Cristobal Olave

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Cristobal Olave

Business Development Manager

Sector: Mining

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

About

  • Industry  Engineering

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Mining Engineer, Master of Engineering (MEng), with more than 10 years of experience in the Mining Industry, working in areas of Finance, Valuation, Strategic Planning, Stakeholders Management, Risk Management and Project Control. High-level negotiation and influencing skills for liaising with stakeholders, proactive problem-solving mindset for managing challenges. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills in English and Spanish for effective stakeholders engagement.

 

My experience includes the management in finance and operations, valuation and analysis of investment projects portfolios for more than 9BUS$, and also the interaction with more than 300 stakeholders from multiple disciplines, ensuring optimal results on time and budget. High capacity to presents ideas, results and recommendations to internal stakeholders, as well as provides critical and accurate financial analysis to support decisions on tactical and strategic business challenge. Committed to innovation and continuous improvement, through collaborative work, contributing to the sustainable growth of the organization

Education

  • 2015 - 2015
    Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

    Mining Engineer

    Titled with two votes of distinction. Final grade: 5,7 / 7. Various scholarships obtained: “San Agustin Award: Excellence in assistantships”, “President of the Republic Scholarship”, “Academic excellence scholarship”. Assistantships: Mining Project, Strategic Mine Planning, Open pit mining, fundamentals of Minerals Economics, Mining Planning, Environmental Management, Probability and Statistics, Calculus I

  • 2014 - 2016
    Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

    Master of Engineering

    Specialization in business/finance and project management. Master’s degree completed through the “Leaders for Mining” program, financed by Minera Escondida and Compañía Minera Doña Inés de Collahuasi. Final grade: 6 / 7

Experience

  • 2025 - Present
    GEM Mining Consulting

    Business Development Manager

    • Boost the company’s global expansion plan 2025-2028 by generating business and alliances from Australia • Generate a positioning of the company in the Australian Mining market. Participation in local events and building strategic relationships with Australian companies for potential partnerships and mutual collaboration on projects • Lead financial and risk analysis for large-scale mining projects and drive the expansion from the Singapore office

  • 2021 - 2025
    Antofagasta Minerals

    Superintendent Projects Valuation & Risk Management

    • Lead interaction with stakeholders: Corporate/Operation Finance Team, VP of projects, Audit Team • Lead project internal control with Audit Team, including follow up of main action plans to close issues • Lead valuations for the related projects of Nueva Centinela for a total value of US$9B+. Trained a team of 5 analysts on finance, project valuation and decision analysis topics • Lead the preparation of key documents of study phases related with Investment Review, Study Work Plan, Project Execution Strategy (PES) and Project Execution Plan (PEP). Worked in the independent project review processes (FQAR/IPR) for Centinela’s second concentrator (NCEN), the largest project in Antofagasta’s portfolio (CAPEX of US$5B+). Coordinated a team of 3 specialists, interact with VPs and Managers and presented main findings • Lead preparation of key documents to Financing Process to rise $2,5B in capital. The team received the award for the most important mining investment of the year (LatinFinance Project & Infraestructure Finance Award dinner) • Supported the M&A team in the Encuentro Sulphides transaction (Centinela). Audited economic model and prepared presentations to Antofagasta’s CEO and Executive committee • Critically analyses processes and outputs to identify variability and improvement opportunities • Draws on models, systems and tools to ensure an optimal approach in delivering business requests that drive process efficiency and standardization

  • 2019 - 2021
    Antofagasta Minerals

    Senior Engineer Project Valuation & Risk Management

    • Lead portfolio valuations and capital projects for a total value of US$12B+ • Created benchmarks and trade-off analysis tools to improve the cash prioritization of capital projects • Implementation of Risk Management processes for the largest collaborators (300p+) scope in projects portfolio • Developed a risk analysis tool, making visible future risks that will impact the objectives of the projects • Created standards of probabilistic analysis for major capital projects, incorporating Value at Risk (VaR) analysis

  • 2017 - 2019
    GEM Mining Consulting

    Senior Portfolio & Projects Engineer

    • Lead Project Valuation for decision making US$50B+ in top mining companies (Codelco, Anglo, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta Minerals) • Development of >30 Valuations of copper mining projects and other commodities, Risk Analysis, Options • Lead and implement complex models (Monte Carlos simulations) that integrate value chain with supporting of multidisciplinary teams (technical, specialists, executives) • Designed a model to measure the impact of main operational risks in performance of Los Bronces Asset • Worked with M&A Teams for Due Diligence process of QB2 and future growth

  • 2017 - 2019
    Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria

    Professor

    Development of 3 courses for Mining Civil Engineering carrer, Project Management Workshop, Surface Mining, Introduction to Title Work. Professor guide for Title memories

  • 2016 - 2017
    SQM

    Management Control Engineer

    • Lead Monitoring, reporting an análisis of operational indicators, expenses and costs for the month of SQM’s business line to support decisión making • Preparation and developed Executive Presentation to the Senior Management Team • Lead the integration of the annual budget of the Vicepresidencies

  • 2015 - 2016
  • 2015 - 2015
    BHP

    Engineering Trainee

    Analysis and Valuation of the best period to maintain the operation of Los Colorados Plant in Escondida

  • 2014 - 2014
    Collahuasi

    Engineering Trainee

    Improvement and modeling the Fuel Supply System for extraction trucks. Support to the Operational Management and the Programming and Dispatch Team

  • 2012 - 2012
    Codelco

    Engineering Trainee

    Development of a Maintenance Services Management System, through the Excel Macros tool VBA

Honors & awards

Expertise

Risk Management
Project Management
Project Valuation