Co-founder, Director and Principal: Environment and Mining
Jess is a co-founder and director of ECC and its Principal for Environment and Mining. She is a registered Environmental Assessment Practitioner with EAPAN and has about 20 years of experience in mining and construction, seven of them in Australia and the rest in Namibia. Her work covers environmental management, mining and ESG, with a focus on helping mining companies and investors meet regulatory, lender and stakeholder expectations.
Mining is the core of her career. She has worked at every stage of the mine life cycle: exploration, approvals, construction, operation and closure. In Australia she held environmental roles at Ballarat Goldfields and later managed three operations as Site Environmental Manager: Savannah Nickel Mine, Copernicus Nickel Mine and Wyndham Port. That work covered approvals, closure bonds and engagement with indigenous communities. She then ran a full mine closure planning project, from technical studies through to government approval. After moving to Namibia she was HSE Manager for the construction of the greenfield Tschudi copper mine, and for the Otjihase and Matchless underground mines.
Her ESG experience began with operational roles. As a site manager she held the environment, sustainability and social reporting portfolio, which included reporting against international mining codes, and later prepared sustainability reports as a consultant. At ECC she advises clients on how to align with the IFC Performance Standards and World Bank requirements, including the environmental, social and governance information that lenders and investors look for in due diligence.
Since co-founding ECC in 2016, Jessica has led ESIAs for mining, port, energy, water and agricultural developments. These include the B2Gold Otjikoto underground expansion, the Sandpiper Marine Phosphate Project, Twin Hills Gold, Ongombo and Omitiomire copper, Skorpion Zinc and the Osona II solar plant.
She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Management from Federation University Australia. She is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), the Chamber of Mines of Namibia and Women on Boards.