Patricia 'Pat' Dillon

Biography

Patricia Dillon was born in Toronto in 1952. She attended the University of Toronto, from which graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geology in 1974 and with a Bachelor of Education in 1976. After graduation, she took a position as a resource geologist with Teck Resources. She remained at Teck for 32 years, obtaining more and more senior roles. She retired from her position as Director, Employee Communications and Engagement in 2011. Throughout her career, she was actively involved in mining industry organisations, and remains active in retirement.

At the Prospectors and Developer’s Assocation of Canada, she started as a volunteer and became a committee chair, a board member and eventually President, a position she held from 2006-2008. This is similar to the path she followed at the Canadian Institute for Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, where she was president from 2000-2001. She was an early advocate for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), contributing the Mining Association of Canada’s (MAC) ‘Toward Sustainable Mining’ and ‘Mining Works Canada’ initiatives. She also chaired the Mineral and Economics Management Society and the Mining Millenium 2000, a CIM-PDAC joint conference about CSR and the future role of mining in society. She was a member of the PDAC committee that developed the original E3 initiative. She was also chair of the Ontario Mining Association’s ‘Mining New Opportunities’ vidoe project for Ontario First Nations. She is a past chair of the Mining Industry Human Resources and co-chaired its national steering committee, which produced the ‘Prospecting the Future Report’ in 2005. She also served as chair of the Communications Task Force of the International Council of Mining and Metals.

One of her greatest contributions to the mining industry is as founder of Mining Matters, an organisation that aims to educate young epople about earth science, the mining industry, and their role in society. The organization celebrated its 25 year anniversary in 2019, and has provided educational resources to over 800,000 students and teachers across Canada, in English, French and several Indigenous languages.