By Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo., FGC on August 27, 2026

Remembering the late Dr. Neil D.S. Westoll, P. Geo.

Dr. Neil D.S. Westoll, P.Geo, FGC passed away peacefully at the age of 85 on August 12, 2026, after a brief battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Maureen, his daughter, Kathryn, his son, Andrew, his grandchildren, Ivy and Remy, and his daughters-in-law, Andrea and Samantha.  

Dr. Westoll was widely experienced in mineral exploration and business development internationally, having spent over 50 years with senior and junior Canadian and international mining companies in exploration and business development and as an independent consultant to the mining industry. Since 2001, he has focused on the environmental and consultation aspects of the mining business. This has included work in notable areas such as the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario.

Dr. Westoll had a long association with professional geoscience in Ontario. In 1999, at the request of the Association of Geoscientists of Ontario (AGO), the leading the drive to achieve licensure of geoscientists in Ontario at the time, he formed and chaired the AGO Advisory Committee. Members of this committee included a diverse cross-section of seasoned industry and regulatory professionals to provide experiential advice to the nascent professional association. 

This committee provided valuable support and feedback as AGO worked on developing a detailed business plan for formation of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (APGO). As well, the committee was instrumental in helping raise much needed financing for AGO and APGO. The Advisory Committee was directly responsible for raising the initial $100,000 seed capital with a kickoff donation of $25,000 from Falconbridge. This was followed by matching donations from INCO and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Over the next two years this committee helped AGO and APGO raise over $300,000 for the startup financing of APGO.

In September 1999, Dr. Westoll and Mr. Andy Cooper represented AGO at an important meeting with Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), called at the request of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. While both sides agreed that a combined legislative act was no longer an option, PEO agreed to support AGO in seeking an independent act for licensure of geoscientists provided that there would be no impact on professional engineers who practiced in the area of geoscience. This was a pivotal meeting that brought the important support of PEO on-side and began the process of building a strong relationship between PEO and the future new association that would license geoscientists in Ontario.

Following passage of the Professional Geoscientists Act, 2000, Dr. Westoll was appointed to the Transitional Council of the APGO in August 2000 and served for three years until the changeover to an elected Council in 2003. He took on the challenging job of being the first treasurer at a time when finances were very tight. He then served for a further three years as a councillor-at-large on the elected Council to June 2006. His experience was invaluable during these early years of building the nascent professional association.

He received his registration as a P.Geo. with APGO, now Professional Geoscientists Ontario (PGO), on May 24, 2002 and was a practicing member for 23 years until retiring in 2025 as a P.Geo. (non- practicing).

Throughout his career, Dr. Westoll has worked with a number of industry associations most notably Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM). From 2002 to 2003, he was the project manager for the launch of the PDAC Environmental Excellence in Exploration (E3) and spearheaded successful fundraising for a startup budget of $500,000. E3 was the first-ever publicly available environmental best practice guidance for mineral exploration and mining. E3 was expanded by PDAC to E3 Plus in 2009 and has now evolved into a suite of resources known as the Driving Responsible Exploration (DRE). He later  was a director of the PDAC from 2008 to 2014.

Following the launch of the E3 Project in 2003, Dr. Westoll joined Gartner Lee Limited as their link to the mining and exploration industry. He brought in business from the Victor Diamond project in Attawapiskat, from the Government of Nunavut to assist with developing a mining and exploration policy and eventually was retained to work for the major companies in the Ontario Ring of Fire, including Spider Resources and Noront. This involved travel and meeting all across northern Canada, including in Nunavut from Pond Inlet in the north to Cambridge Bay in the west, and south to Rankin Inlet. When Gartner Lee was taken over by AECOM in 2008, their clients retained him to continue the work. In particular, he worked closely with Noront in their efforts to permit the Eagle’s Nest deposit near Webique and consult with the local First Nation communities.

In January 2014, he joined as a founding director of the APGO Education Foundation (APGOEF). The Foundation is focussed on educating the public about geoscience, supporting undergraduate students studying geoscience and supporting internationally trained geoscientists to obtain their professional registration in Ontario.

In 2025, APGOEF celebrated its 10^th anniversary.  It’s innovative flagship website, GeoscienceINFO.com launched in June 2017, now has 58 virtual field trips with a remarkable 571 stops plus a wide range of information to educate the public about geoscience. During those 10 years, APGOEF has awarded 19 scholarships totaling $95,000 to 3^rd year geoscience students that are proceeding to 4^th year with a curriculum program enabling them to complete the knowledge requirements for professional registration. In addition, APGOEF has awarded $31,500 in bursaries to support internationally trained geoscientists immigrating to Canada to obtain their professional registration with PGO. Dr. Westoll retired from the board of directors in June 2025.

Dr. Bill Pearson, P.Geo., Founding President of APGO and Founding Chair of APGOEF commented: “Neil was a great friend and colleague who made many important contributions to our success launching APGO and later APGOEF, not to mention his many contributions to the Canadian mining industry. I will especially miss his great sense of humour and his keen insights in all manner of areas. Sincerest condolences to his wife Maureen and his family. RIP my friend, you will be greatly missed.”

A Celebration of Life for Neil will be held at the Ontario Racquet Club (884 Southdown Rd. Mississauga), Neil and Maureen’s beloved home-away-from-home, on Saturday, October 10, 2026 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. with a reflection of his life at 2 p.m. Details are at: Neil Westoll Obituary.