New president of Geoscience BC brings years of experience to the table

Robin Archdekin, new president and CEO of Geoscience BC, has worked his way up from the field to the board room.

Robin Archdekin has gained valuable experience, from working in the field to working in major corporations and board rooms. — Photo courtesy Geoscience BC

Robin Archdekin has had a long and varied career. The new president and CEO of Geoscience BC has worked in many different sectors across western Canada and has gained valuable experience, from working in the field to working for major corporations in boardrooms.

Archdekin's interest in the resource sector started out early on.

"I realized early on in my career that I had a passion and an interest in the resource sector," said Archdekin. "My family has a long history working in this area. Both my grandfathers worked in the resource sector, with one of them actually having worked at the Kitimat mine years ago. My father also worked in the resource sector and my brother is still currently working in this field."

Throughout his career, Archdekin has been actively involved in working with government, First Nations and communities throughout western Canada.

"The reality of working in Canada, and certainly in B.C., is you have to build relationships and trust through genuine collaboration and open communication," he said. "It may not have been that way with the generation before us, but we are obliged to make sure we build those relationships. It's important for us to remember that we're extracting resources owned by the people of B.C."

Building relationships

In B.C., 94 per cent of land is publicly owned. Knowing this, Archdekin said, the resource sector must be proactive and work with government, First Nations and others to ensure that whatever laws and policies are in place will connect with their interests and support a vibrant economy.

"Throughout my career, I have found working closely with First Nations and encouraging their input early on in any kind of planning or project design and to share risks and benefits leads to success," said Archdekin. "Without that, you're setting yourself up for potential issues and challenges. Having First Nations support and active participation in planning and development is crucial. This outreach and engagement contributes to the certainty of projects and provides business, investor and regulator confidence."

Archdekin has worked as a forester for various companies, including Canadian Forest Products (Canfor), where he moved up in the company to work at a corporate level in the Vancouver head office. He then worked as a consultant for many years before joining Lafarge. At Lafarge he did much of the same work, with a focus on working with government and industry.  He not only developed planning processes surrounding development, but also conducted audits to make sure things were getting done as required.

What does success mean?

When asked about the greatest accomplishment of his career, Archdekin said it was not only the ability to achieve a wide range of experience and success working in many different levels of an organization, but also working in a variety of different sectors.

"I've had jobs outdoors where I worked in all weather conditions day after day... you know that expression, 'I've had rain in my lunchbox', well I've had that and snow and a few other things in there as well," he said. "I believe that having that field experience keeps me grounded with decisions and leadership I provide when I'm in the office.

"Working in many resource sectors across different jurisdictions has provided me with a unique perspective on what success looks like and how you get there. One of the things I like to remember is a saying by my former boss and mentor, Tom Wright, who worked at a senior level with Canfor: 'You can only make good decisions in the boardroom with mud on your boots.' I have carried that with me throughout my career."

The next chapter

On October 1, 2013, Archdekin officially started in his new role as president and CEO of Geoscience BC.

"I very much look forward to the challenges and many opportunities to build on Geoscience BC's success” said Archdekin

Geoscience BC is an industry-led, industry-focused applied geoscience organization. Its mandate is to encourage mineral and oil and gas exploration interest and investment in British Columbia through the collection, interpretation and distribution of publically available applied geoscience information.

Geoscience BC operates as a not-for-profit society and since its inception in April 2005 has received $49.7 million in funding from the provincial government. Geoscience BC prides itself on in its entrepreneurial spirit, low overhead costs and the organization’s ability to turn a dollar in funding into $1.50 spent on the ground.

Archdekin highlighted Geoscience BC’s latest regional minerals initiative, called the TREK Project (Targeting Resources for Exploration and Knowledge),  which began this summer. It is focused on over 25,000 square kilometres of B.C.'s northern interior plateau region, an area which is considered highly prospective for mineral resources yet remains underexplored for these resources due to complicated and poorly understood bedrock geology and overburden.

Geoscience BC's latest projects

TREK will include new airborne geophysics; new stream, lake, soil and till geochemical sampling; biogeochemical sampling; till reanalysis; and new geological mapping and mineral deposit studies. Project partners include the BC Geological Survey (Ministry of Energy and Mines), the Mineral Deposits Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, PK Geophysics Inc. and Noble Exploration Services Ltd. The results of the large airborne magnetic survey will be released in early 2014.

Geoscience BC is also working on the Northeast BC Regional Seismic Network Project in partnership with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the BC Oil & Gas Commission and Natural Resources Canada. It’s a five-year, $1 million program to study the effects of hydraulic fracturing on seismicity in northeast B.C.

Archdekin is excited about his new role with Geoscience BC and hopes to build on the successes the organization has demonstrated over the last eight years.

"I want to continue to pursue and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit this organization has," said Archdekin. "I also want to protect Geoscience BC's reputation as an honest broker, as we are able to provide reliable, independent and important data and research. We will also continue to work closely with the B.C. government to identify key mineral, oil and gas and LNG projects and research."