How engineering skills transfer to the C-suite

tara

Tara Christie

Job: President and CEO of Banyan Gold Corporation

A winner in the leader category in the BC Business 2025 Women of the Year Awards, Tara Christie heads up Banyan Gold Corp. and is advancing the development of one of North America’s largest undeveloped gold projects. She’s also co-founder of a non-profit that has worked for close to two decades to improve educational outcomes for Yukon students.

 

What got you interested in engineering?

My dad had a PhD in geology and I spent a lot of time in the field with him when I was growing up. In first year engineering, when you pick your program, I considered all sorts of options – chemical, mechanical, civil and engineering physics. As I began exploring geological engineering, it appealed to me more and more: I knew about geology from my dad and I’d spent a lot of time in the field with him. I also liked the career prospects and knowing that I could always get a job in the mining industry or in construction.

 

Any highlights from your time at UBC?

I loved being part of UBC’s geological engineering community – the students I was studying with and the professors who taught us. I participated in an extracurricular field school in Hawaii, as well as the local field school where you learn how to use survey equipment.

I had already built up a lot of practical skills because my family had a large-scale alluvial mining operation, and I spent my summers setting up drains, designing water systems and running the equipment, including the bulldozers and excavators.

These practical skills are so helpful. I know the capabilities of the equipment, how things get done, how long things take. As CEO, you are in a much better leader when you really understand the operational aspect of the business.

 

Tell us about your career before you were named CEO of Banyan in 2016

In my early 20s I was working in my family’s business and I also had my own consulting company. Consulting is a fantastic way to build your technical knowledge and gain on-the-ground experience.

Some highlights were negotiating an agreement with First Nations in Ontario, working in Alaska and working in Africa. I also got involved with Newmont as a consultant and as their registered lobbyist in Canada, assisting with the permitting component of their Hope Bay project in Nunavut.

In 2004, I was a founding board member of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board. It was very interesting to be an industry person on the board, working alongside government and First Nations on environmental legislation and incorporating First Nations perspectives in the environmental assessment process.

Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board

I’ve also been a member of several industry associations, including the Association for Mineral Exploration, and was the first female president of the Klondike Placer Miners’ Association. Being part of an industry association is an excellent way to meet other people who are building things and to better understand the intersection of engineering, science and politics.

Klondike Placer Miners’ Association

 

Tell us about your work at Banyan.

In 2011, while I was president of Gimlex Gold Mines, one of Yukon’s largest placer mining operations I was invited to sit on Banyan’s board, and in 2016 was asked to step up as CEO.

Banyan’s primary target is the AurMac Gold Project. I had purchased the alluvial rights to AurMac in 2013, knowing that if there’s surface gold, there’s probably some hard rock gold too. We’ve since invested in significant exploration activities and drilled hundreds of discovery holes to define the resource. 

It’s big! AurMac is a 7.7 million ounce gold deposit, which makes this the fifth-largest project in North America.

Once we have completed the preliminary assessment (which defines the project we want to build), we can start the permitting process. We’ve done the technical and baseline work, including putting in roads and camps. 

If all goes well, this could be the next gold mine built in Yukon and it would be very satisfying to know I was a part of it. 

Having First Nations partnerships in place is key. We have built good relationships with the community, with a third of our staff from the local area. We want more, which is one reason I started the non-profit Every Student, Every Day Yukon in 2012. Since our founding, we’ve given out $3 million in funds to support grassroots educational projects, including STEM programs, that encourage students to attend school regularly.

Every Student, Every Day Yukon

kids

 

How have your engineering skills transferred to C-suite skills?

The technical knowledge and problem-solving skills are always applicable, even when you are no longer doing day-to-day engineering.

My understanding of geology is fundamental: does the area we’re looking at have potential to host a significant economic deposit? And because of my engineering background, I understand the technical aspects and I am able to ask better questions – whether that’s advising on exploratory drilling or reviewing estimates of total capital requirements of various phases of exploration and development.

The technical skills enable me to think critically, explore margins of error, better understand and manage risk, and evaluate trade-offs. 

Of course we have our own team and consultants who bring their expertise to the table, but the buck stops with me. We need to be comfortable and confident in the decisions we are making and ensuring we are spending our money as wisely as possible.

 

Anything else you want to share?

Engineering is a very rewarding career. Not only have I been able to use my skills and critical thinking in satisfying ways, it’s given me a lot of flexibility in balancing my career with being a parent. You can make a good living and love what you do – and it’s not work every day if you love it!

UBC geological engineering student on a co-op placement at BC Research Inc.

Geological Engineering

UBC offers the Geological Engineering program in collaboration with the Faculty of Science, blending aspects of earth sciences, civil engineering and mining engineering with a fundamental understanding of the earth’s surface environments...

Geological Engineering

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