CIM

Julian Boldy Geological Society Service Award

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Julian Boldy Geological Society Service Award

For exceptional service to the Geological Society of CIM

IMPORTANT CHANGES
Please note that the winner of this award will be recognized on screen during the CIM-Caterpillar Awards Gala. They will also receive the award in person at an  alternative time and location, to be announced later.

Origins & Conditions

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Born in Calcutta, India, on May 28, 1931, Julian Boldy received his education at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, before immigrating to Canada in 1956. After being recruited by Falconbridge Group, Boldy went on to discover the Delbridge deposit in Noranda. He later joined Freeport Minerals as a geologist, discovering the Reed Lake deposit in Manitoba, before eventually joining Placer Development.

Boldy was very well known for his published papers, which earned him great acclaim across the industry. One of his most famous papers analyzing Precambrian volcanogenic ore deposits, “(Un)Certain Exploration Facts from Figures,” would earn him the Barlow Award for economic geology.

Boldy passed away at the age of 53, on January 22, 1985. In memoriam, the Julian Boldy Geological Society Service Award was created the following year.

The Julian Boldy Geological Society Service Award criteria and other information:

  1. The Award may be presented from time to time as circumstances warrant, but not more than one award shall be made in any given year.
  2. Nominations for the award shall be made over the signatures of at least ten (10) CIM national members and forwarded to the Executive Director of the Institute by December 1st of the year prior to the presentation of the award, who will forward these to the Geological Society Awards Committee.
  3. Each nomination is to be accompanied by a statement giving clearly the reasons which, in the opinion of the nominators, make their nominee a suitable candidate for this award.
  4. The Geological Society Awards Committee shall make its decision on any nomination not later than February 1st.
  5. The Committee shall present its report and recommendations to CIM Council not later than the last Council meeting held prior to the next annual CIM Conference & Exhibition.
  6. When approved, the Awards shall be presented at the annual CIM Conference & Exhibition.
  7. All nominations properly presented shall remain in good standing for a period of three (3) years unless formally withdrawn over the signatures of a majority of members responsible for the nomination.

Recipients

There is only one recipient of this award every year. This award is solely for individual nominations (no teams).

Winners

2025

Stella Searston

Stella Searston holds a bachelor's degree in geology from James Cook University and a master of economic geology degree from the University of Tasmania.  She has been involved in mineral exploration, project definition, and mining studies in Australasia, the Pacific, Africa, and North America for 38 years, covering discovery to mine operations to closure. For the last 25 years, her primary focus has been helping companies with their scientific and technical information in statutory reporting and public disclosures.  This included working directly with clients on specific issues, presenting short courses summarizing regulations and standards for improved industry understanding, and actively participating in proposed rule and standard changes through detailed commentary and feedback as part of public consultation periods.  She is an active member of CIM’s Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Committee.  

2024

Jim Walker

James (Jim) Walker completed BSc and PhD degrees at the University of New Brunswick. His career with the New Brunswick Geological Survey (NBGS) began with regional bedrock mapping and mineral deposit studies in northern NB; he now serves as the manager of NBGS North in Bathurst. 

He is a member of the Association Professional Engineers and Geoscientists New Brunswick; a fellow of both Geoscientists Canada and the Society of Economic Geologists; he is a councillor and former president of the Atlantic Geoscience Society (AGS), and he served 17 years on the executive of the Mineral Deposits Division, Geological Association of Canada (GAC). He served on the organizing committees of numerous events including the LOCs for two GAC/MAC annual meetings, several AGS colloquia, and the International Applied Geochemistry Symposium (IAGS). He has authored or contributed to several field trip guidebooks for GAC, IAGS, New Brunswick Prospectors and Developers Association and Northeast Intercollegiate Geological Conference field meetings. 

Walker is an associate editor (geology) with the CIM Journal. He was on the local organizing committee and a guidebook author for the CIM Field conference (Bathurst’93). He has authored several papers in a special issue devoted to the Bathurst Mining Camp in CIM’s Exploration and Mining Geology journal (2006). He chaired the CIM Mineral Exploration Session held in conjunction with the annual NB Exploration Mining and Petroleum Conference (2009 through 2023).  He presented at several CIM Bathurst mini-conventions, and more recently contributed as an organizer-guidebook author and field trip leader (2015 through 2019) and was an organizer and presenter in the NB Branch-CIM Virtual conference in 2022.