Brierley Associates is pleased to announce that Dr. Jarek Trela has rejoined the firm in its Aurora, Illinois office as a Project Geologist. Jarek brings a wealth of expertise in critical minerals exploration, rare earth element characterization, and fluorite prospecting developed through roles spanning academia, government, and industry. At Brierley, Jarek will be involved with Geohazards group and contribute his expertise to abandoned mine land projects and other mining and underground construction related endeavors.
Jarek holds a PhD in Geosciences from Virginia Tech, an MS in Geology with emphasis on structural geology from Southern Illinois University, and a BS in Geology from Illinois State University. He previously worked at Brierley Associates from 2017 to 2021, contributing to geotechnical site characterization, subsidence mitigation studies, and support of excavation designs for tunnels and shafts.
Government Leadership in Critical Minerals
Prior to rejoining Brierley, Jarek served as a research geologist at the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS), in the Critical and Strategic Minerals (CSM) group, where he led investigations into carbonatite and lamprophyre geology within the Illinois-Kentucky Fluorspar District (IKFD). His work focused on characterizing rare earth element enrichment in carbonatite complexes, evaluating fluorite deposit prospectivity in Pope and Hardin Counties, Illinois, and Crittenden and Livingston Counties, Kentucky. As the principal investigator for a major Department of Defense-funded critical minerals program at Hicks Dome, Jarek helped secure over $2 million in federal funding to advance rare earth element-niobium-fluorite resource assessment, directly supporting U.S. national security objectives for domestic critical mineral production. Collectively, the CSM group was awarded nearly $20 million in federal funding during Dr. Trela’s time at the ISGS.
Consulting Expertise in Rare Earth Elements
Beyond his government role, Jarek founded and led Trela Rare Earth Elements LLC, providing strategic consulting services to CleanTech Vanadium Mining Corp. In this capacity, he conducted desktop and field-based geological evaluations of fluorite and rare earth element prospects throughout the IKFD, utilizing structural mapping, geochemical data integration, and historical mining analysis to identify high-priority exploration targets. His consulting work emphasizes applying advanced geospatial analysis and petrologic understanding to optimize exploration efficiency and reduce capital risk in early-stage mineral prospect evaluation.
Technical Expertise
Jarek’s experience spans geotechnical field exploration and site characterization, subsidence and ground stability assessment, carbonatite petrology and geochemistry, igneous rock classification and genesis, structural geology and fault-controlled mineralization, rare earth element enrichment mechanisms, fluorite deposit evaluation and characterization, GIS-based prospectivity mapping, and government-industry collaboration on strategic minerals initiatives.