The Ideon Council of Subsurface Experts (ICSE) brings together seasoned experts from across the mining value chain to help Ideon address the industry’s most pressing subsurface challenges. With career experience in geology spanning over 35 years, Albert Chong brings deep expertise in exploration geology, mining operations, mineral resource evaluation, and mining finance.
In this installment of our series spotlighting ICSE members, Albert shares insights on emerging technologies and improving orebody knowledge, how industry attitudes are evolving, and the core principles that have shaped his career.
This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Across your experiences in exploration, operations, and mining finance, what career highlights have been most meaningful to you?
There are a number of highlights that have shaped my career. The main ones involve being part of small, passionate teams focussed on discovering and creating new wealth, while using my geological skills every step of the way. It is the energy, sense of purpose, and collaboration of small, passionate teams that can often lead to something of relevance and ultimately career highlights. This is much like what I have observed at Ideon.
Being part of the Noranda Exploration team that discovered the Eagle River deposit near Wawa, Ontario during my early career was definitely exciting. Very few geologists ever get to contribute directly to a discovery that becomes an operating mine, let alone one that remains in production more than 30 years later.
While at Canadian mining operations, contributing to teams that successfully designed and executed mine plans was also very gratifying. This was accomplished through sound ore body knowledge, management of mineral resources, and leading mine geology teams. At Wheaton Precious Metals, financing partners with quality projects and operations directly helped the growth of Wheaton and, indirectly, the growth of our industry.
One final highlight: Once trust is earned, I have found that people in the mining industry typically embrace people from all walks of life. For the most part, we are allowed to pursue meaningful opportunities to contribute, learn and grow – often in unique locations and communities throughout the world. Anyone can have an impact and carve out their place. A person does not have to be from a family steeped in mining history.
As an ICSE member, how do you see your role helping to guide the mining industry towards greater technological innovation in the years ahead?
Exploration and mining are high-risk, capital-intensive ventures. Part of my role as an ICSE member is to help Ideon identify and create value-added solutions that truly support the industry, while being consistent with industry best practices and regulatory frameworks. Innovation should reduce risk faster, improve economics, or enhance decision-making.
At the end of the day, everything must be grounded in the rocks. Our industry is tactile. Any technology derived results must reasonably characterize the rocks and ultimately be verified with physical samples or test work where practical – whether its muon tomography density contrast data, resource modelling, or AI-machine learning applications.
I am extremely pleased to see that this philosophy has been embedded into the Ideon culture since its inception. I feel fortunate and privileged to be part of ICSE as Ideon strives to help shape the future of our industry through positive change. The recent partnership with Fireweed Metals at the Macpass District, and other partnerships throughout the world, are prime examples where combining muon tomography with other datasets can improve confidence in interpretation, reduce risk, and guide decision-making.
Looking back at your early career, what lessons still influence your decision-making today?
The lessons began with my parents, mentors, and colleagues. They taught me the importance of integrity, respect for others, quality workmanship, adaptability, perseverance, and avoiding shortcuts.
Every project is different. Even though the work processes have similarities, the geology and mineral deposits are unique. You consider your entire knowledge base and the opinions of others on your team to make thoughtful, informed decisions. Continuous learning is important, but experiences and learnings from early days are part of your foundation.
An example of this is from one of my first industry jobs, where I was responsible for staking claims and filing assessment reports. More than 25 years later, while working on my first mining finance deal, part of the due diligence was to review the counter-party’s claims status. Something that seemed rudimentary early in my career became a part of my workflow decades later. It reinforced the perspective that all of our lessons and experiences have value.
Having witnessed major shifts in exploration and mining finance over three decades, what key changes stand out in how the industry evaluates and funds projects today?
Some of the most significant shifts are not necessarily new, but have an increased awareness through efforts of groups working towards de-risking a project more efficiently. Particularly, the areas of reducing subsurface uncertainty through improved orebody knowledge and teamwork between the various technical, financial and legal disciplines.
Timeliness in de-risking a project has become a powerful lever in securing financial support. For many mineral deposit types, subsurface interpretation remains a major source of uncertainty. If at time of financing, a team can demonstrate a reasonable, enhanced understanding of the geological setting, knowledge of the orebody, and the project risks or opportunities, it greatly improves the confidence and decision making for a project.
No matter how advanced the technology becomes, mining finance decisions on the technical front should ultimately come down to rigorous due diligence and endorsing the project as if it were your own. The exploration and resource models must reasonably reflect the rocks and contained metal of the asset. This aspect has not changed.
What core principles have guided your decision-making and career growth over the years?
Following my principles has typically guided me in a direction that was right for me. Integrity, passion, teamwork, strong work ethic, adaptability, and a commitment to letting the rocks and data speak for themselves have consistently served me well.
From a career growth perspective, I would typically commit fully to each of my roles. Pursuing each role to its natural conclusion allowed new possibilities to emerge. If an opportunity looked like potentially meaningful work as a next step, I would focus on developing the skills, experience, and credibility needed to pursue that role.
Relying on your core principles, belief in your skills, forming opinions based upon sound geological reasoning, and remaining open to where the work leads –these are the basic guidelines that have shaped every stage of my career.
