Recipient of the 2010 AMEBC
Hedley Award for Excellence in
Social and Environmental
Responsibility
Ian Thomson, Ph.D
Ian Thomson has more than 30 years of experience in the resource industries, working for the last fifteen years to advance the management of socially sustainable development. Ian is a strategic thinker whose expertise includes stakeholder engagement, social performance guidance and assessment, application of international standards, corporate and operational team training, policy and social context reviews, and guiding multi-stakeholder processes. His early-career years of working on the technical side of natural resource development enable him to ground his assessment of social issues in an understanding of the business and engineering aspects of the industry.
A full understanding of basic principles coupled with extensive first-hand knowledge of operational realities has given Ian a perspective that is sought-after to provide forward-looking guidance as well as provoke better industry practice. Ian is comfortable sharing his knowledge as a frequent speaker at industry conferences world-wide, publishing in both peer-reviewed and industry journals, leading workshops and teaching at universities in Canada and Peru.
Ian has led development of standards and guidelines for the management of social issues during mineral exploration and mine development programs. He authored the first version of Community Engagement for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s e3 on-line manual of good practice, facilitated construction of the Principles and Guidance for Responsible Exploration for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada, and co-developed the innovative tool SociaLicenseTM – quantitative metrics for the Social License to Operate.
Prior to establishing SCI-Shinglespit Consultants Inc., Ian was a founding partner in On Common Ground Consultants Inc., and held executive and technical positions with Orvana Mineral Corp, Placer Development, the Ontario Geological Survey, and Barringer Research.
Ian holds a Ph.D. from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London, England. He is a native English speaker and fluent in Spanish.
