WASMA enjoyed a return to it’s traditional Gala format after a few uncertain years, with a sit-down dinner at the Ritz-Carlton on November 5.
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this fun and lovely event.
The WASMA Sandvik Gala began with two fabulous performers – the Gold Digger statue and roving ‘how did he do that?’ magician and continued with ongoing conversations and dancing throughout the night.
Decarbonisation was the focus of WASMA’s October Resources Innovation and Collaboration (RIC) event. As an important topic on everyone’s agenda, it was great to hear the insights from leaders in this area and to see the close collaboration in their work.
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions has introduced AutoMine® Mapping Solution, an innovative new product designed to maximise productivity and improve safety of autonomous vehicle navigation in underground mining operations by utilising mapped data.
AutoMine® Mapping Solution is Sandvik’s next generation product that enables a vehicle to safely record an underground 3D environment with a mine mapping tool, and convert 3D maps to 2D. Faster configuration, and the possibility to continue to operate other equipment within the area while it is being mapped, increases productivity and efficiency.
AutoMine® Mapping Solution’s innovative technology reduces the time and cost involved in manual mapping and enables a safer, more efficient autonomous underground operating environment. It can be used on all types of underground equipment (loaders, trucks and drills), eliminating the need for dedicated equipment and resource to map the area.
“With AutoMine® Mapping Solution, we are progressing to the next generation of innovative automation solutions, bringing new technologies to the underground mining industry which are designed to maximise our customers’ productivity and safety,” said Ty Osborne, Product Line Manager Underground Automation Sales at
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions.
“AutoMine® Mapping Solution is easy to use and turns real-time data from the mine into 3D models, providing a clear customer advantage in the planning and prioritising of their automated operations and increasing production control,” Osborne said.
AutoMine® Mapping Solution will be available to order later in 2022.
Neil Warburton with WASMA President Christian Price after being awarded WASMA life membership
Story by Ngaire McDiarmid
Mentoring people and seeing them succeed is one of mining veteran Neil Warburton’s top three career highlights.
His willingness to give back to the industry where he’s enjoying a standout career led to being awarded a WA School of Mines Alumni life membership at WASMA’s Sundowner in Kalgoorlie during Diggers and Dealers.
“To be recognised for the work I’ve put back into the School of Mines and the Alumni itself, I’m very humbled and very proud,” he said.
“It’s a great honour.”
Neil is Chair of the WASMA Advisory Council and has spent 40-plus years in the industry – although mining wasn’t originally on his radar, growing up on a dairy farm near Brunswick Junction in WA’s southwest.
He followed his two older brothers to board at Scotch College in Perth but “a disagreement with the headmaster about how the school should be run” saw him finish his education at Bunbury Senior High School.
The family business had meanwhile been split between his older brothers and father, who told him to find something else to do with his life as they were not going to split the farm again for him – which was “probably the best thing Dad ever did”, Neil said with a smile.
He recalled a school visit by WASM explaining how its graduates were regarded worldwide and was inspired to apply, receiving a scholarship to start mining engineering in 1974 at the Kalgoorlie Campus.
Neil describes his first job after graduation in 1979, with Western Mining Corporation in Kambalda, as a career highlight.
“The amount of freedom they gave me as a junior mining engineer, I think at the age of 24 or 25 I was producing about 8% of the world’s nickel, being in charge at one of the larger underground mines there,” Neil said.
“WMC really looked after people and encouraged new ideas and new technology … and really gave the grads the experience and the know-how and the training that you need to gain a rounded background in all types of mining techniques and challenges.”
His next highlight was joining Barminco in the late 1990s, becoming CEO in 2007 and building up the company (now part of Perenti Group) – doubling revenue and establishing it as the largest underground hard rock mining contractor in Australia and West Africa.
“The third highlight of my career is actually training and mentoring people,” Neil said.
“At one point we had 50 to 60 mining engineers that were working within the Barminco group and the majority of those were out of the WA School of Mines.
“We were fortunate enough to mentor them, train them up to understand that people make good mines work and a lot of them are now running significant, large operations like Bill Beament and Stuart Tonkin to name a few.
“That’s another highlight, seeing them do so well.”
As for his own mentor, Neil named industry icon Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall, who was a director of WMC when Neil left the company in 1988 and had approached him, along with the chairman of Coolgardie Gold, to become managing director of the gold miner.
“Our board meetings used to be in Sydney, so we spent quite a bit of time on the plane every month, going over and back, talking,” Neil said.
He said Sir Laurence provided leadership on how to handle people, crises and go through downturns.
“He said ‘You know, the lights get turned back on again, you’ve just got to buckle down’ – he was an exceptional person, leader and a really good mentor which his wisdom and advice I still use today in the companies I’m associated with.”
Neil is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, plus sits on the board of several ASX-listed mining and services companies.
He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Curtin University earlier this year for distinguished service to Curtin and the mining and resources sector.
Neil cited the old adage – the harder you work, the luckier you get.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be lucky enough throughout my working life, and hopefully there’s a few more years yet,” Neil said.
He hopes to see sustained strong leadership and high standards at WASM so graduates continue to be regarded among the best in the world and the school retains its world-wide acknowledged “mining excellence” brand.
He also paid tribute to the Alumni for its role in supporting networking and promoting the industry, saying it had helped improve the perception of a career in mining and associated industries.
“I would certainly recommend it to anyone,” he said.
“The world’s your limit and with the revolution to decarbonisation, the mining industry is now front and centre in this new industrialisation era utilising clean energy metals.”
The space industry is in place in Australia and well underway to keep growing, not only that, it exists right under our nose here in WA. The State already works closely with the Australian and European Space Agencies…. which you can see with the ground stations (aka the dish) in New Norcia!
In August, the WASM Alumni collaborated with AROSE (Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth), a member driven consortium based in WA, to open up the discussion between resources and the space sector, to inspire and excite! The opportunities are already here to transfer space technology into mining, and to leverage the wealth of experience we have in our long history from remote operations in the Pilbara… directly into the Australian lunar rover space mission!
We heard from ….
The first AROSE Chair and unofficially Chief Inspiration Officer at AROSE, David Flanagan AM CitWA (and WASM Alumni!)
Space Director at Fugro, Dawn McIntosh (and a 20 year NASA Alumni!)
And our panel chair, AROSE Program Director, Michelle Keegan (also WASM Alumni!), and
The States first Space Director at JTSI, James Yuen.
In April, we held our second Resources Innovation Collaboration (RIC) event for the year. It was held online, however all upcoming events are planned to continue face to face.
We were lucky to have three great Alumni members speak at our last event, with the theme focused on backing their commodity. Working across both gold and battery minerals, we had some healthy competitiveness displayed across the panellists. Backing Lithium was Pilbara Minerals CEO Ken Brinsden, backing Nickel was Blackstone Minerals MD Scott Williamson and long time gold supporter Bellevue Gold CEO Darren Stralow.
At such an important time globally, every one of their commodities is critical to what we need on our decarbonisation paths. While not as critical to building batteries, it was very exciting to hear the Bellevue Gold story to be the most sustainable gold miner…. right here in the Goldfields. Thanks again to Ken, Scott and Darren… great work all round on the panel and driving your commodities
We look ahead to June for our next event where WASM:MECE will showcase their research into both battery minerals and also the integration of digital technology into our operations.
In 2021, Kurt Charlton was awarded the WASM Alumni Gold Medal. The medal is presented to a WASM:MECE graduating student who not only achieves academic excellence, but demonstrates community involvement and industry engagement.
Kurt exemplified everything WASMA was looking for in a recipient. During his studies in Chemical Engineering and Finance, Kurt gained experience producing ammonia in the Pilbara, refining crude oil in a refinery in Melbourne, researching a chemical which has uses in cancer treatment, staying with rural families in Cambodia, working with students on the autism spectrum and much more.
A year since graduating, Kurt says he has done a lot of learning as he’s navigated his way through a new career as a Process Engineer with Clough. He has also maintained his links to his community work, staying involved with Youth Outreach in regional WA.
“In my first year I have worked in a variety of teams, some where the people closest to my level were 10-11 years my senior,” he explained. “So, I have had to learn quickly to get up to speed.”
During the past year, Kurt has also spent six months as an intern with Clough client Inpex, providing him with variety in his experience.
Enjoying the sunset in Laverton
“I have enjoyed getting to expand some of my existing technical skills, like process modelling, as well as learning new skills and processes, like pressure relieving, depressuring and process safety time calculations,” he said.
“It’s also been interesting working with senior staff, and understanding the hierarchy and quality assurance processes, which was all new to me.”
Kurt said one of his biggest learnings has been that there can be as much focus on non-technical work as there is on technical work, and that it is important to work closely with clients and to manage his time.
Time management skills have come in handy as Kurt has juggled his involvement with Youth Outreach in regional areas. Through his voluntary work with Engineers Without Borders, Kurt took part in a trip to the South West where 13 volunteers worked with 1500 students over the course of a week to provide STEM based learning activities.
Kurt with students at Wiluna Remote Community School
He was also part of a trip to the Goldfields, to work with 221 students, including students at remote communities.
“It has been really rewarding work,” he said. “Particularly working in remote communities.”
The team is now working towards another program to the South West this June, which aims to be bigger than last year’s. However, work commitments mean that Kurt won’t be able to take part in all programs.
In terms of advice for other students, Kurt recommended gaining a variety of experience during University studies. “One thing that I wanted to do while I was at Uni was both operator and consulting internships,” he said. “This would have given me more experience coming into this work, but I didn’t have time to do both.”
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions has introduced AutoMine® Mapping Solution, an innovative new product designed to maximise productivity and improve safety of autonomous vehicle navigation in underground mining operations by utilising mapped data.
The space industry is in place in Australia and well underway to keep growing, not only that, it exists right under our nose here in WA. The State already works closely with the Australian and European Space Agencies…. which you can see with the ground stations (aka the dish) in New Norcia!
In April, we held our second Resources Innovation Collaboration (RIC) event for the year. It was held online, however all upcoming events are planned to continue face to face.
