Jessie Liu-Ernsting, the founder and principal consultant of Keystone, has over 15 years of experience in the mining, energy and infrastructure industries, spanning capital projects engineering, debt capital markets, private equity and corporate strategy.

Jessie was recently embedded in a mid-tier mining company on the corporate development team, formulating and executing on corporate strategy in collaboration with investor relations, finance, exploration and legal teams. Jessie previously spent over five years at Resource Capital Funds, one of the largest mining-focused private equity funds, sourcing, evaluating, executing and managing investments, gaining expertise in a wide range of commodities such as diamonds, bauxite, gold, copper, nickel, molybdenum, lithium, cobalt, graphite, PGM, zinc and mining services. Before RCF, Jessie provided bank financing solutions to facilitate mining clients’ corporate, operations and development requirements in CIBC’s mining corporate credit group. Prior to CIBC, Jessie’s experience at Hatch spanned all levels of design of power distribution to mining and mineral processing operations around the world, the development of mining innovation R&D projects, and the on-site scheduling of a large greenfield underground mine development. Prior to Hatch, Jessie undertook the design of paste backfill plants with Golder Associates, to facilitate ground stability, improved recovery and sustainable tailings disposal. Jessie is a Professional Engineer who holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Queen’s University, and a Schulich School of Business Mining, Finance and Strategy MBA graduate.

Examples of recent projects:

  • Achieved settlement with an activist investor in a contested proxy battle
  • Negotiated bolt-on land package acquisition with high exploration potential
  • Provided independent valuation in support of the NI43-101 feasibility study on a Canadian gold project
  • Chinese market due diligence and deep dive in support of an industrial minerals investment by a private equity group
  • Investor relations and corporate development initiatives in preparation for a go-public event of a Canadian junior mining company