YMP’s Eira Thomas Award: Geology, finance fuel Liu

Vicky Liu started at UBC with the “naïve science student aim” of potentially going into medicine, but geology pulled her in.  

“It became really clear to me about a year or two into my sciences degree that I really loved the adventure nature of geology, the fact that you’re constantly solving a mystery,” she said.   

Now on BHP’s (ASX, LSE, NYSE: BHP) Corporate Development team, Liu works in portfolio strategy, long-term growth initiatives and M&A transactions across the major’s global assets. She is the 2026 recipient of the Eira Thomas Award for talented women leaders under age 40 from industry group Young Mining Professionals.  

Geologist 

Liu started her career as an exploration geologist at Silvercorp Metals’ (TSX, NYSE: SVM) former Silvertip project in a remote part of northern British Columbia. At the time, Silvercorp was trying to diversify away from its main assets in China.  

 The mapping, drill core logging and geophysics she did at the camp were all part of the first economic report Silvercorp filed for the project. Silvercorp sold Silvertip in 2013 to JDS Silver, which was later acquired by Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE).  

“We were really putting together an exploration program, a camp and a strategy for the asset from zero,” she said. 

While her experiences as an exploration geologist were invaluable, she felt she needed to learn more about the financial markets side of mining.   

Financial analyst 

Liu charted a different path working for an investment banking firm in Vancouver and then went onto Deloitte, where she was a corporate finance analyst.   

“That was really my first career change – still in mining – but very much learning more about the financial services side of the business,” she said.   

Her success in the field built on more success, and she was hired for a similar role in London, U.K. before going on to work for French bank Société Générale and RBC, where she advised mining clients on financing and M&A.  

In 2021 she moved on to BHP and now works as a practice lead on “future facing commodities” such as copper and potash.  

“I do a lot of thinking and sourcing new opportunities for investment or for acquisitions and thinking about new areas where BHP could move into,” she said.  

Global M&A 

The role is taking her around the world, whether that’s to BHP’s iron operations in Australia or to Brazil, where she worked on the Carajas copper mines sale. BHP reached a deal in August to sell the sites to CoreX Holding BV for $465 million.  

Liu recognizes progress has been made in raising women’s involvement in mining. While the industry remains male-dominated, she sees the huge opportunities that greater diversity can bring.    

In her previous roles at RBC, she helped diversify teams when she worked in staffing and recruitment. She saw the value in widening the scope across gender, education and backgrounds.  

BHP is an industry leader with its target of reaching 50-50 male-female parity in its workforce, which Vicky says is a huge ambition for an employee base of 90,000 people.   

“Where it’s still a bit lagging is when you think about who senior leaders are,” she said. “You still see a lot of imbalance there. It’s really important for our generation of mining professionals to stick with it and move into those leadership roles.”