Denver Mineral Exploration Symposium

DMES 2024 opens today with a student poster competition, reception, and keynote speaker, Doug Kirwin! Tomorrow, during our morning session, we will hear from Simon Jowitt. He's presenting his talk "Nevada: Not Just The Silver State." See you there! Simon M. Jowitt is currently the Director of the Ralph J. Roberts Center for Research in Economic Geology and the Arthur Brant Chair of Exploration Geology at the University of Nevada Reno, Nevada, USA. His research focuses on the use of geochemistry to unravel geological processes in a variety of settings with direct application to understanding mineralizing systems with implications for igneous petrology, mineral exploration, global tectonics and the links between magmatism and metallogeny. He has also undertaken extensive research on mineral economics, global metal resources, the security of supply of the critical elements, and the “economic” side of economic geology. Simon also studies the environmental impact of mining and the potential uses of mining and other wastes for metal production and carbon sequestration. He has published more than 110 scientific papers and peer-reviewed book chapters since 2010, is currently the Vice-President for Student Affairs for the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and was awarded the SEG’s Waldemar Lindgren Award in 2014.

Joining us all the way from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, we are excited to have Marisa share her fantastic research on "The Role Of Molten Bismuth In High-Grade Gold Deposits" during the morning session! Marisa Dawn Acosta is an economic geologist currently serving as the Assistant Professor of Economic Geology in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She received her B.Sci. from Western Washington University in 2014 before going on to earning her Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 2020, where she focused on the dynamics of titanium in quartz during growth and deformation under hydrothermal-magmatic conditions in the Butte, Montana porphyry Cu-Mo depost. Before joining the faculty at Alaska, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne from 2020 to 2023, where she worked on crystallization kinetics in skarns. At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, she is striving to establish a strong economic geology research program with an emphasis on understanding ore-forming processes at multiple scales.

We'd like to thank our Patron Sponsor AngloGold Ashanti and Paul Fix for his presentation at DMES on "Geology and Exploration of the Merlin Epithermal Gold Deposit, Nevada, USA." Really looking forward to this one! Paul Fix is a geologist at AngloGold Ashanti focused on exploration in the Beatty District, Southern Nevada. He earned a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and an M.S. from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Paul looks forward to sharing the geology of the Merlin epithermal deposit and the exploration methods that led to gold discoveries in the Beatty District.

Alex Neufeld will join us to discuss "Exploring The Historic Tintic District, Utah." We are thrilled to have Ivanhoe Electric represented at DMES 2024! Mr. Neufeld is Vice President of Exploration for Ivanhoe Electric since December 2023. Alex has over 18 years of experience in global mineral exploration across various commodities and deposit types. Prior to joining Ivanhoe Electric, Alex led the North American exploration team at Anglo American, including discovery of undercover mineralization in Arizona. Alex was also a key team member in the Gamsberg East zinc discovery & subsequent delineation in South Africa from 2005-2009.

Closing out one of our parallel morning sessions on Ore Forming Systems will be Thomas Bissig and his presentation on "Copper Creek, Arizona: Laramide Early Halo Style Porphyry And Breccia Hosted Cu-Ag-Mo Mineralization." Thanks to Faraday Copper Corp.! Dr. Thomas Bissig is a highly experienced geologist and geochemist with over 23 years of expertise in exploring porphyry and epithermal deposit types throughout the Americas. He recently served as a consulting geoscientist, providing services from local orebody insights to broader regional exploration strategies. Previously, from March 2017 to February 2020, he was Director of Geochemistry at Goldcorp/Newmont, offering his expertise to exploration teams across the Americas. Before that, he spent nearly a decade as a senior research associate at the Mineral Deposit Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, where he led various gold and copper research programs and exploration efforts in regions like the Andes, British Columbia, Nevada, and Eastern Europe. Dr. Bissig earned his diploma in Earth Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich in 1997 and completed his PhD research at Queen's University in Kingston (Ontario, Canada) in 2001, focusing on the metallogeny of the El Indio epithermal belt in Chile and Argentina.

And rounding out our afternoon session on New Discoveries, Markets, and Technology, we have Mary Little presenting on one of her many pursuits, "Pure Energy's CV Lithium Brine Project." It's fantastic to have Mary present at DMES as she's been such a strong supporter of research and students at Mines Geology and Geological Engineering. Mary began her career as an exploration geologist and transitioned into management while working with major multinational companies. She majored in Geology at Franklin & Marshall College, completed a M.Sc. in Earth Sciences at the Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, and later, an MBA from the Univ. of Colorado. She initially worked with Anaconda Minerals in porphyry copper and moly exploration in the Americas and internationally. She later pursued the “business” of economic geology as a business development analyst for Echo Bay Mines, then returning to Latin America, to work fifteen years in Ecuador, Chile and Peru with Newmont Exploration, Cyprus Amax Minerals and Western Mining Corporation (WMC Ltd). In 2003 she became the founding CEO and president of Mirasol Resources Ltd., a prospect-generator company exploring in Chile and Argentina. Over 11 years at the helm of Mirasol, the company made two significant silver discoveries in Argentina, sold one to Coeur Mining for US$60 million, and was named to the top 100 TSX Venture Exchange companies in 2010. Mary is the Colorado School of Mines’ SEG Student Chapter industry advisor, serves as a SEG Councilor, a past president of Denver Region Exploration Geologists’ Society (“DREGS”), and presently serves on the boards of Sandstorm Gold Royalties, Capella Minerals, Pure Energy Minerals and Tinka Resources.

Our morning session on Saturday kicks off with Ruben Padilla and his presentation "Gold Exploration In The Colombian Andes From Concept To Discovery: A Successful Case Study." Dr. Padilla has over 35 years of mining and exploration experience and has been a key member of exploration teams credited with the discovery of over 47 M ounces of gold at the Colosa and Gramalote deposits in Colombia, and the Lynx deposit in the Windfall camp in Quebec. Dr. Padilla was the first to propose the exploration concept that led to the discovery of the La Escondida East Cu-Mo-Au deposit in Chile. Dr. Padilla is currently President and CEO of Sable Resources Ltd. and a board member of Minera Alamos Inc and Minaurum Gold Inc. He spent seven years with AngloGold Ashanti as the Country Manager, Peru and Colombia and Chief Geologist for South America, 13 years with BHP as Senior Geologist in Mexico, Chile and Peru, and two years as assistant of the global VP of exploration based in San Francisco. Dr. Padilla holds a geological engineering degree from the University of Chihuahua, Mexico, and Masters and PhD degrees from the University of Arizona.

But wait, there's more! DMES is looking forward to hosting Craig Hart, Chief Geoscientist at Red Canyon Resources. Craig's talk will be on Kendal Creek in BC. Dr. Craig Hart is an Internationally recognized exploration geoscientist; specialized in Cu - Au porphyry and Intrusive hosted Gold systems deposits. He most recently served as Director of the Mineral Deposit Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, and is now is currently Chairman of Snowline Gold (TSX-V:SGD) and Chief Geoscientist for Red Canyon Resources (CSE:REDC). He has published over 150 technical papers and spent 14 years with the Yukon Geological Survey.

DMES 2024 is thrilled to have our own Ben Frieman speaking at this year's symposium! Ben's talk is entitled "Unlocking The Bedrock Potential Of A World-Class Placer Gold District: A Case Study In The Klondike, Yukon." Ben is a Research Assistant Professor at Colorado School of Mines as well as a part of CASERM Research. Take a look! https://lnkd.in/eYDWPEnE

The morning session at DMES 2024 is going to be fantastic, thanks to Kathryn Chehowy and her talk on the 3Aces project. See you there! Katie holds a BSc in Geology from the University of Calgary and has supported Seabridge Gold for the past four seasons. Her experience includes supporting orogenic, five-element vein, epithermal, and porphyry projects. She has been part of exploration programs in northern British Colombia, Yukon, Nevada, and Ontario.