Richard Sillitoe

Richard Sillitoe graduated from London University in England where he went on to earn a Ph.D. degree in 1968. After three years with the Geological Survey of Chile and a Shell postdoctoral research fellowship at the Royal School of Mines in London, he has operated for five decades as an independent consultant to mining companies, international agencies, and foreign governments.

He has worked on a wide variety of mineral deposits and prospects in 100 countries worldwide, but focuses on the epithermal gold and porphyry copper environments. Published research has earned him awards in Europe, Australia, and North and South America, including the SME Robert M. Dreyer Award, SGA-Newmont Gold Medal, and Penrose Gold Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists, of which he was President in 1999-2000.

Regina Baumgartner

Geoscientist with extensive experience in greenfield exploration, advanced projects, brownfields and operations in Peru, Chile, Canada, Philippines and other parts of the world.

She is passionate about geoscience, geometallurgy and how to integrate these disciplines into projects and operations with a view towards circular economy, in order to optimize the key metals and critical elements needed for the energy transition. Since 2021, she has been serving as Group Leader of the Applied Mineralogy and Geoscience Group at Teck Metals Technical Services in Trail, BC, Canada. Prior to this, she was Principal Geoscientist for Teck Resources in Chile until 2021 and for Gold Fields Peru from 2009 to 2017.

Regina holds a Ph.D. and a Master's degree from the University of Geneva. She is also an assistant professor of Geological Engineering at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) in Lima. Regina is a graduate of Teck Resources' Leaders for Excellence program and holds an accreditation in management as a leader and influential figure from the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).

Richard Goldfarb

Richard Goldfarb received his BS in geology from Bucknell U., MSc in hydrogeology at University of Nevada-MacKay School of Mines, and his PhD in geology at the University of Colorado.

He was a research geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey for 36 years where his studies focused on global metallogeny, geology of ore deposits in the North American Cordillera with emphasis on orogenic gold, lode gold deposits in China, and geochemical applications to the understanding of ore genesis. He has served as a President of the SEG, Chair of the SEG Publications Board, member of the Editorial Board of Economic Geology, and Chief Editor of Mineralium Deposita.

He was awarded the SEG Silver Medal in 2011 and SEG Gold Medal in 2023, Kutina-Smirnov Medal by IAGOD in 2014, and the Gold Medal by SGA in 2022 for his various contributions to economic geology. Presently, Rich is a research professor at China University of Geosciences Beijing and Colorado School of Mines, and is an independent consultant to the exploration and mining industry.

Joe Mazumdar

Joe joined Brent Cook as co-editor and analyst of Exploration Insights in December 2015 and became the sole editor a couple of years later. Previously, I had spent six years as a Senior Mining Analyst at Haywood Securities and Canaccord Genuity in Vancouver, six years as Director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Development at Newmont Mining (Denver), and over three years as a Senior Market Analyst/Commodity Trader at Phelps Dodge (now Freeport McMoRan, Phoenix).

Before becoming a mining market analyst, I worked for over a decade as an exploration geologist in different capacities for IAMGOLD, North Minerals, and RTZ in South America (Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador), MIM Exploration in Queensland, Australia, and Noranda and others in Western Canada (British Columbia, Yukon) and the Northwest Territories.

I have a BSc in Geology (1988) from the University of Alberta, an MSc in Geology and Mining (1997) from James Cook University (Queensland), and an MSc in Mineral Economics (2003) from the Colorado School of Mines.

Britt Bluemel

Britt Bluemel is the Global Business Development Manager of the Mine Site Services Group for ALS Global. She has a unique blend of expertise in the intersection of geology, data science, and technology. With a career marked by innovation and collaboration, she has been instrumental in driving growth and strategic direction within multinational corporations. Her dedication to integrating data science principles into geoscience research has contributed to advancements in optimization and efficiencies across the mining value chain.

Britt is passionate about connection and communication, and strives to break down organizational silos wherever possible. In her free time, you can find Britt in the mountains of her home (British Columbia) hiking and skiing.

Federico Cernuschi

Federico Cernuschi is an independent consultant based in Punta del Este, Uruguay. He specializes in the geology and geochemistry of magmatic and hydrothermal ore-forming processes, focusing on the exploration and development of porphyry deposits. He integrates classic hand-lens observations and Anaconda-style mapping, core-logging, and construction of cross-sections with the study of multi-element geochemical and spectral mineralogy data sets. Fede provides continued support to First Quantum Minerals and services to companies like Rio Tinto, Lundin, and several junior explorers. He has worked on exploration projects of varied geology and age across more than 20 countries in these roles. He has provided training in geology and geochemistry to multiple global exploration teams. His education includes UDELAR, Uruguay (B.S.), and Oregon State University (M.S. and Ph.D.).

Shaun Barker

Shaun Barker is the director of the Mineral Deposit Research Unit, within the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Shaun has a background of geochemistry, mineralogy and structural geology. Shaun is involved in a diverse range of research projects and has worked on a variety of gold and copper deposits in collaboration with the minerals industry, and in particular works on ore body knowledge and innovative methods for mineral exploration.

Fernando Tornos

Fernando Tornos is a Research Professor at the Instituto de Geociencias (Madrid, Spain) and adjunct professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Lulea Technological University.

He has been director of Research in Geological Resources at the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España and president of the SGA, Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits, which has awarded him its medal for contributions to research in the field of mineral resources. He currently coordinates the ExMODE research group of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Spain, with special dedication to the exploration and modeling of volcanogenic massive sulfides, IOCG systems and tin-tungsten deposits. He has published more than 200 papers and coordinated several research projects in the field of mineral deposits.

Irene del Rio

PhD Irene del Real has an undergraduate degree from the University of Chile, Chile, a Msc from the University of British Columbia, Canada, specifically from the Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MDRU) and a PhD from Cornell University, USA. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chile and currently she is an assistant professor at the Austral University, Chile.

She has worked in Chile and in Northamerica focussing her research in understanding the genesis of Andean iron oxide-copper-gold deposits, specifically in the Candelaria-Punta del Cobre district, porphyry-Cu deposits and iron oxide-apatite deposits (IOA). Her research is characterized by understanding the processes involved in the formation of mineral deposits integrating structural geology, field geology and geochemistry and use this knowledge to develop new approaches for their exploration.