Samantha Espley will lead the board for the 2020-2021 year.

Samantha Espley has been named the incoming president of the Presidents Council for the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) for the 2020-2021 year.

Espley is the director of Vale’s Technical Excellence Centre of Mining and Mineral Processing in Sudbury.

“I feel honoured to be asked to lead CIM. It’s an amazing feeling,” Espley said in an April 25 news release. “A big question now is how the Canadian mining industry can stay competitive in the global industry. I think CIM can play a major role in that, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Espley, who has more than 25 years in the industry, is a board member of MIRARCO and the Canada Mining Innovation Council and a past member of the executive board of Engineers Canada, Science North, and the Sudbury branches of Women in Science and Engineering and Professional Engineers Ontario.

She is the Vale industry representative with the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation and the Ultra Deep Mining Network with a strong focus on research and development projects to enable safe deep mining. Espley also gives back to her alma mater by acting as chair of the Bharti School of Engineering at Laurentian University.

Espley has been a member of CIM since she was an engineering student at the University of Toronto in the 1990s. She has been a dedicated branch member in Toronto and Sudbury, serving on the Sudbury branch executive for several years as well as a board member of CIM’s Global Mining Standards and Guidelines group.

Roy Slack, president at Cementation in North Bay, was earlier named president for the 2019-2020 term.

“We are delighted that Samantha will be joining the Presidents Council along with Roy Slack, incoming president 2019-2020,” said Janice Zinck, CIM president for 2018-2019, in a news release.

“She brings strong operational and CIM experience, as well as demonstrated leadership in key areas of interest to CIM and its members, namely safety, diversity, productivity and R&D.”

Founded in 1898, the CIM is a not-for-profit technical society of professionals in the Canadian minerals, metals, materials and energy industries.

Its goals include creating, curating and delivering relevant, leading-edge knowledge; fostering a robust, connected and engaged CIM community; and expanding awareness of the essential contribution mining makes to society.

It currently has more than 11,000 members convened from industry, academia and government.