray spectrometer surveying and reporting. Laura has had the opportunity to work at many notable projects and sites including Eskay Creek, Snip, Dolly Varden Silver, and the Gibraltar mine. From these projects and many others, she has gained technical and project management experience in VMS, vein hosted and structurally controlled gold, porphyry and epithermal silver-gold-base metal deposits.

Kevin O’Callaghan is a partner with Fasken in Vancouver and the Leader of the firm’s Indigenous Law group. He is also the regional Lead for the Corporate Social Responsibility Law group. Providing strategic advice on Indigenous, regulatory, environmental and other corporate social responsibility issues, Kevin advises mining clients throughout Western and Northern Canada, and around the world.  Kevin provides strategic advice on managing projects through environmental assessment and consultation with Indigenous peoples, including advice on negotiations and agreements. However, if unavoidable conflicts arise during project development, Kevin appears before courts to assist his resource clients on challenges to licenses by local communities (including injunctions). 

Kevin was counsel for a coalition of businesses in two critical aboriginal cases at the Supreme Court of Canada: first on a leading case on Indigenous consultation and accommodation (Haida Nation v. B.C.); and second, on the leading case on Indigenous title (Tsilhqot’in Nation v. B.C.).

Jessica Van Den Akker is a Chartered Professional Accountant, CA, with over 17 years experience in the junior resource space.  She has a degree in Business Administration from Simon Fraser University and completed her Chartered Accountant designation in 2008 on the honour roll. 

Her career began with Davidson & Company Chartered Accountants working with numerous junior exploration issuers for almost 10 years, working to ensure regulatory compliance, reporting and navigating various transactions; she then went on to work for industry serving as CFO for several junior issuers, including GoldX Mining Corp, KORE Mining Ltd, Fiore Exploration Ltd, Rusoro Mining Ltd and Klondike Gold Corp.  In addition to serving as AME’s treasurer for the past four years, she is also currently serving as director and audit committee chair for Kenorland Minerals Ltd, TriStar Gold Inc and Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd.

Chris is a partner with A+R.

A solicitor with considerable experience, Chris represents modern treaty nations in BC and Yukon focusing on the negotiation of complex commercial agreements, regulatory affairs, consultation, and treaty implementation services.
Chris has broad experience representing modern treaty nations throughout various regulatory review and approvals processes, including multifaceted environmental assessments, ensuring clients’ treaty rights and interests are recognized and adhered to. As well, Chris has extensive experience in negotiations, having successfully concluded benefits agreements in the areas of mining, pipelines and hydroelectric facilities, as well as various funding and joint venture arrangements.
With respect to treaty implementation, Chris assists treaty governments with the development, drafting and implementation of legislation and government policies.
An experienced advocate, Chris looks at traditional legal problems from a creative and collaborative perspective and seeks strategic and practical results for his clients.
Prior to joining A+R in 2011, Chris worked as a senior solicitor for BC Hydro on a variety of indigenous, regulatory and commercial matters.

Ms. Dhaliwal is a financial executive with 14 years of extensive experience in the resource sector. A graduate of The University of British Columbia, Ms. Dhaliwal commenced her career in the public accounting field before transitioning to the resource sector working with Uranium One Inc., American Bonanza Gold Corp, Endeavour Mining Corporation and Leagold Mining Corp.

Most recently, Ms. Dhaliwal is the Chief Financial Officer at NexGen Energy Ltd.

Ms. Dhaliwal has vast experience in the design and implementation of financial reporting, treasury, gold sale contract negotiations, multinational tax structuring, budgeting, and forecasting. She has successfully led the financial and tax due diligence for numerous mergers and acquisitions and led the post-integration of numerous mines.

Nicholas Fitzpatrick leads Newcrest’s exploration interests in Western Canada including the Brucejack Mine, Red Chris Mine in British Columbia, Canada and the search for new opportunities. 

Nick is a Graduate from University of Tasmania, Centre for Ore Deposit Research. Since joining Newcrest, he has worked on a variety of Au-Cu deposit types across Australia, Indonesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Canada. Nick specialises in early to advanced stage exploration for porphyry and epithermal deposits having been involved with significant brownfields discoveries at Cracow, Gosowong and Red Chris mines.

Nick has worked for Newcrest and been involved in the Exploration industry for more than 17 years, the past 3 years in Canada.

Bernie Kreft is a born and raised Yukoner who operates a family-run private prospecting business active throughout BC and the Yukon. The business specializes in the identification, acquisition and development of early-stage exploration projects along with operating a seasonal placer gold mine in the Yukon. These pursuits have led to him being named Yukon Prospector of the Year in 1998 and his family being highlighted on the TV show, Yukon Gold.

Bernie currently sits on the advisory board of Kestrel Gold and has signed numerous option deals with a wide variety of public and private companies. He knows that an environment that fosters early-stage exploration is absolutely critical to the long-term health of the entire industry and that community engagement is key to helping dispel myths and negative perceptions that often surround the industry.

A physical fitness buff, Bernie also enjoys Scrabble, strategy games and watching hockey. He can be found on Twitter at his personal account @Bernie_Kreft dispensing snippets of “gold” as well as posting videos and pictures of his various prospecting adventures.

Sunny LeBourdais is an elected Council member of the Pellt’iqt te Secwepemc Nation (Whispering Pines/Clinton Band of the Shuswap Nation). She believes our greatest strength comes from helping each other, as declared by the Chiefs of the Interior to Sir Wilfrid Laurier in 1910: “These people wish to be partners with us in our country . . . we will help each other to be great and good.”

Sunny has managed and coordinated businesses and projects for the Okanagan, Ktunaxa, and Secwepemc Nations. She facilitates community based development of strategies and decision-making processes which respect the inherent responsibility to manage activities on traditional territories.

 She led the corporate restructure as COO for the Skeetchestn Indian Band’s Economic Development Company. She has helped synchronize Secwepemc communities on BC Hydro and private energy projects and given presentations to the BC Utilities Commission.

Sunny worked as Columbia Watershed Coordinator for the Secwepemc Fisheries Commission and as a Policy Analyst for the Okanagan Nation Alliance. She gained invaluable capacity building, communications and management skills as the lead instructor for First Nations Alternative Learning Programs on the Saik’uz and Shalalth/Seton-Portage Indian Reserves.

Sunny developed, coordinated and implemented the Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwepemc Nations Project Assessment Process for the proposed KGHM Ajax Project copper-gold mine near Kamloops BC. Sunny served as an advisor to the Canadian Expert Panel for the legislative review of the Environmental Assessment Process and BC Indigenous EA Implementation Committee lending her experience in Indigenous Impact Assessment and Indigenous Governance. Sunny also led the Secwepemc Nation Building Initiative working as the Governance Director striving to re-build, restore and breathe recognition into Secwepemc laws, jurisdiction and governance systems. Sunny is currently the Director of Transformation for the Qwelmínte Secwepemc Government to Government LOC where she strives to effect change through the development of collaborative inter-jurisdictional processes that give due recognition to Secwepemc laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems.

Sunny obtained a Master of Science from Simon Fraser University in 2006 and Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education from Thompson Rivers University in 2001. Supplementing her education with the Ch’nook Aboriginal Management Program (Sauder School of Business/UBC) has further developed her leadership skills and capabilities.

Sunny was elected to the WPCIB Council in February 2022 and is hoping to implement change and transformation through building on her experiences. Sunny lives on the ranch/reserve where she was raised near Kamloops BC with her son Raven and family. She enjoys horseback riding and hunting on her horses as well as fishing in her traditional territory surrounding Clinton, BC.

Trish Jacques, a 10 year member of AME, has had a lifetime involvement in the minerals industry from a variety of different personal and professional experiences. She has grown up on a number of mining properties throughout the province and is personally vested and involved in the Davidson Deposit in Smithers BC (former Yorke-Hardy Deposit). With 12 years of political experience at the municipal, provincial and federal levels, she has been a strong advocate and participant in a number of mining initiatives. For 11 years, Trish was a Municipal Councillor for the District of Mackenzie and took the lead position of the Mining Portfolio to connect with and advocate for mining projects, communities and companies in her area. She was directly involved with the Environmental Assessment process for Mt. Milligan mine as well as a founding and long-standing member of the Community Sustainability Committee.
Was the Regional Director for the College of New Caledonia (CNC), she initiated the development and creation of multiple courses for the BCIT online Mineral Exploration and Mining Technology program, created the Mining Industry Certificate for CNC and also instructed entry level mining courses for the College of New Caledonia. She has extensive experience collaborating and working with First Nations communities and was responsible for leading and implementing the regional Aboriginal Services Plan.

She has attended many Mineral’s North conferences, assisted in fundraising for the 2015 Mineral’s North Organizing Committee, was a key note speaker for Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) as well as a member on BCIT’s Mining Program Advisory Committee. Trish holds the Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) designation and has a MA in Leadership and Training degree. Additionally she has held a number of management and consulting roles to support businesses with organizational culture development, system optimization and Human Resources best practices in Advanced Education, Forestry and Pulp & Paper industries. Trish is passionate about land access for resource for exploration and development, regulatory processes that support mineral exploration and the communities that we live in.

Gavin is well known as a trusted professional with an extensive business and government network and industry profile in Canada.

Gavin has over 25 years of experience in the Canadian mineral exploration and mining industry, with a focus on government and stakeholder relations, industry advocacy, not-for-profit association management and governance, public policy development, corporate affairs and project permitting, safety, environmental management and sustainability.

Gavin holds a M.Sc. degree in Environmental Management from Royal Roads University and a B.Sc. in Physical Geography and Environmental Science from the University of Victoria. He is also a registered Professional Agrologist (P.Ag.) in the Province of British Columbia. His M.Sc. thesis and hydrogeology-related research of the Lynx underground mine on Vancouver Island was undertaken with the Geological Survey of Canada.

By invitation of the BC and Canadian governments, Gavin has represented the mineral exploration and mining industry on a number of domestic and international trade and investment missions.

Gavin continues to serve on a number of academic, industry and government-related committees and boards.

Michael Goehring joined the Mining Association of British Columbia as President and CEO in 2019. Mr. Goehring brings more than 20 years’ experience providing public affairs and strategic communications counsel to many of Canada’s leading natural resource companies. He joined MABC following a successful career as a partner in the Vancouver office of Canada’s largest communications firm. Michael has built a strong reputation for advancing challenging public policy files and delivering successful advocacy and communications campaigns. He brings expertise in a number of communications disciplines, including reputation management, issues and crisis management, corporate relations, media relations, stakeholder and community relations, government relations, advocacy and regulatory affairs.

Michael is a member of the Public Affairs Association of Canada, serves as vice president of the board of the Vancouver Thunderbird Minor Hockey Association, and is past president of the board of directors of the Turning Point Recovery Society.

A native of British Columbia, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia and pursued Graduate Studies in International Political Economy at Simon Fraser University.