Keynote Speakers

We were pleased to welcome the following expert(s) as keynote speakers at the Heap Leach Solutions 2022 Conference.

Ken Brunk

Technical Advisor – Calibre Gold Mining Co.

Ken Brunk’s professional career includes plus 50 years in the areas of project management and technical development as well as all levels of mining company management from shift boss to CEO. He has held executive and management positions in companies ranging from sole proprietorships to large multi-national corporations.  

An active member in many professional organizations, Ken has also authored several technical articles and received many awards for technical and social contributions throughout his career.

Ken is a graduate of Michigan Technological University and currently serves as Technical Advisor to Calibre Gold Mining Co. Ken and his wife Sue have three very accomplished children and five grandchildren.

Calibre Gold’s Pan Mine – A success story of vision, determination, with no end in sight

In his Keynote at Heap Leach Solutions 2022, Ken will discuss the Pan mine development; what went right, what went wrong, and how a team of people who had a common vision created a success story that is still unfolding today.  Ken will examine the role of technology and the development and application of well planned and executed site -specific operating practices.  

The Keynote will describe the successful integration of the Team and operations into a new owner, Calibre Mining Corp and provide some “lessons learned” that can apply to all projects in the development pipeline today.


JOHN O. MARSDEN, P.E.

President, Metallurgium

John Marsden has over forty years of broad international experience in the development and management of major, innovative copper, gold, silver, molybdenum & cobalt operations and projects in the USA, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and the Congo (DRC).  

Marsden is currently president of Metallurgium, established in 2009 to provide consulting services to the mining industry worldwide. Prior to that John held various operations and technical management positions with Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. and Consolidated Gold Fields. 

He has published more than forty technical papers, holds fifteen U.S. patents and is the author of “The Chemistry of Gold Extraction”, now in its second edition. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, John is also a distinguished member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME), a fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and a registered Professional Engineer (Nevada). John Marsden is the recipient of the AIME Robert H. Richards Award, and the Milton E. Wadsworth Award and two Arthur F. Taggart Awards from SME.

Managing Expectations – Jack and Diane: Part Two

Some of you may remember the story of Jack and Diane1 from the Heap Leach Solutions 2013 conference in Vancouver.  After a brief recap, we take up the story again, but now nine years later, when the paths of Diane and Jack cross once again at a large heap leaching operation.  How will they manage through the crisis that awaits and will the outcome be the same as before?

1 The names are purely fictional and any similarities to real persons are entirely coincidental and unintended.


Eric Schwamberger

Vice President at International Cyanide Management Institute

Eric Schwamberger is Senior Vice President of the International Cyanide Management Institute.  Immediately prior to joining the ICMI team in 2013, he was Manager, Environmental Affairs for Kinross Gold Corporation. He brings twenty years of success in managing Environmental, Health & Safety programs at mining and other industrial facilities throughout the world, including the United States, Canada, Africa, South America and the South Pacific. He has led corporate and facility programs, including ISO 14001 systems.  Earlier in his career, Dr. Schwamberger worked on the environment team at BHP Billiton.  A graduate of Purdue University, Dr. Schwamberger holds a Master of Science in Soil Science and Ph.D. in soil chemistry from the University of Kentucky.