Steve S. Masterman

• Position:

  Former Outgoing State Geologist/Director, Director's Office

• Current Employee

  : No

Education and/or Training

M.S. in Geological Engineering, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 1990
B.S. (Honors) in Mining Geology, Royal School of Mines, Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, 1982

Professional Experience

• State Geologist and Director, State of Alaska, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys. Fairbanks, Alaska, November 2013 to March 2022.
• Division Operations Manager, State of Alaska, Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys. Fairbanks Alaska, June 2013 to present. Managing daily operations for a diverse team of 50 geoscientists with an annual budget of roughly $10M.
• Regional Engineering Geologist, State of Alaska. Fairbanks, Alaska, Dec. 2004 to June 2013. Managed the Northern Region engineering geology group for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. Duties included defining construction materials, and engineering geology support for highway and airport design, construction and maintenance. I initiated section use of GIS, coordinated construction of an intranet database of geotechnical reports and material site data, reduced report preparation time and improved responsiveness to design staff. Supervised a staff of seven and a fleet of five drills and support equipment.
• Consulting Economic Geologist, Newmont Mining Co., December 2004 to 2008. Model-based data compilations for precious metal deposits in Alaska and Canada.
• Senior Geologist II, Mine Geology, Newmont Mining Co., Carlin Trend, Nevada. June 2001 to Dec 2004. Supervised reserve conversion and replacement drilling and modeling programs at Gold Quarry, Genesis, Pete, Lantern and Bootstrap mines, added 2.0 M oz to reserve and 3.0 M oz to resource. Supervised open pit ore control and highwall mapping on a daily basis. Managed annual drilling budgets up to $7.5 M.
• Senior Geologist, Exploration, Newmont Mining Co., Yanacocha, Peru. Jan 2000 to May 2001. Near-mine exploration activities for volcanic-hosted high-sulfidation acid-sulfate gold and porphyry copper gold deposits in the Yanacocha District, Peru. Mentored Peruvian geologists. Conducted definition drilling and geologic modeling of the Corimayo deposit, resulting in the addition of 2.5M oz of reserves.
• Project Geologist, Exploration, Newmont Alaska Ltd., Fairbanks, Alaska. July 1998 ? Jan. 2000. Planned, budgeted, and conducted 1998 and 1999 regional exploration programs in Interior Alaska, including district scale stream sediment sampling, soil sampling, mapping and rock sampling programs. Generated drill targets for testing in 2000. Property submittal reviews in Alaska and Canada. Hired and supervised crews of up to 13 people. Directed the assembly of a MapInfo database for Interior Alaska.
• Project Geologist, Mine Geology, Newmont Alaska Ltd., Fairbanks, Alaska. March 1997 - July 1998. Project development on the True North Project; included planning and supervising RVC and core drilling programs, deep soil sampling surveys, trenching and database management. Modeled structure, lithology, alteration and gold shapes in Geomodel. Performed core vs. reverse circulation and metallurgical gold recovery comparisons. Exploration increased resource to 1.3 million ounces, property sold to Kinross in 1998 for $28M. Supervised crews up to 9 people.
• Senior Geologist, Mine Geology, LaTeko Resources, Fairbanks, Alaska. May 1992 to March 1997. Responsible for all aspects of development geology programs including budgeting and managing RVC and core drilling, deep soil sampling, trenching and database management. Coordinated with, and assisted outside consultants conducted resource/reserve evaluations using Surpac. Property submittal evaluations resulted in acquisition of True North. Exploration resulted in increasing proven and probable reserves to 1.3 million ounces on the Ryan Lode and True North properties. Seconded to Newmont during 1995 and 1996 to work on the True North Project. Supervised crews of up to 14 people.

Selected Professional Activities

• Instructor, Northwest Campus, University of Alaska, Nome, Alaska. Spring Semesters 1991-1993. Lead instructor in a Vocational Mine Training Program run in conjunction with Bering Straits Native Corporation. Responsible for curriculum development and teaching introductory mineral exploration and applied mining classes to indigenous Eskimo Alaskans. Also coordinated between the University, industry and native corporations for job placement. Program earned local and national recognition for its success.
• Geologist, Exploration, Battle Mountain Exploration Co, Anchorage, Alaska. May ? Oct. 1990 and 1991. Geochemical exploration for volcanic-hosted epithermal gold deposits in the Aleutian Islands. Duties included design and execution of stream sediment/pan concentrate, soil and rock chip sampling surveys, geological mapping and sampling, drillhole targeting, core logging and drafting/report writing.
• Geologist, MTM Mining, Fairbanks, Alaska. Nov. 1988 ? Oct. 1989. Conducted research and magnetometer, VLF, test pitting and drilling of placer deposits in central Alaska. Mapping and sampling vein-hosted mesothermal gold occurrences. Foreman, Miner, Points North Mining, Central, Alaska. May ? Oct. 1986 ? 1988. Duties included mine planning, settling pond design and construction, reclamation of mined areas, water quality measurements, equipment operation and monitoring the recovery of a binary jig plant on a seasonal placer gold mine.
• Geologist, U.S. Bureau of Mines, Fairbanks, Alaska. June ? August 1985. Mapping and sampling Sn-W occurrences in greisen, sheeted veins and tourmalinized stockworks, veins and placer deposits in Interior Alaska, Seward Peninsula and Alaska Range. Fluid inclusion measurements included in USBM IC 9180: Tin occurrences near Rocky Mountain (Lime Peak), East Central Alaska.
• Geologist, Mankomen Exploration, Fairbanks, Alaska. June ? Sept. 1984. Surface and trench mapping and sampling of tungsten occurrences in the Alaska Range. Recovery of fine gold using jigs and shaker tables at a placer gold mine in the Alaska Range.
• Research Assistant and Lab. Tech., MIRL, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska. June 1983 ? May 1985. District scale geologic mapping and rock sampling of the Circle Mining District. Preparing polished sections and point counting of Delta District VMS deposits.
• Field Assistant, BP Minerals Norge, Trondheim, Norway. Summer 1981. Reconnaissance geochemical exploration for base metals in central Norway. Planned and conducted extended remote stream sediment, soil, rock and vegetation sampling surveys.
• Assistant Geologist, National Coal Board, Mexborough, UK. Summer 1980. Assisted geologist with core logging, sampling, underground mapping and correlating downhole geophysics in Carboniferous coalfields.