OUR TEAM
Strong leadership leads to strong results. Our technical team is committed to providing superior results for our clients, focusing on economic and environmental excellence while continuously seeking out innovative new ways to enhance their projects.
Brent Hilscher, P.Eng.
Brent Hilscher has over 20 years experience in mining and mineral processing. He has commissioned, operated, and supervised mineral processing plants. He has published papers, patented technologies, and been a speaker at over a dozen conferences and universities in Canada and around the world.
Brent has led design and construction projects for Teck, Goldcorp, New Gold, Barrick, Xstrata, Agnico Eagle, and many others. He won the National CMP Bill Moore Award for technical excellence in 2013, and served as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. Because of his technical reputation Brent has been consulted as an advisor for the World Bank, United Nations, Government of Canada, and NASA mining research projects. He has volunteered as an executive for both the CIM and the CMP.
Damir Cukor, P.Geo.
Damir Cukor has been an active member of the mining industry for over 30 years as a successful explorationist and a QP geologist. As a second-generation mining individual, Damir has worked on advancing projects from grass-roots stages through to realizing material improvements on operating mines. On the Hammond Reef gold project in Ontario for Brett Resources, Damir in his role as Exploration Manager, guided the project through exploration drilling to its maiden resource estimate, and later, as Independent QP, through to expanded M&I resource status for Osisko; the project is now in the Agnico Eagle portfolio. His work also included resource estimates on part of the Kiggavik complex of Uranium deposits in Nunavut for AREVA, brought to the permitting stage. Two other maiden resource estimates were significant - the Polo Resources Nimini Hills gold deposit in Sierra Leone, Africa, subsequently reached permitting process; the currently-operating gold-copper Gedabec Mine in Azerbaijan was treated to its first modern JORC resources estimate.
Damir's broad spectrum encompasses project permitting processes, resource and reserves modelling calculation, and NI 43-101 and JORC reporting.
Andre Villeneuve P.Eng.
Andre is a senior executive with ABH Engineering Inc. with over 39 years experience in the mining industry and has worked as an independent mining and civil consultant since 1989.
He has extensive senior level management and executive experience with project evaluation, due diligence reviews, mineral property valuations, operational audits, development, construction and operation of gold, silver, base metals, coal and iron ore mines in the Americas, Africa, Australasia and Europe.
Daniel Afari, MASc, EIT
A specialist in plant optimization with an impressive record of past production improvements, Daniel conducts parametric studies to improve production in hard rock milling and water treatment systems.
His ongoing work at ABH has a focus on bulk and particle sorting testing and economic assessments.An avid scholar, Daniel completed his masters in Process Systems while researching advances in kinetic modeling. He has been a speaker at multiple conferences and has published multiple papers.
Anastasiia Kholod, MASc, GIT
Before joining ABH Engineering, Anastasiia worked as a geologist in a coal mine in Ukraine for 7 years. She was reconciling the waste and coal volumes, engaging in an updated model of the coal mine, constructing block-models of the near-and-range coal basin, and developing and managing an exploration program.
Anastasiia believes that the future of mining lies in cutting-edge technologies and that a lot of mineral deposits could have a chance for a second life if they are developed using new mining technologies.
Robert Tadashi, BASc
Specializing in particle sorting, economic analysis, and metallurgical studies, Robert is managing several hard rock poly-metallic projects across the globe. Robert’s past work experience includes a United Nations research project in Ecuador to eliminate mercury and cyanide pollution from illegal mining and analytical chemistry for industrial sites to ensure compliance with government regulations.
A graduate of UBC’s Mining and Mineral Processing department, he has gained an international background, having worked in three countries and travelled across North & South America, Africa, Europe and the South Pacific.
Daniel Kim, BASc, EIT
Dan is a drafting specialist who possesses superior knowledge of mechanical, electrical, and structural design techniques, and performs technical level work in CAD systems to deliver engineering blueprints to his clients’ needs. Dan has worked with principal researchers in the oil & gas, nuclear energy, and aerospace industries.
After spending time in both the public and private sector, Dan knows what truly drives innovation and new ideas. It's how well you connect with the people you're trying to help and communicate your understanding back to them.He graduated with honours from University of Waterloo with an honours degree in chemical engineering.
Franklin Yeung, BEng, EIT
Franklin has an extensive technical background in mining engineering encompassing work in geology, processing, and mining. He brings valuable experience to the ABH team, having been part of Newcrest's metallurgy team at the Red Chris Mine.
Franklin has developed detailed flow sheets, optimized tailings deposition methods, and conducted research on improving ore sorting techniques.
Vladimir Dybounov, BEng, EIT
Having graduated from BCIT with a bachelor's degree in mining engineering, Vladimir worked with mining equipment manufacturers prior to joining ABH Engineering. His multidisciplinary background allows him to be flexible in his approach to a wide variety of problems.
As the Environmental Engineering Intern, he currently assists the principal engineers with detailed design work, cost estimates, and academic research.
Linus Chung, BASc, EIT
Having graduated from UBC with a bachelor's degree in materials engineering, Linus works in the mineral processing field with ABH Engineering with a focus on green energy. Along with his experience in feasibility projects during his time in UBC, he offers an alternative outlook from his time spent in the financial sector.
Currently, he is assisting principal engineers with the planning and sizing of detail design studies along with the implementation of ore sorting in existing projects.
Amy Zhou, BASc, EIT
Prior to joining ABH, Amy worked on-site assisting with mining operations at New Afton and worked as a Metallurgist Technician to analyze and perform leaching and assay at Bureau Veritas. With her Mining and Mineral Processing degree from UBC, she is experienced with optimization, economic modelling, and other design work.
Amy believes that details are what determine the big picture when working on a project. At ABH, she brings the value of her expertise to the team by working collaboratively on design, optimization, and research projects.
Hussein Kanaan, BASc, EIT
Having graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from UBC, Hussein has conducted research on the hybrid pyro and hydrometallurgical extraction of lithium and other valuable earth metals from spent lithium-ion batteries.
Hussein has developed a set of skills that are valuable to the ABH team, including project cost estimation, economic analysis, and performing HAZOP analysis.
