Our Team

Mark resides in the Bulkley Valley moving there from Allegiance’s corporate base in Sydney, Australia, in April 2018. Mark founded Telkwa Coal Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Allegiance) and secured the farm-in rights to the Telkwa metallurgical coal project in September 2014. Mark is a corporate lawyer with 30 years transactional experience gained as a lawyer with Herbert Smith in London, a partner with Bell Gully in New Zealand and as a director of the investment bank Barclays de Zoette Wedd, also in London. For the last 20 years Mark has been an advisor to and company executive of mining companies and operations including underground coal in Australia and open pit mining in Africa, as well as exploration and development projects in several minerals including coal.

Mr. Carson is currently the Executive Chairman of Dampier Gold Ltd (ASX:DAU), and has been an executive and non-executive director of many ASX and TSX companies. He is a 40 year veteran in exploration and mining across a variety of minerals, in multiple jurisdictions, with many organisations including BHP, Kumba Resources, Iscor, Sons of Gwalia, Bankers Trust, and Rothschilds. Mr. Carson also spent five years working for the Government of Western Australia as a Senior Project Officer responsible for managing mining and industrial projects.

Mr Cook has over 40 years of technical knowledge of underground coal mining and methods. For the first 20 years of his career he worked in various underground roles in coal mines primarily in West Virginia. He is highly regarded in both the US and Australia as an extremely capable underground coal mining engineer. Previous positions include Vice President of Operations at Mid-Vol Mining, Madison WV; General Superintendent at Mistic Energy Inc, Beckley WV; Mine Manager of five underground coal mines owned by Eastern Associated Coal Corporation in Wharton WV; founding shareholder and director of Bounty Industries Ltd providing contract mining at Ivanhoe Colliery, NSW, for Centennial Coal and at German Creek Colliery, Central QLD, for Anglo Coal.  Most recently, Mr Cook recommissioned the Donkin underground coal mine located in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Mr. Reynolds is a chartered accountant with more than 25 years experience across many sectors spent mostly in financial management roles. Most recently, he has been finance director of a resource investment house, managing investments across a range of commodities, including coal. Prior to that he held the position of chief financial officer with a number of listed entities and before that was a senior manager with an international firm of chartered accountants. He is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, a fellow of Financial Services Institute of Australia.

Responsible for community outreach in the Bulkley Valley and the person to call with questions or feedback on the project.

Rob has over 25 years of experience working in the natural resource industries. He started doing field work as a tree-planter and has continued to work in forest and mineral industry related positions his whole career. Rob is also an avid community volunteer who has contributed his time to many local organizations such as the Smithers Ski Club, Smithers Exploration Group, and the Bulkley Valley Community Resource Board. Rob grew up in Smithers. He and his wife have two daughters and continue to call Smithers home. 

Responsible for keeping the team organized and the first point of contact in our Telkwa office.

Jeannette is the office administrator for Telkwa Coal in Telkwa, BC. Jeannette has an accounting diploma from Coast Mountain College in Smithers, after completing the Business Technology Program. Her previous roles include working for the Village of Telkwa in an administrative capacity. Jeannette enjoys meeting with the public in the community that she loves. She has resided in Telkwa with her husband and three children since 2004. Jeannette joined the Telkwa Coal team in mid-2018. 

Responsible for planning how the project will be built and operated.

Dan is a mining engineer with over 23 years of experience in the coal industry in British Columbia and Alberta. He started his career with Luscar Coal in the 1990s when it was Canada’s largest coal producer, and with Teck Resources following its acquisition of Luscar. As Technical Services Manager for Hillsborough Resources, Dan was responsible for project development planning. Later, he was Operations Manager for Anglo American Metallurgical Coal, responsible for Peace River Coal’s mine operations and technical services. He joined Telkwa Coal in mid-2015.

Responsible for managing the technical work going into the environmental assessment and mine permit as well as community relations activities.

Angela has over 25 years of diverse experience in the mining sector which includes knowledge of commercial matters, an in-depth understanding of the regulatory regime and extensive advocacy experience with governments and indigenous nations. She was a Commercial Manager for Itochu’s Coal and Non-Ferrous Department before joining Northern Energy & Mining and later Anglo American Metallurgical Coal as Manager for Environment and Community Affairs. Angela is past Vice President, Environment for the BC Mining Association. She joined the team late 2016.

Responsible for the detailed mine design and planning for reclamation.

James is a mining engineer with over 11 years of experience in mine operations. He began his career at Gibraltar Copper Mine in 2008 and completed the majority of his EIT programme there. He moved to Australia in 2011, working for Rio Tinto at multiple coal mines in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales with responsibilities in mine planning and design, operations optimization and reclamation. He rose to Operations Specialist / Superintendent at Bengalla Mining Company. James returned to Canada in the fall of 2018 to join the Telkwa Coal team.

Responsible for keeping the community informed about what’s happening on the project.

Megan is a community engagement and socio-economic specialist with five years’ experience in British Columbia and the Yukon. She has conducted socio-economic analyses, participated in engagement with community and government, and created public-facing communication materials within the BC Environmental Assessment as well as the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment processes. Prior to joining the Telkwa Coal team in mid-2018, she worked at Hemmera as a Socio-Economic and Community Engagement Specialist.

Responsible for documenting regional land use.

Kirsten has over three years of experience within an environmental consulting as well as a laboratory setting. Her role ranges from research and coordination of environmental programs and logistics to community engagement. Her area of focus is land use and land act authorizations. Kirsten is responsible for writing the Land Use Baseline report for the Environmental Assessment. Her previous experiences include Golder Associates and Bureau Veritas, in administrative and junior project management roles. She joined the Telkwa Coal team in early 2019.

Responsible for geological modelling and resource estimation, geological mapping, exploration field program implementation and management, data management, validation and auditing, and regulatory reporting.

Ron is a Registered P.Geo with over 20 years of experience in exploration and mining. He has worked on 16 different coal projects in Canada, and one in Colombia. He has held positions including Chief Geologist, Principal Geologist, Senior Project Geologist and Senior Project Manager in Canadian consulting firms and mining companies. He joined Telkwa Coal in summer 2017.