Mineral Exploration

Photographs : Cour te sy of Patrick Mc Andle ss , Erin Bros F A L L 2 0 1 5 27 "I am extremely stubborn and per- sistent," she says. "I am absolutely deter- mined to be a field mapping geologist." A week after surgery, she crutched her way through the Rock Talk conference in Smithers. It's that determination and focus that caught Pat McAndless's attention. The veteran geologist voluntarily runs a marketing training program for young geologists and students. Bros is one of hundreds who have benefitted from McAndless's efforts, designed to teach geologists the one thing universities don't – how to actually get a job. "Geology students learn a lot about rocks, but they don't learn what they need to excel in industry," says McAndless. "Marketing one's skills is what is miss- ing in our education. I'm trying to fill in the blanks with career development and [provide] students with a set of practical tools to help them transition from aca- demia to a working career." Bros is one of McAndless's star pupils, showing the four "value indicators" that he believes lead to a successful career: passion, a strong work ethic, continu- ous improvement and persistence. But as Bros has discovered, in today's industry, marketing skills and a solid mentor go a long way, too. Bros, now 25, grew up in Ontario. Her parents were both foresters who ran their own business. "I have been very lucky to grow up watching my parents combine their passion with their careers," she says. Always active, Bros competed in figure skating and track. Right after high school, she went to Dalhousie to study earth sciences. At first, her summer tree-planting gig excited her more than rocks. She didn't think much about a career path and always passed over summer fieldwork in favour of planting. All that changed when, in her final year, she served as president of the geology council and a professor arranged for McAndless to give a talk. McAndless spent most of his 44-year career exploring for base and precious metals. "I love to find stuff," he says. And he did, working with junior and senior companies on large-scale exploration projects. As vice-president of explora- tion at Imperial Metals, he helped dis- cover the copper-gold Northeast zone in British Columbia and the gold 144 zone in Nevada. It was at Imperial that he noticed the gap between school and landing a job. "I received hundreds of resumés per year, and they all [seemed] to look the same," he says. At the same time, he had begun mentoring future geologists. "I have always been driven by service to others," he says. "My concern is the sus- tainability of geoscience and the mining industry. What better way to address that than to help the next generation?" Camp life makes geology different from a lot of industries. Everyone lives "A field geologist with a broken leg is a bit of a conundrum," admits Erin Bros. She broke her leg skiing, right in the middle of job hunting for the summer. The recent Dalhousie University geosciences graduate was on the hunt for field mapping work, a niche that's hard for non-students to find work in. Add a downturn and that's three strikes. Yet, Bros never sat down. >> PROFILE Erin Bros and Patrick McAndless SECRETS FOR SUCCESS By Ryan StuaRt

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