TNM names 2024 award winners: Jack and Adam Lundin, Amparo Cornejo, and Ross Beaty

Adam and Jack Lundin at Lundin Mining’s Chapada mine in Brazil. (Supplied)

The Northern Miner has named Jack and Adam Lundin as its Persons of the Year for 2024. Amparo Cornejo, chief sustainability officer of Teck Resources, has been chosen as the winner of a new award co-presented with EY, Operator of the Year. And Ross Beaty has been named as the recipient of TNM’s Lifetime Achievement award. 

Persons of the Year

Jack and Adam Lundin, president and CEO, and chair of Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN), respectively, are being recognized for bringing together a copper transaction that’s likely to propel the company into the big leagues.

The deal, a joint venture with BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP), gives the company an equal seat at the table to develop two large copper-gold silver projects on the Argentina side of the Vicuna district in the Andes, including Filo Corp.‘s (TSX: FIL) prized Filo del Sol project. It also brings the financial heft of the world’s biggest miner at a time when the world’s not investing enough in future copper supply.

Operator of the Year

Amparo Cornejo is the recipient of the first Operator of the Year award, jointly presented by EY Canada, for her part in upholding the highest sustainability standards during the development of Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A/TECK.B; NYSE: TECK) Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) project in Chile.

“EY Canada is honoured to co-present the inaugural Operator of the Year award. This year, the award goes to Amparo Cornejo, chief sustainability officer at Teck Resources, whose exceptional leadership and dedication to sustainability have set a new standard in the industry,” said Theo Yameogo, EY Americas Metals & Mining leader. 

“Amparo’s pivotal role in the development of QB2 exemplifies her commitment to sustainable mining practices. Her efforts in overseeing the construction of critical infrastructure, including a desalination plant and water pipelines, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and her proactive engagement with Indigenous communities, have been nothing short of remarkable. We are proud to recognize Amparo’s contributions and celebrate her well-deserved achievement.”

Lifetime Achievement

Finally, Ross Beaty joins a handful of industry leaders that have been recognized with TNM’s Lifetime Achievement award. (Past recipients include legends of the sector Peter Munk, Robert Friedland and Norman B. Keevil.) Beaty, also a winner of TNM’s Mining Person of the Year award in 2011, has an enviable, decades-long track record of success in discovering new deposits, building companies like Pan American Silver (TSX: PAAS; NYSE: PAAS) and in M&A.

The awards will be presented at TNM’s International Mining Symposium in London, Dec. 1-2, 2024. 

Read more about each winner in the November 2024 digital edition of The Northern Miner. Profiles of all three winners will be posted online next week.