Nicolas Saintilan

Assistant Professor

Nicolas (Nic) Saintilan is an Assistant Professor of Mineral Resources and Sulfide Re-Os geochronology in ore deposits. Nic started at UA in January 2025. Prior to this, he was a Senior Researcher at ETH Zürich in Switzerland where he founded and led one of the three world-class sulfide Re-Os geochronology laboratories in the world between 2018 and 2023. Nic is a prominent ore deposit geologist who uniquely combines the study of ore-forming processes with sulfide Re-Os geochronology to provide genetic models of ore deposits and new exploration proxies. Such knowledge is then readily used in the industry of mineral exploration for time- and cost-efficient exploration strategies.

Nic has a unique profile with 4.5 years of experience in mineral exploration before his PhD at the University of Geneva (2011 – 2015). He then was trained successively by the Re-Os experts Prof. R. Creaser (UofA, Edmonton) and Prof D. Selby (Durham Uni, UK) to become the rising expert in sulfide Re-Os dating.