Executives

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.

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.).

Jill Budelli has a wide breadth of experience having represented exploration, development and operating mines throughout her career. She is versed in executive oversight, 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.

Jill has been a director on the AME Board since 2013 and served as chair from January 2021 to January 2024. She was acting chair of the ad hoc governance committee in 2018 and vice-chair of the Roundup committee in 2015.

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 received her MBA from Arden University, United Kingdom in 2019. She has a B.A. in geography and a concentration in sociology with additional certificates in leadership and mining studies.

Eric Casey is the incoming Treasurer for AME. He is a CPA and is Associate Vice President, Finance, for Skeena Resources Limited. He has previously provided audit and assurance services for public companies through roles and Davidson & Company LLP and Manning Elliott Accountants & Business Advisors, and also served as Chief Financial Officer for Colorado Resources Ltd.

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.

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.

Keerit is the President and CEO of the Association for Mineral Exploration BC (“AME”). He is a lawyer with a decade of experience in the natural resource sector, working with and acting for both mining companies and First Nations. Keerit is passionate about responsible natural resource development and brings with him a depth of knowledge and a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing the entire spectrum of mineral exploration and development.

Prior to joining AME, Keerit spent two years with the BC provincial government at the Environmental Assessment Office and the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, where he focused on promoting permit efficiency for mineral exploration projects and operationalizing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, striving to build permitting certainty to both companies and First Nations.

Keerit has also practiced regulatory and Aboriginal law across a variety of industries, including oil and gas, oil sands, pipelines, LNG and mining. Over his career, he has assisted companies and First Nations to develop impact benefit agreements and negotiate joint venture deals and equity investment for First Nations in the natural resource sector.

Keerit holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Arts in political science from the University of Windsor. He completed a Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctor at the University of Alberta, with an applied focus on natural resources and Aboriginal law.

As Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan is responsible for advancing policy initiatives that impact mineral exploration and development. These initiatives are wide-ranging and include permitting, reconciliation, land access and use, geoscience, and financial incentives among many other topics. Jonathan also helps to drive AME’s three-year strategic work plan by ensuring the annual work plans are completed and members are kept informed.

Jonathan joined AME in 2005. Jonathan grew up in the mining town of Elliot Lake, Ontario, and first moved to BC to study at the University of British Columbia, graduating with a B.A. in Geography. In addition to a background in communications for the mineral exploration and mining sector, Jonathan has studied, lived, and worked in Japan, and is the author of Inside the Torii Gate: The Journal of an Exchange Student in Japan.

He served as 2015-2016 Chair of the BC Technical & Research Committee on Reclamation, on which he represents AME and is a member of the Health & Safety Committee of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada. He has received the Advanced Communicator Gold award from Toastmasters International, and is an active member of Vancore Toastmasters.