Lakehead University

The Department of Geology at Lakehead University comprises six tenured and tenure-track faculty members within the Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies and offers undergraduate programs in Geology, Environmental Earth Science, and Water Science, as well as a Master of Science in Geology. The Department has an established national and international research profile, with strengths in economic geology, geochemistry, petrology, structural geology, tectonics, early Earth-ocean–atmosphere–terrestrial systems, and biogeochemistry. We are a small department with a strong commitment to experiential learning and well-established connections with local industry and government.

Homepage: https://www.lakeheadu.ca/programs/departments/geology

We are recruiting one Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF) and four MSc students for a five-year, industry-partnered research program on the structural and geochemical controls of gold mineralization in Archean granite-greenstone belts. The program focuses on the Great Bear gold project in the Red Lake greenstone belt of the Superior Province, in collaboration with Kinross Gold. The team will combine field mapping, drill core, microstructural analysis, petrology, geochemistry and high-precision geochronology to investigate how shear zone-hosted gold deposits form.

Description
The Postdoctoral Fellow (5 years) leads the structural and metamorphic framework and links deformation and metamorphism to gold enrichment and remobilization. The PDF will undertake field and regional structural mapping, EBSD analysis of crystallographic preferred orientations and misorientations, and geochronology; Raman zircon low-temperature thermochronology to constrain the timing and rates of tectonometamorphic events; metamorphic overprint of the intrusive rocks using pseudosection modelling and thermobarometry (conventional, Zr-in-titanite, Ti-in-quartz, chlorite, quartz-in-garnet Raman barometry); fluid composition by Raman and FTIR. The PDF will co-mentor the MSc students.

The position will be based in Thunder Bay, ON, Canada under the supervision of Dr Tobias Stephan and Dr Pete Hollings.

Qualifications
Postdoctoral Fellow: A PhD (completed or near completion) in structural geology, metamorphic petrology, economic geology or a related field. Experience with microstructural analysis (ideally EBSD), metamorphic petrology and/or geochronology, and a record of peer-reviewed publications. Experience in Precambrian terranes or orogenic gold systems is an asset.

Send a single PDF to Dr. Tobias Stephan (tstephan@lakehead.ca) with the subject line “Great Bear – PDF”. Include:

1. Cover letter (max. 1 page) stating your relevant experience
2. CV
3. Names and contact details of or three (PDF) referees

Review of applications begins 4 December 2026 and continues until the positions are filled. Anticipated start
date is early 2027.