THE 2012 NORDIC EXPLORATION AWARD

Jim Coppard
Regional Head of Exploration-Arctic
Anglo American plc

The prize for 2012 is awarded to Anglo American geologist Jim Coppard for:
· Significant contribution to the renaissance of exploration and mining in the Nordic region
· Recognising and developing the IOCG model within the Kiruna District, Sweden
· His discovery of the Rakkurijärvi copper-gold deposit in Northern Sweden
· His discovery of the Sakatti copper-nickel-PGE deposit in Northern Finland

Jim Coppard earned his MSc from the Imperial Collage at the Royal School of Mines in London in 1987 and became a Chartered Geologist in 1998; he is also a EuroGeologist.

Jim’s main expertise and passion for exploration is in the Fennoscandian region where he has been focused for the last 22 years. In 1991 for RTZ (Rio Tinto) he commenced working in Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finland, helping set up exploration activities in each country. In 1998 Jim started his own consulting company working for both major and junior companies and Jim concentrated on Sweden seeing several untested geological opportunities including the idea that the Kiruna area in Sweden was a potential Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) district.

In 1999, Jim joined Minorco/Anglo American plc with an exploration concept for IOCG’s in Sweden and was instrumental in discovering the Rakkurijärvi copper-gold deposit close to Kiruna through the successful Anglo American-Rio Tinto JV. The Rakkurijärvi deposit was subsequently classified as an IOCG deposit and in 2007 Jim co-authored a paper on the discovery which was published in Economic Geology.

In 1999 Jim established an Anglo American exploration office in Malå, Sweden and was frequent guest at the Swedish Geological Survey’s Mineral Information Office in Malå throughout his time spent exploring in Sweden.

In 2002 Jim had an exploration idea for the Finnish Lapland Greenstone Belt and initiated a Ni-sulphide exploration program in 2004. This program has culminated in the discovery of the highly significant Sakatti Cu-Ni-PGE deposit which is considered by Jim to be the peak of his 25-year career. Although nobody knows yet the dimensions of the Sakatti deposit, it is already evident that this is the most significant discovery in the Nordic region in the 21^st century to date. The discovery is based on both Jim and Anglo American's high-level expertise and innovation in mineral exploration and also demonstrates that there are still major deposits to be discovered in Fennoscandia.

Jim Coppard has significantly contributed to the mining renaissance in the Nordic region through his extraordinary ability to recognise mineral potential in under-explored terrains, his perseverance to back a theory through the tough exploration phase and to transform them into quality production assets all of which more than qualifies him to receive the Raw Materials Group Nordic Exploration Award for 2012.

Based on Raw Matireals Group information