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By Tijana Mitrovic - 15 May 2025
Meet Annabelle Rioux: A Canadian Young Mining Leader Award-winner making an impact on the industry
Growing up in a family in the mining industry, Annabelle Rioux saw first-hand the impact that people in the industry can make. “My family inspired me,” she said. “[They made] me feel like we can make a difference in an organization and in a community.”
After spending summers between semesters working in human resources at Agnico Eagle Mines, the same company where her father, uncles and cousin worked, Rioux earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from the School of Management Sciences at Université du Québec à Montréal in 2011. Her first experience after graduating was a six-month internship at Agnico Eagle’s Meadowbank mine in Nunavut. After her internship, she returned to Quebec to work as a human resources advisor at Goldex and LaRonde complexes, gaining experience with both underground and mill operations.
After over seven years at Agnico Eagle, Rioux made the leap to join Integra Gold in 2017, before it was acquired by Eldorado Gold and became Eldorado Gold Québec. As a human resources senior coordinator, Rioux played a significant role in the start-up of the company’s Lamaque gold mine in 2019, making sure human resources processes and labour relations were strong from the start of operations.
According to Rioux, the transition from a large-scale mining company to a start-up company felt like a significant change and an even bigger achievement for her. “It was a big decision because all of my family was working for the same company for many years, but I did [it] to grow and see other things in my career,” she explained. "[We came in as] a junior, but now we are a mid-size company and I'm proud of taking that opportunity in my life.”
At Eldorado Gold Québec, Rioux has handled a gamut of human resources tasks, from strategy and laying the foundations for the department, to recruitment, helping scale the company’s workforce from 40 to around 550 employees today. Promoted to her current position as human resources director in 2024, Rioux introduced a new HR identity and guiding principles that positioned HR as a strategic partner within the organization, recruited a health and well-being consultant, and led a restructuring of her team.
“I spend a lot of time managing the team, making sure all [of our] resources are in a good place, and understanding the market and [the company’s] place in the market,” she said. “We have a highly competitive market in [Val-d'Or, so we have to be agile and proactive and do things differently.” Her efforts have not gone unnoticed—in 2024 Rioux and her team won the Human Resources Distinction Award from the Quebec Mining Association for their work in digitizing operational training and developing an e-learning platform for employees to use for training.
Over the years, Rioux has also heavily contributed to her community. She was involved with CIM’s Val-d'Or branch, including three years as its president, and was an active contributor to Quebec’s Mining Week. She also led the Kiwanis-Lemieux Club as president in 2019 and is involved in a local club for women in business. “This is part of our life,” she said. “Val-d’Or is a gold mining city. There are a lot of people who are working in [mining], and I am proud to work in the industry.”
Looking ahead, Rioux is focused on elevating the company’s human resources practices and ensuring Eldorado Gold Québec is an employer of choice in the region. She is looking to advance diversity and inclusion, make the company more efficient and agile and increase the maturity of the department’s practices and tools. “We are still a young company,” she said. “But I have the motivation to push and go higher and bring the team with me.”
Above all, Rioux is motivated to empower others and make a difference. “I like to create opportunities for others,” she said. “I just want to [bring] people together, collaborate…and lead a team to have a bigger, significant impact.”
