Felipe Rodriguez

K-12 outreach topics

Where gold, copper, and silver come from, how we find ore deposits, uses of these commodities in every day life, how geologists contribute to society

I hold a B.Sc. in Geology from Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia, and a master’s degree in Economic Geology from Queen’s University in Kingston, ON, Canada.  I worked as an Exploration Geologist for senior and junior mining companies mainly in Colombia, but also in Nicaragua, Mexico, the United States, and Canada. In my professional experience I had the opportunity to be part of the teams that discovered the Gramalote and La Colosa gold deposits in Colombia. In most of the gold and copper exploration projects I was involved in, from grassroots in Colombia to advanced projects in Colombia and Nicaragua, I had the opportunity to take part in the negotiations with artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) communities who were present in project areas. I joined the Mining Geology Research Group to work on my PhD focused on the synergies that may be generated between ASGM communities and large-scale exploration and mining companies in Peru and Colombia.

Dissertation Title: “Coexistence Models for Artisanal and Large-Scale Mining, Latin America”