Founded in 2012 by Kimberly Darlington, Refined Substance is a bilingual (English and French) team of investor relations and marketing professionals, writers, editors, translators, and technical personnel who are all passionate about the mining industry. Together we have combined decades of expertise in mining with proven marketing and communications strategies from different industries.
We are proud members of the Prospector and Developers Association of Canada, the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association, the Canadian Investor Relations Institute, and Women in Mining Canada.
The Team
Kimberly Darlington, President and Founder
Kimberly has more than two decades of experience in the fields of marketing, communications, investor relations, and public relations across a wide variety of industries. In 2012, she turned her sights on applying her skills and experience to the mining industry and founded Refined Substance, a Montreal-based company that takes the substance of what mining and exploration companies seek to communicate and refines it so that it resonates with targeted audiences and stakeholders. The company offers strategic communications and marketing services tailored to the mining industry in both English and French.
Kimberly serves as a director for a number of non-profit boards, including that of the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association (QMEA/AEMQ), and is a past Chair of the Montreal chapter of Women in Mining, a global organization dedicated to the promotion and recognition of women pursuing careers in the mining sector.
Annemarie Brissenden, Director of Investor Relations
A Certified Professional in Investor Relations (CPIR), Annemarie is passionate about empowering shareholders to make educated investment decisions. She has played lead roles in several financings, an initial public offering, and a spin out. Her career highlights include advising on shareholder activism, rebranding several public companies, and working on a transformative corporate merger. She has written for the Canadian Investor Relations Institute’s (CIRI) IR Leader, and served as a judge for the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada’s Awards of Excellence. Currently a director serving on CIRI’s national board, she has guest-lectured on investor relations and corporate writing at Seneca and Conestoga colleges, as well as CIRI’s Essentials of Investor Relations course.
Ryan Davies, Digital Content Manager
Ryan moved to Canada from England, where he had previously been a journalist covering local and national sports. Since establishing himself in Collingwood, Ontario, Ryan has become a sought-after expert when it comes to creative social media content. In his work with Refined Substance, which he joined three years ago, he graphically designs and creates visual images for posts and combines his creativity on the visual side with short, compelling messages that encourage engagement across all social media channels. He is particularly astute at crafting social media content that captivates a diverse range of audiences, from business clients and investors to retail consumers and the general public. He then schedules our clients’ social media calendars, planning posts weeks ahead of time to ensure a steady and consistent degree of activity and engagement.
Meriem Marrakchi, Translation/Adaptation Expert
Meriem has been applying her love of languages, particularly French, to marketing and social media content for nearly a decade. She has a Master’s Degree in Applied Foreign Languages from Paris Diderot university and is currently pursuing the Law and Tax Management Master’s at EDHEC Business School in Lille. She specializes in adapting technical reports and research for a more general audience.
Originally from Morocco, Meriem grew up speaking French and learned English in her teens, quickly becoming fluent. Her past experience includes writing for social media and advertising for the automotive industry and designing and implementing a full ESL (English as a second language) program for a major industrial client in France. Since joining Refined Substance about three years ago, she has applied her translation and adaptation skills to a number of our clients, most notably in the mining industry, where she breaks down complicated technical terms into social media posts and compelling blog posts that general public audiences can understand.
Charlotte Heward, Consultant
Raised in Montreal, Charlotte Heward recently graduated from St. Francis Xavier University with an Advanced Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and a Minor in Sport Management. She brings a strong background in marketing, communications, and digital strategy, with experience in political campaign management, the non-profit sector, and social media strategy for the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum. At the Hall of Fame, she played a key role in strengthening brand awareness, enhancing audience engagement, and promoting national events. Fluent in English and French, Charlotte specializes in brand development, project management, and communications strategy, helping organizations drive growth, strengthen their market presence, and achieve their strategic goals.
Youri Nabbad, Consultant
Youri trained as a journalist and moved to Canada in 2018, where he worked as a reporter for several news outlets in Montreal. From print journalism to video reporting, he built a versatile skill set spanning writing, video editing, and visual content creation. That path naturally led him into communications and digital content, where he developed a strong interest in storytelling, emerging short-form formats, and social media strategy.
Youri brings prior experience in the mining sector, having previously led communications at O3 Mining, where he helped develop a content strategy to raise the company’s visibility among investors and local communities, up until its acquisition by Agnico Eagle. At Refined Substance, he draws on that background to craft strategies that address the industry’s specific challenges and turn them into clear and engaging narratives.
Saoirse Jordan-Wood, Consultant
Saoirse is a third-year mining engineering student at McGill University, with considerable underground experience from her time as a co-op student at Vale Base Metals in Sudbury. She is knowledgeable in technical data handling, data migration, and brings strong analytical and problem-solving skills to the mining industry. Born and raised in Montreal, she is fluent in both English and French, as well as a solid foundation in Latin. Saoirse is eager to apply these skills to consulting, and is thrilled to be joining the Refined Substance team.