Andrew Dacey
Senior Geologist
Andrew Dacey is an experienced geologist and mining analyst with over 30 years’ experience in the resource sector. He graduated with a degree in Geology from Victoria University, New Zealand and completed a Masters of Economic Geology at CODES, Tasmania, Australia. He has worked with both exploration & mining companies as well as investment banks and mining advisory firms.
Andrew started his career in his home country of New Zealand and moved on to the Tanami Desert of Australia gaining vital exploration skills in both epithermal and orogenic gold exploration. Four years with Bolnisi Gold in the Republic of Georgia exploring for VMS deposits also included time at Quartzite, Georgia’s largest gold mine.
In 2002 working for Quincunx Ltd he was given a highly gold anomalous rock and told to “go find the rest of it”. There followed a 6-month period of classic boots on the ground exploration which culminated in a 10-hole drilling programme at the Bayan Airag project in western Mongolia. The first drill hole intersected 48 metres of 3.79 g/t Au and the second intersected 71.4 metres of 2.10 g/t Au confirming Bayan Airag as a significant discovery that would later expand to a total resource of 2.3Moz Au equivalent.
Following Mongolia Andrew worked in Mexico, initially on the Ocampo feasibility study and later as part of the team that rediscovered the Palmarejo epithermal deposit in the Sierra Madre of Mexico. Andrew first worked in Saudi Arabia in 2004/05 as Ma’aden’s Chief Geologist where he was responsible the exploration of over 10,000km2 of highly prospective exploration ground that included the ad Duwayhi gold deposit. In 2005 he left Ma’aden and co-founded Lydian International (TSX:LYD), now developing the 5Moz Au Armulsar project in Armenia.
Andrew then spent five years working for several investment banks including Haywood Securities and Evolution Securities, both in London, before forming Momentum Group, a boutique natural resource advisory partnership. In 2019 Andrew founded Element-46 Ltd, a PGM and nickel focused exploration company with a Scandinavian focus. E46 was successfully sold in 2021 to an Australian listed exploration group.
Andrew continued to consult to a variety of exploration companies active in the UK, Mali, Nicaragua, Sweden and Zambia before joining Royal Road full time in 2025.
He is a Registered Professional Geologist with the Australian Institute of Geoscientists and a Fellow of the IOM3, The Geological Society of London and the Society of Economic Geologists. Andrew is a CP/QP under the JORC and NI 43-101 reporting codes
