YMP Announces Scott Berdahl and Ella Cullen as the 2024 Peter Munk & Eira Thomas Award Winners

TORONTO, March 28, 2024 /CNW/ - Young Mining Professionals ("YMP") is pleased to announce that the winners for 2024 of the YMP Peter Munk and Eira Thomas Awards for Young Male and Female Mining Professionals of the Year are Scott Berdahl and Ella Cullen.

The YMP Awards, presented in association with The Northern Miner, recognizes two young mining professionals, a female and a male, who, over the past year and during their careers, have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and innovative thinking to provide value for their companies, shareholders, communities where they operate and for themselves. The YMP Awards are named after two iconic entrepreneurs in the mining industry, the late Peter Munk and Eira Thomas. 

The Awards will be presented to Scott and Ella at the YMP Awards Reception in the Fall of 2024 in Toronto, Canada, with details to follow in the coming months.

Nominees for the Awards must be under 40 years old in 2023 and be actively involved in the mining industry. Voting on a selection of nominees was held in early 2024 by a committee representing the YMP chapters and The Northern Miner.

Link to the Northern Miner YMP Awards Article

Link to the YMP Awards Website

YMP would like to thank our generous sponsors and supporters of the YMP Awards: Barrick Gold, Cassels, The Northern Miner and KPMG, whose commitment to our industry's next generation is invaluable to recognizing the talented and committed professionals within the mining sector.

YMP is a not-for-profit global association of mining professionals that aims to advance the global profile and leadership of the mining industry. YMP was established to assist participants in obtaining the skills, support and knowledge to successfully advance their careers, develop a network of contacts within the industry and identify career and mining-related investment opportunities. YMP facilitates these objectives through scholarships, networking and social events, and high-profile guest speaker events throughout the year.

For further information on YMP, its chapters, the YMP Awards, and the YMP Scholarship Fund, please visit our website at www.youngminingprofessionals.com or email us at [email protected].

Peter Munk Award - Mr. Scott Berdahl:

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.

Eira Thomas Award - Ms. Ella Cullen:

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.

About YMP

YMP is a global association of over 5,000 mining professionals that share the goal of advancing the global profile and leadership of the mining industry. YMP has chapters in Toronto, Vancouver, London UK, Montreal, Sudbury, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Peru, Switzerland, Mongolia, Brazil and Arizona. YMP was established to assist participants in obtaining the skills, support and knowledge to successfully advance their careers, develop a network of contacts within the industry and identify career and mining-related investment opportunities. YMP facilitates these objectives through scholarships, networking and social events, as well as high-profile guest speaker events throughout the year. Each chapter hosts a range of events in their respective city, including the Distinguished Speakers series, which has attracted the industry's top icons, including Peter Munk, Lukas Lundin, Pierre Lassonde, Sir Mick Davis, Mark Cutifani, Ian Telfer, Eira Thomas, Sean Boyd, Don Lindsay, Shaun Usmar and many more.

About Peter Munk:

Peter Munk was the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Barrick Gold Corporation. He was known globally as a business leader, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Over thirty years, Mr. Munk and his management team built Barrick into the world's largest gold-mining company, and one of Canada's leading global corporations, with more than 25,000 employees. Mr. Munk's focus on innovation and global leadership was reflected in the companies he led over his diverse career. He was Chairman and controlling shareholder of Trizec Properties until its sale to Brookfield Properties for an enterprise value of $9 billion in 2006. Mr. Munk co-founded and a directed TriGránit Development Corporation, one of the leading property developers in Central Europe. Prior to founding Barrick, Mr. Munk was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation, the largest hotel and resort chain in Australasia until its sale in 1982. Mr. Munk received numerous honorary doctorates and he was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. He also became a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honour.

About Eira Thomas:

Eira Thomas has more than 30 years of experience in the mining industry, including 14 years with Aber Diamond Corporation (now Dominion Diamond), where she served in ever increasing roles from initial discovery as a geologist to Vice President Exploration and ultimately a Director of the Board. She was co-founder of Stornoway Diamond Corp., serving first as CEO and then as Executive Chairman. There she led the acquisition of the Renard diamond deposit, which subsequently became Quebec's first diamond mine. In 2007, she founded Lucara with partners Mr. Lukas Lundin and Ms. Catherine McLeod Seltzer and served as CEO between 2018 and 2023. Eira also served as CEO of Kaminak Gold Corporation, which was acquired by Goldcorp in 2016 for $520 Million and served as a Director of Suncor Energy for 17 years. She is currently the Chairperson of Westhaven Gold Corp.

SOURCE Young Mining Professionals