Meet Our Team

Ian was born in Zimbabwe where is father worked as an economic geologist for the Rhodesian Geological Survey. For half the year, the family lived in a 16-foot caravan and tent in the southern African bush, in whatever area his father was charged with mapping for that field season. Ian attended boarding school in the UK from age 11 to 18 and despite being around rocks and maps from a very early age his career ambition during that time had always been focussed on aviation, flying Harriers for the Royal Air Force or Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. He wanted to leave school early to learn how to fly but his father urged him to finish his schooling. Ian paid his father back for making him stay in school by going on to study geology at the University of New Brunswick and eventually a 25-year career in the mineral exploration industry, including founding Northern Shield in 1999.

From 1995 to 2000, Ian was an independent consultant responsible for exploration projects for Nuna-Minerals A/S, in Nuuk, Greenland and, in 2000, for Crew Development in Norway. In Greenland, he worked in some of the most remote and rugged terrain using a model driven approach to efficiently explore large tracts of land despite short explorations seasons. His combined career interest of both aviation and exploration combined one year in Greenland where he found a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber belonging to the USAF that made a “wheels-up” landing on the Greenland icecap after running out of fuel in bad weather in 1944 on a delivery flight to the European front.

Ian implemented a similar model-driven approach at Northern Shield to generate nickel projects that subsequently resulted in partnerships and investments with major mining companies including Impala, South 32, Teck and Hudbay. It was under his guidance that Northern Shield became known around the world as a leader in grass roots exploration for Nickel, Copper and the Platinum Group Elements. It was his understanding of geological models that led to Northern Shield acquiring a unique epithermal gold project here in the Burin Peninsula they call Root & Cellar.

It was Ian’s penchant for the outdoors and adventure that help steer him toward a career in exploration. He is an avid explorer and mountaineer having learnt to rock climb in north Wales and Western Scotland and later spent two months ski-mountaineering and towing a “pulk” in Svalbard. His mountaineering apex was to participate in an over winter climbing expedition in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska.

Ian is a “boots-on-the-ground” type of CEO.