• Overview
• Market Value Appraisal
• Expert Witness
• Supporting Services

Expert Witness

Trevor Ellis is often called upon to conduct expert valuation research for litigation cases involving mineral properties, including mines and quarries. He has testified as an Expert Witness in depositions and trials at many court levels, including internationally. In some cases he may be an expert retained on behalf of a mining company, while in others he may be retained by a party opposing a mining company. In many cases for which Mr. Ellis was retained, a settlement was reached shortly after he delivered his fact-based report.

EIS retains additional professional expertise as necessary, such as mining engineering or mineral processing.

Key Benefits

The mineral property market value appraisal expertise of Trevor Ellis for exploration tracts, mines and quarries is well recognized in the U.S. and international minerals industry. Professional writings of Mr. Ellis are quoted in court decisions for cases in which he has not been involved. He is devoted to ethical principles and lack of bias in his work, and has unsurpassed knowledge of standards for the combination of mineral resource-reserve classification and fair valuation of mineral property interests.

Ellis’s experience has allowed him to testify on multiple aspects of a mineral property, including: geology, exploration strategies, physical tests on crushed stone, mineral resource and reserve estimation, mining methods, mining cost estimates, and mineral product markets, including supply-demand issues for sand, gravel, and crushed stone. For some litigation cases, the law firm that has retained Mr. Ellis has decided to retain no other expert, while opposing counsel has had three or four experts testify. Being a Certified General Appraiser (Colorado) usually allows Trevor Ellis to easily and quickly obtain licensing in other U.S. states.

Our Topic Areas

Mr. Ellis and EIS have been retained to provide expert services for litigations involving a wide range of mineral commodities, pertaining to varied mineral property and business interests, for a variety of dispute, damage, condemnation and regulatory takings, and taxation claims. We specialize in applying appropriate standards and methods to our gathering and analysis of information during the development of a value opinion.

Trevor Ellis is often retained to review in detail the work of other experts and specialists. This can be as a standalone assignment or a part of a larger assignment.

Our Expertise

Trevor Ellis has 45+ years of professional experience, which has included working throughout a wide range of aspects of the minerals, petroleum, and other energy industry sectors. This includes working on grass roots minerals exploration projects through feasibility studies, mine development and operation, and site remediation after mine closure. Since 1995, Mr. Ellis has focused his work on market value appraisal of mineral property interests, often selecting the more challenging assignments.

Ellis is the recipient of the 2018 Mineral Economics Award from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, “In recognition of his tireless leadership in mineral property valuation.”

He is a leading author and frequently invited speaker nationally and internationally on minerals and petroleum industry valuation standards, and other minerals industry topics. He has written or presented approximately 90 professional papers, of which 50 have been published, 19 as peer reviewed technical papers.

Ellis has Chaired the Valuation Standards Committee of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) since he founded the Committee in 2012. In this role, he led the development of 2016 (first) and 2017 editions of the SME Valuation Standards. He also represented the SME from 2012 to 2018 on the International Mineral Valuation Committee (IMVAL), during which he had significant involvement in the conceptualization and development of the IMVAL Template of mineral property valuation standards and guidelines.

Mr. Ellis was the 2001-2008 Chairman and founder of the Extractive Industries Expert Group of the International Valuation Standards Committee, now the International Valuations Standards Council (IVSC). The standards developed by the Expert Group for valuation of minerals and petroleum industry assets, were first published in 2005 in the International Valuation Standards Seventh Edition. To supplement the standards, the Expert Group also drafted best practice guidelines for valuations in the extractive industries. The guidelines have been adopted by the International Institute of Minerals Appraisers (IIMA).

Ellis holds a MSc Degree in Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines (1978) and BSc Degree in Geology from The University of Melbourne (1970). He has completed graduate level Business Administration studies at The University of Nebraska and The University of Melbourne. He is a past President (2000-2002) of the IIMA with which he is a Certified Minerals Appraiser, a Fellow of The Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (AusIMM) with which he is a Chartered Professional Geologist, a Certified Professional Geologist with The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG), and was licensed until 2022 as a Certified General Appraiser (Colorado).