Area of Expertise:

Steve obtained a B.Sc. Honours degree in Geological Sciences from Queen’s University in 1987, a M.Sc. degree in Geological Sciences from the University of Ottawa in 1990, and a Ph.D. in economic geology from the University of Western Australia in 1994. Upon returning to Canada in 1994, Steve took up a NSERC post-doctoral fellowship at McGill University and in 1996 joined Westmin Resources Limited (later Boliden-Westmin in 1998) as a Project Geologist exploring throughout the Americas. In 1999, Steve joined the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as an Assistant Professor of Economic Geology. In 2006, Steve resigned from UBC and joined the Saskatchewan Research Council as a Senior Research Scientist. In 2007, Steve returned to industry as the Vice-President of Exploration for Northern Abitibi Mining Corp.

Current Focus:

Geoscientific interests in B.C. currently focus on characterizing the genetic linkages between epithermal gold-silver deposits and porphyry copper-gold systems; understanding the control that magmatic oxidation state has on the ultimate grade and tonnage of gold and copper in porphyry-style deposits; and developing research tools to distinguish regional-scale structures that are deep and have potential to host large orogenic gold deposits, from regional-scale structures that are shallow with only limited potential. Establishing formal and informal linkages between geoscientists working in government, industry, and academia is another area of interest.

Past Projects:

• Orogenic gold deposits in the Long Range Inlier, Newfoundland (2007-2009).Genetic linkages between epithermal and porphyry deposits, Toodoggone (2004-2007).
• Distribution and origin of orogenic gold deposits, Trans-Hudson Orogen (2006-2007).
• Reduced porphyry copper-gold deposits in Mexico (1997-2003) and the Western Cascades, USA (2002-2005).
• Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits in Finlayson Lake, Yukon (2000-2003).
• Polymetallic skarns and epithermal gold-silver veins in central Mexico (1998-2002).
• Exploration for copper oxide porphyry deposits in northern Chile (1997-1998).
• Iron oxide copper-gold mineralization in the Wernecke breccias, Yukon (1997).

Associated Experience:

Steve volunteers on many geoscientific committees and industry associations including chairing the Geological Association of Canada’s Mineral Deposits Division (2008-2009), serving as an Associate Editor of Ore Geology Reviews (1999-2009) and as an Adjunct Professor in EOS-UBC (2006-2009).