Darrell Martindale
P.Eng., M.Sc.
Darrell became a WaterSMART Special Advisor in 2018 after having spent over 30 in the mining and oil and gas industries where he focused on the environmental and regulatory aspects of operations. He has held a variety of leadership positions in various international locations, and is widely recognized for his ability to lead collaborative groups and teams and to ensure the recommendations that stem from these groups are implemented.
Darrell is an acknowledged expert in environmental performance improvement, and has held many prominent positions in this area throughout North American, Asia and the Americas. Notable roles include his work at Shell Canada where he developed and led the Heavy Oil strategy to reduce the use of fresh water, and where he led several project initiatives to develop better ways to remove salinity and dissolved organics from water to increase recycle rates.
Most recently, Darrell managed the communication and submission of all regulatory permit and approval conditions associated with the construction of the $1.2 billion Green Fields Rainy River Mine in northwestern Ontario. During this project, he also built a tracking and auditing tool to manage the >1000 conditions and commitments made to various stakeholders during the permitting process.
Darrell is a past Chair for the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) Demonstration Pit Lakes project, where he initiated a strong collaborative relationship with Alberta Innovates to financially support the project and to initiate a research program at government-held facilities. He also drove the development and financing of a commercial scale TiO2 ceramic membrane re-risking pilot plant to clean process water at Albian Sands.
While at Shell, Darrell represented the company in the development of the Water Environmental Priority Area for COSIA. In this role, he successfully worked with representatives from 13 other oil sand operators to develop the Scope of Work and the Aspirational and Performance goals to improve environmental performance. Darrell also actively worked on the Jackpine Mine Expansion Regulatory hearing as panel member.
At WaterSMART, Darrell focusses on watershed management and water in agriculture, as well as sustainable management systems such as the Alliance for Water Stewardship.
Darrell has a B.Sc. in Mineral Engineering and an MSc. in Agricultural Engineering focused on Water Resource Management, both from the University of Alberta.