PROFILE Nobel Peak’s Jensen has global vision

Viewed by some as a world- class polymetallic zinc deposit, Noble Peak Resources’ Crypto project in Utah is currently explored by Cyprus Metals Exploration and equal partner Mitsui of Japan. At full production, possibly in 4-5 years’ time, the mine is estimated to rake in US$2-5 million annually for Noble Peak, says President Maureen Jensen. When she started as president, succeeding the late Norman Ursel in June, Jensen followed in her mentor’s footsteps. Now she is carving a path of her own. “All it takes is one deal to change the focus,” she says in an interview with The Northern Miner. “I have to put my own style on the expertise inherited from working with Norman.”

She describes Ursel as an “entrepreneur,” volatile and visionary, and herself as a controlled, organized manager of people. Ursel, who had been involved in the mining industry for 35 years, had the know-how to run Noble Peak single-handedly, she explains. “I am only 34 years old. I rely on a support group.” Her advisers include directors and joint venture partners.

Holder of a B.Sc. in geology (1979) from the University of Toronto, Jensen had worked in different parts of Canada before she met Ursel in 1985. Since then, she has been serving Noble Peak, first as an independent consultant, then geologist- explorationist and now president.

Noble Peak will continue to seek large properties of merit, says Jensen. The company is more interested in a phenomenal success of a single project than a series of marginal successes. “This is how a junior company wins big and wins the confidence of the company’s shareholders.”

As well, Noble Peak will 0000,0503 remain actively aggressive in the Rankin – Ennadai greentone belt in Canada’s Northwest Territories. “The north is definitely the place to be,” she says. But today’s miners must think “global.”

As for herself, Jensen says she must change her mindset from that of a geologist who focuses on technical details to that of a chief executive who plans for Noble Peak’s long-term growth.

At home, Jensen spends her time raising her two boys, aged 4 and 6, with whom she has visited mines in Arizona. Her husband, Torben, is a mining engineer.

Jensen thinks Canadian governments should give more tax breaks to juniors, especially during the recession. They will be forced to move south of the border should the major miners have a stranglehold, she says.

On a more optimistic note, she predicts that Canada’s economic malaise will improve within a year. “A recession usually does not last more than two years. The mining industry has already been in one for more than a year.”