Past President of CIM (2013-2014)

Robert W. Schafer joined Hunter Dickinson Inc. in 2004. At the time of his CIM Presidency he was Executive Vice President, Business Development, based in Vancouver, Canada, where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating and structuring transactions for mineral deposits globally. He is also a member of several corporate Boards of Directors. Robert has had the good fortune to work with several great exploration mentors and geologic teams, leading to a record of discovery.

As an executive and team leader and field geologist, he led teams to the discovery of mines in Nevada in 1987 with Billiton Metals, in California and in Montana in 1988-9 with Addwest Gold; as well as developing innovative strategies that lead to the discovery of a blind gold deposit beneath +100m of glacial cover in Far East Russia in 2000 for Kinross Gold. He has experience working in more than 70 countries, particularly Russia, Australia, China, Afghanistan, India, and most countries in Africa and South America.      

Mr. Schafer volunteers much effort to professional organizations. In addition to serving as President of CIM, he was also 2^nd Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors for the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC). He is an active member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (S.M.E.) in the USA, where he sits on the Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for both the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame and National Mining Hall of Fame in the USA.

In past years, Mr. Schafer served as the President of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America in 2005-2007. He is also active in the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) where he was a Councilor and sat on the SEG Foundation Board. He is also past-Director of the Northwest Mining Association. He has served on the U.S. National Research Council committee on the preservation of geologic information. Mr. Schafer also retains a strong tie to the Geological Society of Nevada, where he is a Past-President.

Robert earned his B.Sc and M.Sc. in Geology at Miami University (Ohio) in 1974 and 1976, respectively. He completed course work and carried out research toward a Ph.D. in Geology and completed a second M.Sc. degree in Mineral Economics at the University of Arizona in 1980. In 1995 Robert completed the Executive Business Program at Stanford University. He is a Registered Professional Geologist in the States of Wyoming and Utah. In 2002 A.I.M.E. presented him with its William L. Saunders Gold Medal for career distinction and in 2005 he was recognized by S.M.E. as a “Distinguished Member” of the organization.