Lauren joined Kinross in the metallurgy department after graduating from university in 2021 and was quickly recognized by her peers for her passion for learning, and ability to translate her learnings into innovative, continuous improvement initiatives.
Although Lauren is a geological engineer by education, she became interested in the metallurgy side of mining, specifically drawn to learning more about our heap leach pads. With the pads producing almost 70% of total ounces at the mine, Lauren became passionate about understanding how they work, and where efficiencies could be implemented.
In 2022, Lauren applied for the Innovation Opportunity Fund and successfully spearheaded a geophysical survey of the pads to better understand how solution flows in order to improve leach outcomes. She gathered data through the survey and a well sampling program, analyzed the results, and put together a well program to improve leach outcomes. As a result of her findings, several new ideas have been implemented with the potential to result in a combined return of 2.4x the invested amount.
In addition to Lauren’s contributions in the field, she is a face of Kinross in the community where she works closely with the CSR and community relations teams to promote mining within the state of Nevada. Lauren enjoys working with students, teaching them about the mining industry and Kinross’ efforts to be a responsible miner. She will often travel across the state participating in speaking engagements and career fairs in hopes of inspiring the next generation of miners.
“Lauren stands out for her dedication to doing great work, and never being afraid to dive into high level projects,” said Liz Hughes, Technical Service Manager, Round Mountain. “Not only is she extremely intelligent and well educated, but she has a way of speaking to people that makes them feel comfortable enough to bring her ideas where she can hit the ground running to try and implement them to make our operations more efficient. Lauren is very deserving of this award and I hope that we can continue to support her as she grows here at Kinross.”
