Neil Westoll, P.Geo.
Secretary/Treasurer and Director, APGO Education Foundation

Neil received his B.Sc. (Hons) and Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and came to Queen’s University on a NERC/NATO Post-Doctoral Fellowship in 1968.  He is widely experienced in metal exploration and business development internationally, having spent over 30 years with senior and junior Canadian and international mining companies in exploration and business development and as an independent consultant to the mining industry.

Since 2001, Dr. Westoll has focussed on the environmental side of the mining business.  He successfully managed a website-based compilation of environmental best practices in exploration (e3, now e3 Plus) for the PDAC.  Neil joined Gartner Lee Limited (now AECOM) as Mining Practice Leader - Eastern Canada in September 2003, and retired from the company at the end of June, 2009. Since then he has provided strategic and management advice to assist junior and mid-sized organizations in navigating the approvals/permitting process for new mines, particularly in emphasizing early consultation and dialogue with potentially affected communities.

Neil chaired the Advisory Committee of the AGO, helping to set strategy and fundraise for what would become the PGO.  He was appointed to the Council of the PGO, and served from its inception up to June 2006, and was Treasurer of the PGO until then. Through his Board Membership in the APGO Education Foundation, he looks forward to helping post-secondary students and graduates from abroad realise their ambitions of practising geoscience in Canada, and in promoting a greater understanding of geoscience in the general public.