SINCE OUR LAST mINING & ENERGY NEWSLETTER...
New Hires
Zeynep Cicek – Lexington
Jeffery Bonaventura - Remote
Sebastien Bricka - Remote
Akash Adhikari – Rapid City
Bella Fleck – Grand Junction
Matthew Theriault – Cheyenne
George DeYonge - Carlsbad
New Interns
Alexandra (Allie) Gregor – Rapid City
David Tilley – Rapid City
Industry Awards
ACEC'S 2023 Young Professional of the Year – Top 5 Finalists – Erik Walega
Erik was chosen as one of five finalists for ACEC's 2023 Young Professional of the Year Award, which strives to promote the accomplishments of young engineers by highlighting their engineering contributions and their resulting impacts on society. The winner of the award will be announced at ACEC's Fall Conference on October 17th, good luck Erik!
Elevate Rapid City – Large Business Award Winner
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Anil Tokcan
Anil recently joined RESPEC as a Drilling Engineer, bringing with him a wealth of experience in the oil and gas sector
Staff Engineer VI, Mining & Energy
Anil recently joined RESPEC as a Drilling Engineer, bringing with him a wealth of experience in the oil and gas sector. Throughout his career, Anil has gained exposure to various facets of drilling, encompassing fieldwork in both offshore and onshore environments, as well as the planning and coordination of drilling operations.
Anil holds Petroleum Engineering degrees from Middle East Technical University and Colorado School of Mines, where he honed his knowledge in the field. Before joining RESPEC, he worked for a startup In-situ recovery(ISR) trona mine in southwest Wyoming. In this role, Anil was responsible for managing field operations, which included drilling directional and horizontal wells to access the ore body, constructing water wells for system water supply, and overseeing the construction of the pilot facility and storage ponds.
One of Anil's notable achievements was successfully managing the testing of the pilot ISR trona mine, demonstrating the viability and cost-effectiveness of the solution mining technique in an area that had predominantly relied on traditional mining methods. His expertise and contributions proved invaluable in expanding mining practices in the region.
Excited to be a part of RESPEC, Anil looks forward to leveraging the company’s exceptional know-how and utilizing his drilling knowledge to carry Mining and Energy projects to success.
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Shantel Turna
RESPEC is pleased to welcome Shantel Turna to our expanding Canadian division.
Project Geologist II, Mining & Energy
Shantel has nearly 10 years of experience in kimberlite, precious and industrial metals, specifically in early stage grassroot and brownfield exploration. She will add to RESPEC’s capabilities and services in the mining and metals space and work closely with Brett Dueck, Manager, Saskatoon Area.
Before graduating, Shantel had boots-on-the-ground experience across Canada, South America, the Caribbean, and Europe, completing academic research for associated geological surveys. She then began her career in big data at Barrick Gold with their global exploration team, focused on evaluating junior exploration projects. This has led Shantel to work for junior, mid-tier, and major mining clients in British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, and Quebec—and Artificial Intelligence startups operating in the mining space. Most recently, her contributions to Statistical Analysis Software development for three-dimensional (3D) analysis of geochemical data and anomaly detection software were acquired by Seequent in 2022.
With years spent in the field dedicated to discovery, expansion, and development of projects, Shantel has led line cutting, geophysical survey, surface sampling, and diamond drill programs. Often operating at remote sites, predominantly in the tundra, mountainous, and wetland terrane, she understands how to mitigate risks when operating logistically complex programs over glaciers, valleys, swamps, etc. Thus far, Shantel has been involved in more than 16 different field campaigns, and directly managed more than 50,000 meters of drilling for clients in precious, industrial metals, and kimberlite across Canada before joining RESPEC in April.
Shantel is excited to be a part of RESPEC and eager to merge her experience with current and future RESPEC projects. She is passionate about overlaying traditional field techniques and using innovative data science technology to deliver deeper data insights and workflow optimization and ultimately enhancing project outputs. Evaluating drilling data to identify geochemical anomalies, understand geometallurgical domains, and conduct rapid 3D analysis is the product of first understanding how to collect data. “Joining the talent at RESPEC—a team of domain experts beyond geoscience, engineering, and data and internet technology—is an exciting new chapter, especially knowing collaboration and innovation are at the forefront of the company’s values.”
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Dylan Rowe
MEET DYLAN ROWE
Staff Engineer III, Mining & Energy
Before receiving his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, Dylan Rowe broke out in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. During this time, he gained vital on-site and operational experience in several product service lines, including work-over rigs, wireline, and fracing operations on oil producers and coal bed methane wells. Dylan has always been drawn to the energy sector because of its fast pace and complex problems.
After receiving his degree, Dylan worked in the completions space for a frac company in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. He flourished in this role and became the company’s lead field engineer, managing on-site operations for two frac fleets. As the lead field engineer, Dylan managed materials inventory and ordering, AFE management, third-party sub-contractors, and overall job performance and efficiency.
Dylan then became well control certified with the idea of consulting completions and production projects. While studying for the certification, Dylan and his future business partner decided to start an acidizing and pressure pumping company. He helped grow the company to one of the most sought-after acidizing operations in the area, eventually expanding into vertical well and horizontal well frac operations at the request of existing customers. Dylan managed all operations, engineering, and sales. Dylan then sold his company shares to explore life more as a father and husband, moving his family back to the Black Hills in South Dakota to be closer to loved ones.
After trying to keep himself busy for a couple of years, Dylan got the itch to return to the industry. It was perfect timing—he found a drilling engineer position in the Black Hills with RESPEC. Dylan is excited to bring his knowledge and experience to such a well-rounded and successful team! The diversity and complexity of RESPEC’s projects, as well as the opportunity to expand RESPEC’s footprint into the oil and gas sectors, motivates and excites him to continue making a positive difference in the world’s energy sector.