Miranda Werstiuk
A dynamic and driven corporate finance and investment banking professional with over 25 years global experience in the resource finance sector, Miranda joined Optimize Group Inc., a Toronto-based bespoke project engineering firm, in mid-2019, to build out the firm’s Corporate Advisory silo. The goal is to continue to evolve the synergies between this new division and Optimize Group’s existing projects group, engineering abilities, and CFO Services offering, to work to position the company to fulfill the entire value chain in project development for the mining sector. Over her career, she has been actively involved in transactions with junior, mid-tier and senior exploration companies, working along all stages of the discovery curve from greenfield exploration, to development through to production. Companies she has done work with and for, have covered the diversity of the commodity ecosystem – precious, base and battery technology metals including gold, silver, copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium and vanadium.
With a BSCH in Biology from Queen’s University – Kingston, a BAH in Anthropology from McMaster University and a cross-section of business courses from the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University, she brings a unique perspective on, commitment to, and passion for, making the mining industry more sustainable and socially responsible, specifically as it relates to the financing of those projects.
She is currently Co-Vice Chair of WIM Toronto, a member WIM UK, and a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. She is an Advisory Board Member of ICE Dragon Corrosion, a private Canadian-based consulting company, specializing in corrosion risk management strategies and the development of Corrosion Control Plans to motivate companies to adopt corrosion best practices and technology, already prevalent in sectors like oil and gas, military and automotive. Miranda recently joined as an External Advisor for the Programme Advisory Group (PAG) for the planetGOLD Programme, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in partnership with the NRDC and the United Nations, which will aim to help artisanal and small-scale gold miners replace toxic mercury with cleaner techniques, as well as improve access to finance and facilitate formalization of the sector.
