Top 10: Mining Leaders Under 40

Mining has traditionally rewarded decades of experience over youth, with most major operators run by executives who spent 20 or 30 years working their way up. 

That is starting to shift, particularly among juniors and mid-tier companies, where a younger generation is taking on CEO, chair and senior executive roles earlier than the industry's norm.

Several are second or third-generation mining families, while others built their own companies from scratch, or moved into senior roles at majors while still under 40.

Here, we rank ten of the mining industry's leading executives, all under the age of 40.

10. Ashley Kirwan

Role: President, CEO and Principal Geologist
Company: Orix Geoscience
Headquarters: Toronto, Canada

Ashley Kirwan co-founded Orix Geoscience in 2012 and has led the company as President and CEO since 2018, building it into a team of more than 60 geoscientists.

Orix works across exploration strategy, GIS compilation, 3D modelling and data analytics for more than 200 clients spanning junior, mid-tier and major mining companies. This includes recent work supporting BHP's Xplor exploration programme.

Ashley won the Young Mining Professionals' Eira Thomas Award in 2020, and has since been named one of the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining and a Top 40 Under 40 winner for the City of Greater Sudbury.

She also sits on the boards of Transition Metals and EGR Exploration, and holds the ICD.D corporate governance designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

9. Ella Cullen

Role: Co-Founder and CMO
Company: Minespider
Headquarters: Lisbon, Portugal

Ella Cullen co-founded Minespider alongside CEO Nathan Williams, building a blockchain and AI platform for digital product and battery passports across global supply chains.

Minespider's clients include Google, Cisco, Ford, Renault and Minsur, which is the world's second-largest tin producer. The company also works on EU-funded circular economy projects tied to the EU’s Battery Regulation legislation.

Ella won the EIT Women Leadership category at the 2026 European Prize for Women Innovators, alongside earlier recognition including the Web3 Award for Women in Tech and Young Female Miner of the Year.

Minespider has been supported by EIT RawMaterials for nearly eight years, including an initial €180,000 grant through its Booster programme to develop the company's compliance tools.

8. Vicky Liu

Role: Practice Lead, Corporate Development and M&A
Company: BHP
Headquarters: London, UK

Vicky Liu joined BHP's Corporate Development and M&A team in her current role in 2025.

She contributed to BHP's acquisition of Filo Corp alongside Lundin Mining, which completed in 2025 to form the Vicuña joint venture, a 50/50 partnership developing the Filo del Sol and Josemaria copper projects in Argentina.

BHP has described Vicuña as having the potential to become a world-class copper district, positioning the company for rising copper demand driven by population growth, decarbonisation and AI infrastructure.

Vicky won the Young Mining Professionals' Eira Thomas Award in 2026, alongside Frederick Bell's Peter Munk Award.

7. Ana Gabriela Juárez

Role: President
Company: CTA Environmental Consultants
Headquarters: Guatemala

Ana Gabriela Juárez has spent more than 20 years in environmental consulting for the mining sector, leading CTA Environmental Consultants across Central America.

She founded Women in Mining Central America and sits on the board of the Development Partner Institute. Ana has also written the Ana's Adventures at the Mine children's book series and founded the Kids Mineralogist Club, both aimed at introducing young girls to STEM and mining careers.

She has been named one of the 100 Most Inspirational Women in Mining globally, one of the 10 Most Influential Hispanic Canadians, and won the Rising Star Award at Mines and Money.

Ana won the Young Mining Professionals' Eira Thomas Award in 2025, recognised for her advocacy work on gender diversity across the mining sector.

6. Frederick Bell

Role: President and COO
Company: Elemental Royalty
Headquarters: London, UK

Frederick Bell co-founded Elemental Royalties as a private company in 2016, serving as CEO until November 2025, when he moved into the President and COO role.

The company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2020, merged with Altus Strategies in 2022, and completed a further merger with EMX Royalty this year, listing on the Nasdaq under the ticker ELE. Elemental Royalty now holds 16 producing assets and more than 200 royalties.

Frederick has described the company's growth from a US$1m start-up to a US$1bn business as the achievement he is most proud of, crediting the team built along the way.

He won the Young Mining Professionals' Peter Munk Award in 2026, and previously received the Young Rising Star Award at Mines & Money in 2018.

5. Alex Dorsch

Role: Managing Director and CEO
Company: Chalice Mining
Headquarters: Perth, Australia

Alex Dorsch has led Chalice Mining through the discovery and development of Gonneville, a palladium-nickel-copper-cobalt project in Western Australia. The company has invested A$250m in the project to date, targeting a Final Investment Decision in the first half of 2028.

Gonneville has secured Western Australian Strategic Project and Commonwealth Major Project status, and sits on Chalice-owned farmland with no Native Title claims outstanding. Chalice expects the project to create 500 local jobs with no fly-in fly-out workforce.

Alex worked as an engineer at BHP and in oil and gas exploration before a stint as a specialist consultant at McKinsey. 

He was named Emerging Leader of the Year by MiningNews and CEO of the Year by Kitco in 2020, and won the Young Mining Professionals' Peter Munk Award in 2022.

4. Scott Berdahl 

Role: Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Company: Snowline Gold
Headquarters: Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Scott Berdahl co-founded Snowline Gold and has led the discovery of its Valley target at the Rogue Project in the Yukon, one of the most significant gold finds of recent years in Canada.

The company has now drilled more than 71,000m at Valley, with 9,136 recorded instances of visible gold. Two successive Mineral Resource Estimates and a Preliminary Economic Assessment have outlined a high-grade, near-surface gold deposit with what Snowline describes as efficient, long-life, low-cost production potential.

One 2023 drill hole at Valley returned 553.8m of 2.5 grams per tonne gold from surface, including 132m at 5.0 grams per tonne, which are among the best results ever recorded for a Yukon gold discovery.

Scott won the Young Mining Professionals' Peter Munk Award in 2024, and was named Kitco Mining's CEO of the Year in the non-producer category the same year.

3. Vincent Metcalfe

Role: Executive Chairman
Company: Comet Lithium
Headquarters: Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada

Vincent Metcalfe co-founded Nomad Royalty in 2020, serving as CEO and Chair until Sandstorm Gold acquired the company in an all-stock deal reported at between US$740–755m in 2022.

He joined Comet Lithium as Executive Chairman in October 2023, and was appointed President and CEO on 1 January 2024. Comet's flagship Liberty property sits in Quebec's James Bay lithium district, which is adjacent to Winsome Resources' Adina deposit.

Vincent also co-founded Nomad Resource Partners alongside Joseph de la Plante and Vincent Cardin-Tremblay, backing ventures including Pecoy Copper, a Peru-focused copper explorer, and Evolve Royalties, a copper-focused royalty company that listed on the CSE in December 2025.

He won the Young Mining Professionals' Peter Munk Award in 2023, recognising his work building and selling Nomad Royalty.

2. Adam Lundin

Role: Chair, Lundin Mining; President, CEO and Chair, LunR Royalties
Company: Lundin Mining
Headquarters: Vancouver, Canada

Adam Lundin chairs the board of Lundin Mining, the TSX-listed copper and zinc producer led by his brother Jack as President and CEO. He also serves as President, CEO and Chair of LunR Royalties Corp, and chairs Fireweed Metals.

He previously led Filo Corp as President and CEO, advancing the Filo del Sol copper-gold-silver deposit in Argentina and Chile. In 2025, Lundin Mining and BHP jointly acquired Filo Corp, forming the 50/50 Vicuña joint venture to develop Filo del Sol alongside the neighbouring Josemaria project.

Adam earlier served as President and CEO of Josemaria Resources, and has held senior roles across multiple Lundin Group companies spanning oil and gas, mining and finance.

1. Jack Lundin

Role: President and Chief Executive Officer
Company: Lundin Mining
Headquarters: Vancouver, Canada

Jack Lundin has run Lundin Mining since December 2023, joining as President in 2022. In that time he has led the company through its most significant deal to date.

In 2025, Lundin Mining and BHP jointly acquired Filo Corp for around US$4.8bn, forming the 50/50 Vicuña joint venture to develop the Filo del Sol and Josemaria copper-gold-silver projects in Argentina and Chile. The Northern Miner named Jack and his brother Adam its Persons of the Year in 2024 for negotiating the transaction.

Before joining Lundin Mining, Jack was President and CEO of Bluestone Resources, and worked as project superintendent on Lundin Gold's Fruta del Norte gold mine development in Ecuador.

Jack and Adam jointly won the Young Mining Professionals' Peter Munk Award in 2025, alongside Ana Gabriela Juárez's Eira Thomas Award.