Under the age of 40 on Dec 31, 2023; currently engaged in the metals and mining industry.

The selection committee, consisting of YMP Directors and Senior Executives at The Northern Miner, will select a winner in each category from the nominees submitted. The recipients of each award will be announced in February 2024.

Stay tuned for event details – The date and place are TBD!

Ella Cullen is Co-founder & CMO of Minespider, the leading traceability platform for transparent and compliant mineral supply chains. Their partners include Google, Renault, Cisco, Woodcross, Ford Otosan, LuNa Smelter and Minsur. Ella is a UNECE expert in blockchain traceability, one of 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining (WIM100) in 2022 and a mentor for DLT Talents and the CV Labs Incubator.

Scott Berdahl, CEO and Director, Snowline Gold (TSX-V:SGD) - Snowline is one of the most exciting exploration plays to emerge out of the Yukon. Snowline's 2023 exploration program continues to top the charts with industry-leading drill results. A 2023 hole returned 2.5 grams per tonne gold over 553 meters at the Valley discovery, making it one of the best drill holes ever drilled in the Yukon Territory's 125-year history. The company has a huge land package, 330,000 ha with 30+ primary gold targets. Thanks to outstanding drill results the company is up 17-fold since 2021.

Maggie Layman is the Vice President, Exploration for Osisko development Corp. Ms. Layman is professional geologist with 15 years’ mineral exploration experience in diverse ore deposits throughout Canada and a proven track record of bringing success to major and junior mining companies.

Maggie led the Barkerville Gold Mines team on the Cariboo Gold Project through efficient exploration with technical teams and ensuring compliance of drill programs.

Prior to joining Barkerville, Maggie worked as a drill manager and project geologist for Vale and Independence Gold Corp. Maggie holds a B.Sc. from Memorial University of Newfoundland, is registered as a Professional Geologist with the association of Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia and is an active volunteer with the AME Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Committee.

Matthew Fenton is the President and Chief Financial Officer of Magris Resources, a leading North American based industrial minerals company. Magris supplies approximately 10% of the world’s niobium and 50% of the North American talc market from its four mines and seven processing facilities in Canada and the United States.

Mr. Fenton joined Magris at its inception in 2013, and in 2015 led the $500 million acquisition and subsequent repositioning as a stand-alone operation of Quebec-based niobium producer, Niobec. Since 2015, Magris has significantly improved safety performance, increased production by more than 25%, reduced operating costs by more than 20% and increased mineral reserves to extend Niobec’s mine life by more than 20 years. More recently, Mr. Fenton led the February 2021 $223 million acquisition out of bankruptcy of substantially all the assets of Imerys Talc North America, a world-class portfolio of talc assets located in the United States and Canada. Mr. Fenton is currently leading the integration of the talc assets into the Magris platform and the broader transformation of Magris into a multi-asset industrial minerals platform.  

Mr. Fenton has over a decade of experience in the resource and private equity sectors. Before joining Magris, he spent five years at Brookfield Asset Management in various roles across its private equity and real estate groups. Prior to Brookfield, Matthew worked in the investment banking and debt capital market groups at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Fenton serves on the board of Mining4Life, a non-profit organization that since its inception in 2010 has raised over $30 million to support children’s health and education in communities worldwide. He also serves as co-chair of Reasons for Hope, a non-profit initiative that has raised more than $5 million to support youth and adolescent focused mental health research at the University of Toronto.

Mr. Fenton holds an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, Western University.

David joined Champion Iron in 2014 and has been working in the iron industry and the Labrador Through for the past 15 years. He was appointed President and Chief Executive officer of Champion Iron on April 1, 2019. As Chief Operating Officer of the Company, he played a key role in the management team, delivering the successful restart of the Bloom Lake Mine by managing its construction and commissioning and building a team composed of more than 400 top mining talents. Prior to joining Champion Iron, David held senior management positions within Cliff Natural Resources Inc.

His experience in iron ore mining includes mineral characterization projects at Bloom Lake and for AccerlorMittal at Mount Wright, as well as adapting the recovery circuit to meet new customer demands in order to maximize profit margins. David is also the co-founder of the North Shore and Labrador Mineral Processing Society.

David holds a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering from Laval University.

Ashley Kirwan is the Co-founder/Co-owner, President & CEO at Orix Geoscience; a geological consultant firm with over 60 employees of which 50% are female and 26% foreign-born. The company is a leading geological firm in terms of culture, quality of work, and creative business partnerships.

Since its inception in 2012, Orix has exponentially grown in revenues, employees, and projects during a market downturn. They currently operate out of their 3 offices (Toronto, Sudbury, and Winnipeg) and provide a full cycle of geological and geomatic services to junior, mid-tiers and majors. Corporate culture is a fundamental value at Orix and in 2019, they received the Employee Recommended Workplace Award from Morneau Shepell and the Globe and Mail.

Raised in Sudbury, Ashley earned both a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Geology at Laurentian University. In 12 years, Ashley has worked throughout North and South America, including Sudbury, Nunavut, Nevada and Ecuador.

In 2016, Ashley was named in the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining, and in 2018, was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Rising Star Award from LU. More recently Ashley was selected as one of the Top 40 Under 40 award winners for the City of Greater Sudbury.

Ashley is committed to leading a new generation of geoscientists in the mining industry and the team at Orix are breaking boundaries for many woman geoscientists.

Mr. Vizquerra is currently Executive Vice President of Strategic Development & Director at Osisko Mining. For over four years, Mr. Vizquerra served as the President & CEO of Oban Mining Corp. (“Oban”), where he led the successful change of business strategy that resulted in Oban’s acquisition of Corona Gold, Eagle Hill Exploration Corp. and Ryan Gold to form what is now Osisko Mining. Mr. Vizquerra previously worked as Head of Business Development for Compania de Minas Buenaventura, prior to which he worked as production and exploration geologist at the Red Lake gold mine. He is currently a board member of Alio Gold Inc, Sierra Metals and Discovery Metals. Mr. Vizquerra holds a M.Sc. from Queens University in MINEX, and is a Qualified Person (AIGP). Mr Vizquerra is currently advancing the General Management Program (GMP) at the Wharton School of Business.

Ms. St-Germain is the Chief Financial Officer of Integra Resources Corp (TSXV:ITR). 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 (TSXV:BGM) and IDM Mining (TSXV: IDM).

Stephen de Jong holds 10 years experience in the mining industry and is currently the Chairman of Integra Resources, Director of GFG Resources and recently became the CEO of VRify, a Vancouver based tech start-up which is using technology to reinvent how companies engage with their stakeholders and investors. In 2012, at the age of 28, Stephen was appointed CEO of Integra Gold, a Quebec-focused junior exploration company. Over a five year period Stephen built and led a team who successfully raised over $150M in challenging market conditions while growing the business from a $10 million exploration company through to its $590 million sale to Eldorado Gold in July 2017.  Stephen's influence and passion for helping shape the next generation of exploration and mining was demonstrated through Integra’s $1 Million Gold Rush Challenge held in 2016, and as co-host alongside Goldcorp of #DisruptMining 2017. These two events focused on accelerating innovation and the adoption of technology across the mining industry.

Catherine is the executive responsible for the North America region. She was formerly Chief Financial Officer of Barrick. Catherine joined the company in May 2015 as Executive Vice-President, Business Performance, and was previously co-manager of BlackRock’s flagship mining funds. Catherine also worked for Anglo American in London and Johannesburg, and as a geological field assistant in Sweden. She holds the chartered financial analyst designation, a master’s degree in natural sciences and an MSc in mineral project appraisal.

Alicia Woods, the first-ever Eira Thomas Award recipient, is a shining example of a mining entrepreneur's journey marked by passion and innovation. Her introduction to the mining world through her family's business, Marcotte Mining, was temporarily halted when her father's unexpected passing led to the sale of the company.

After initially pursuing a teaching career, Alicia returned to the mining industry in 2000, where she identified a glaring gap – the lack of suitable personal protective equipment for women in underground mining. Her determination to address this issue led her to create Covergalls, women's workwear designed with functionality and safety in mind. Following positive feedback, she launched Covergalls in 2014, eventually expanding the product line and introducing lines for men and children.

Today, Alicia aims to extend the reach of Covergalls into various industries and countries. Her impressive list of accolades, including Woman of Distinction and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, speaks volumes about her dedication. Alicia Woods continues to make her mark in her hometown of Sudbury, Ontario, alongside her husband and two children, proving that with determination, innovation, and a commitment to one's dreams, anything is possible.