OUTLIERS MINING SOLUTIONS - Key Persons
Adam is an experienced mining professional with a passion for continuous improvement. As the COO of Outliers you are more likely to find him in the field with supervisors than in the boardroom. Adam thrives working with front line teams coaching on best practices, facilitating practical problem solving and teaching operations team on how to use real time data to guide good decision making. Adam's energy is contagious and allows him to build credibility and influence quickly to lead a team towards a common goal.
Adam holds a BSc. in Mining Engineering from Queens University and is also a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Adam is a Maintenance professional who has provided leadership and support in asset management within mineral processing industry in Northern Alberta, Canada.
During his 20-year career, he has worked with mature and new facilities, assisted in establishing front-line and support teams and facilitated system transitions.
Adam has led projects, turnarounds and commissioning & start-ups in mining, utilities and upgrading facilities.
Adam holds a Bachelors of Science in General Science from University of Calgary, and certificates in Project Management, Lean Manufacture and Asset Management.
Job Titles:
- Coach Operations and Leadership
- Principal of Kangas Consulting Inc
Allan is the principal of Kangas Consulting Inc and is a mining professional with over 40 years of experience in engineering and mine management. Before joining Outliers as a management consultant, Allan was the General manager for Conuma Coal during the start-up and operation of 3 coal mines producing 5 million tonnes/year. Prior to this, Allan worked for several Canadian coal mining operations in progressive management positions with a focus on mine planning and operational discipline. Understanding the need for mine management training, he joined Outliers as a contractor to provide world class management/supervisor training.
Allan is a graduate of Queen's University and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C.
Blake Baca is an Asset Management professional with over 30 years of experience in the industry including mining, refining, smelting, oil & gas, power generation, foundry, manufacturing, and material processing. Blake worked for Alcoa, Inc. for the first 20 years of his career. His final role at Alcoa was Maintenance and Engineering Manager at Alcoa Rockdale Operations in Rockdale, Texas as the facility was shut down due to business conditions in December 2008. Blake has been an Asset Management Consultant for over 11 years.
Blake holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree from Texas Tech University. He is a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP) and a Certified Reliability Leader (CRL). Blake served as Maintenance Manager for Barrick Gold Corporation (Goldstrike and Cortez Hills Mines) in Elko, Nevada from 2017-2019.
Brad is an experienced engineering professional in technical roles and mine operations across all commodities and continents. As Director of Mining for Outliers Mining Solutions, Brad is responsible for shaping the direction and growth of Outliers. He has a passion for process improvement. Brad leads the execution of operational improvement work at our client's sites and is responsible for developing our mining-specific Lean Six Sigma training programs.
Before joining Outliers Mining Solutions, Brad was a Business Improvement and technical professional specializing in de-bottlenecking projects, short and long-range mine planning, strategic business planning and mine optimization.
Brad has a BSc. in Mining Engineering from Queen's University and is a Certified Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt.
Brian has over a dozen years of mine engineering and operations experience in North and South America. Brian has worked in all stages of the mining cycle, from desktop study level through to closure and reclamation operations. Brian looks for the win-win-win and making changes to drive long term success. He believes the team is the key to the success of the operation.
Brian joins Outliers from Atlantic Gold, where he held the position of Technical Services Superintendent. Brian has also worked for several major gold and base metal producers and was based in Chile for over 8 years. He is fluent in Spanish.
Brian holds a degree in Mining Engineering from Queen's University and is a Professional Engineer with Engineers Nova Scotia.
Job Titles:
- MANAGER UNDERGROUND MINING
David Capstick has more than 18 years of underground mining engineering and project management experience across the entire lifecycle of a mine operation. He has managed projects from exploration and feasibility stages to construction into operations to closure and reclamation.
At mining operations and projects within North and South America, Asia, and Australia, David has worked with various commodities, including Gold, Copper, Nickel and Diamonds. Most recently, David was the Underground Project Manager at the Aurora Gold Mine, the first modern underground mining operation in Guyana.
David is a graduate of the Haileybury School of Mines.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT ASSET MANAGEMENT
Fabricio is a maintenance and project management professional with over 10 years of field experience in the mining industry. Working for CAT dealers in South and North America he's supported the OEM product in diverse landscapes from the Amazon to the Arctic. During his career, he's delivered on project management, reliability and production improvement, on-site customer support, and maintenance planning and scheduling. He's developed a passion for continuous improvement and establishing the pillars for sustainable gains: people, process, and technology.
Fabricio holds a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and a post-graduation degree in Project Management.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT
- Mining Engineer
- Senior Consultant Drill & Blast
Gabriel is a mining engineer with 25 years of experience primarily in the explosives manufacturing and utilization in the field. Through the years, he developed expertise in risk assessment, auditing related to the explosives. He carried mandates in North and South Americas, Africa, Asia as well as Australia.
As the principal of Extek Mining Services, he currently serves customers with Drilling & Blasting programs implementation-maintenance, site audits, project management related to explosives facilities, regulatory compliance, supply contract management, and training.
Job Titles:
- Coach Operations and Leadership
Bert McPherson is the principal of HC McPherson Consulting, providing Sr. Management services to the mining industry. Bert has recently aligned with Outliers Mining Solutions, enabling Outliers to provide one of the industry's most comprehensive professional service combinations.
Bert brings 40 years of experience in the mining and contracting industries and has mentored individuals in all mine site department disciplines including Mine General Managers. His brand is focused on implementation of world class mine management standards, with a constant focus on behavior-based safety awareness and leadership competency.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT FLEET MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST
- Fleet Management Specialist
Georg is an experienced Fleet Management Specialist. As a mining professional, Georg has more than ten years experience; the last five in the capacity of Dispatcher. Georg's extensive hands-on operating experience with both excavating and hauling equipment provides a solid foundation on which to demonstrate his fleet management skills. These skills, coupled with his proficiency in the Wenco System, have helped Georg lead crews to reach - and often exceed - company KPI. With his proactive approach and practical knowledge, Georg is a strong technical resource on configuring fleet management systems.
Together with his diplomas in sales, marketing and office management, Georg is also fluent in three modern languages: English, Swiss and German.
Job Titles:
- Coach Operations and Leadership
- Principal of HC Mc
Bert McPherson is the principal of HC McPherson Consulting, providing Sr. Management services to the mining industry. Bert has recently aligned with Outliers Mining Solutions, enabling Outliers to provide one of the industry's most comprehensive professional service combinations.
Bert brings 40 years of experience in the mining and contracting industries and has mentored individuals in all mine site department disciplines including Mine General Managers. His brand is focused on implementation of world class mine management standards, with a constant focus on behavior-based safety awareness and leadership competency.
Job Titles:
- Mining Engineering and Fleet Management Systems Specialist
- SYSTEMS SPECIALIST
Ian is a Mining Engineering and Fleet Management Systems Specialist with an extensive background in Base Metal and Coal mines world wide.
Ian holds a B.Eng in Mining from University of Queensland and worked as a Mine Services Engineer and Project Engineer for modular mining for 9 years. Ian has previously worked for Modular, Freeport, Rio Tinto, Equinox, Barrick and Newcrest.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT OPERATING EXCELLENCE
Max applies his multidisciplinary "hands-on" approach in mining and technology to develop practical strategies that help sites increase operational efficiency. He is a business improvement professional with more than 10 years of experience around the world. He has worked in project management and operations across multiple industries including mining, aeronautical and technology.
Job Titles:
- Asset Management Professional
- DIRECTOR ASSET MANAGEMENT
Mike McDowell is an asset management professional with over 30 years in the mining industry. He is a mechanical engineer with extensive operational experience in base and precious metals as well as potash. Mike has also held technical and customer support roles with a major mining equipment supplier.
Throughout his career, he has worked in a variety of remote and unique places. From the Papua New Guinea highlands to the Venezuelan jungle, he has found that sustained improvement in any cultural or geographic setting comes down to people. He firmly believes that empowering others to reach their goals, and exposing opportunities within their jobs to do so, creates an environment worth working in. He first seeks to understand values, beliefs and aspirations to build trust and then trains within that context to deliver improved results.
Mike holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia. His passion for helping people succeed is only matched by his love for family and fly fishing.
Job Titles:
- FLEET MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST
Mike has over 24 years of experience in the mining industry. He has performed as an Operations Dispatcher in the last eleven years, building his expertise across multiple dispatch systems including Minestar, Modular, and Wenco to help operations improve the efficiency of their mining fleet.
Mike has experience with staffed and autonomous truck fleets, achieving blend and feed requirements while safely increasing efficiency and load and haul fleet productivity.
Mike's field experience operating shovels, dozers, and trucks helps him understand the challenges of working in mine operations environments. This operational experience makes him an effective coach for dispatchers and production supervisors.
Mike has a passion for data analysis and continually searches for ways to improve his work. He uses a hands-on approach to training and has great enthusiasm to share his knowledge with others.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT
- Technology Specialist
- Consultant Fleet Management Systems
Pedro is a technology specialist with extensive experience in database management and big-data analytics with more than 15 years applying this knowledge in the mining industry.
During his career in mining, he has led cutting-edge projects, applying technology solutions in mining environments across all departments including mine operations, maintenance, technical services and processing plants
Pedro led development and implementation of the first Integrated Remote Operation Center in South America. This IROC, located 360km from the mine, integrated the entire mine production chain including mine operations, maintenance and ore processing.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT
- Senior Consultant Asset Management Specialist
Robert is a Maintenance and Project Management professional with over 20 years of experience in the mining industry. During his career, he has developed extensive SAP expertise; and has lead capital projects for the installation and commissioning of new assets; maintenance overhauls of processing equipment; as well as, development of operational and maintenance strategies to improve overall plant production rates.
He is a certified Reliability Centered Maintenance facilitator; Project Management Institute certified; and is a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional focused on delivering sustainable business improvements, and operational performance through effective asset management. Proficient with implementation and usage of many enterprise management systems, he has developed tools to address SAP master data gaps affecting business processes of work management, and budget forecasting, to enable more efficient utilization of maintenance resources.
Robert holds a B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick, and has worked across North America in senior level roles.
Ryan Thomson has a passion for driving ambitious projects and helping people achieve success. Since starting his mining career at the ground level as a haul truck operator, Ryan has worked in Australia and across Canada, mining for diamonds, coal, and copper. Ryan held previous roles of Superintendent of Engineering, and Superintendent of Health & Safety and is experienced in mine design, scheduling, operations, and optimization. Ryan believes in three pillars, critical for any mine to be successful:
The right tools
Proper governance
Coaching / training of people (arguably the most overlooked)
Ryan has a BASc from UBC in Geological Engineering with a Minor in Commerce. He recently completed a GDBA from SFU, and is a Professional Engineer with EGBC. He has previously worked for BHP, Taseko, Wood (previously Amec), Rio Tinto, and Teck Resources.
Job Titles:
- DIRECTOR INTEGRATED OPERATIONS
Saad is a mining professional with over 16 years of industry experience. Saad joins us from ArcelorMittal Mines Canada where he was the director of operations for the IROC team. He was involved in the IROC from concept to implementation and eventually in managing daily operations.
His background is in mining operations, business strategy, project development, and finance. He has worked on several capital growth, continuous improvement, innovation, and technology projects bringing sustainable value to the business.
"I believe in working together as a team and through integration we can achieve more with less."
Salar's approach to life is simple: what we do with our failures shapes our future. He believes we always have the choice to learn and grow. Salar advocates that we can achieve in life what we want to.
As a seasoned mining executive with over 14 years of experience, he uses a dynamic multidisciplinary approach to lead, serve and coach. He focuses on client-centric services and uses people-driven optimism, ultimately maximizing others' ability to lead. He thrives when leading innovation and improving operational efficiency and productivity, especially when it comes to improving business strategy and operational efficiency.
Salar's work can be found in operations across every continent, and one day he plans to extend his experience in mining and apply it to his passion for space exploration. When he isn't working, Salar loves to spend time with his family and enhancing the community he lives in.
Job Titles:
- CFO
- FINANCE
- Chartered Professional Accountant
Spence is an experienced Chartered Professional Accountant with a career serving companies across Canada and the United States for over 18 years. Spence has routinely serviced entities from startup through their growth phase, and further through to mergers and acquisitions, advising at every stage of business-from funding growth, to establishing corporate structure, to maximizing the use of research and development grants, tax credits and incentives. Spence began his accounting career with a midsize accounting firm, where he gained experience with U.S. and Canadian public company clients, a niche he continues to do a significant amount of work in.
Spence earned his BComm in 2001 from Ryerson University, his Canadian CPA, CA designation in 2003 and his United States of America CPA designation in 2004. In 2013, Spence received his Certificate of Educational Achievement for completing the IFRS Certificate Program issued from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
During his spare time, Spence is an avid golfer and home cook who enjoys keeping up with culinary trends.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT FLEET MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST
Adam is a Maintenance professional who has provided leadership and support in asset management within mineral processing industry in Northern Alberta, Canada.
During his 20-year career, he has worked with mature and new facilities, assisted in establishing front-line and support teams and facilitated system transitions.
Adam has led projects, turnarounds and commissioning & start-ups in mining, utilities and upgrading facilities.
Adam holds a Bachelors of Science in General Science from University of Calgary, and certificates in Project Management, Lean Manufacture and Asset Management.
Tyler has over 12 years of mine planning and engineering experience, working on projects at all stages of development. Tyler has worked in operations and development projects on 4 continents with a focus on adding value through improved project design, mine planning optimization and improved operational practices.
Prior to joining Outliers Mining Solutions, Tyler worked for several large gold producers in mine operations, as a member of project development teams, and in corporate roles.
Tyler has a BSc. in Mining Engineering from Queen's University and a Master of Engineering from the University of Toronto.