MINING PEOPLE: Hatch, Alderon, Barrick, North American Palladium, and SNC-Lavalin

Dr. Chris Twigge-Molecey of Hatch is this year's recipient of the Airey Award, the most prestigious award in Canadian metallurgy, presented by the Metallurgy and Materials Society (MetSoc) of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM). The Airey Award is presented to industry leaders for outstanding individual contribution based on at least 15 years of input, including research and development, process development, technology or industrial leadership. Twigge-Molecey is being recognized for his diverse body of work for 43 years at Hatch, including roles as the managing director responsible for China, Latin America, and technologies, and today as senior advisor.

Alderon Iron Ore Corp. of Vancouver is making changes to its executive management team. Tayfun Eldem will transition from his current role as president and CEO to become vice-chairman. Mark Morabito will leave his duties as executive chairman to take up the duties of non-executive chairman and CEO.

Toronto's Barrick Gold Corp. is shuffling the executive suite with the announcement that Kelvin Dushnisky will become president. Jim Gowens, who previous shared the presidential duties, is now a senior advisor to the chairman and will retire from the company on Dec. 31, 2015. Richard Williams is now COO, and Basie Maree takes up the reins as chief technical officer.

Following the recent restructuring, North American Palladium of Toronto has appointed Jim Gallagher as president and CEO and Christine Napierala as interim VP finance and CFO. Former president and CEO Phil du Toit and former CFO David Langille have tendered their resignations.

SNC-Lavalin of Toronto has a new team of leaders for its mining and metallurgy business sector. Jose J. Suarez has been named president of mining and metallurgy. Patric Mercille is now senior VP and GM of the Montreal Project Delivery Centre. Cameron Harris is Senior VP and GM of the Toronto Project Delivery Centre. Nathalie Viens is VP of sustaining capital and consulting as lead for the management consulting (operations) practice and sustaining capital projects. Joaquin Cano is senior VP of Latin America and GM of the Chile Project Delivery Centre. Etienne Cabanes is senior VP and regional manager with responsibility for operations in Belgium and the United Arab Emirates.