Meeting mineral supply demand for the energy transition - preliminary perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for improving mine project development time frames.

Speaker: Mark Noppé

Abstract: The current typical long lead times to bring new mining projects into production is expected to have a significant if not material consequence for meeting the expected demand for mineral supply to resource the green energy transition minerals and metals. Accelerating the development time frames of new mines raises concerns with stakeholders over what this may mean for: 1) the confidence in investment and lending decisions, and 2) the responsible development and operation of these new projects / mines. This is especially pertinent since the mining industry is widely considered to still be on a journey to improving its approach to social and environmental dimensions.

There is also concern that the primary contributors to project delays are not well understood, and a large range of factors can be pointed to, including operational procedures, company governance frameworks, financing, policy or regulatory environments, community acceptance or technical challenges. Given the activity within the resources sector around this topic the intent is for this to become a major new "Resourcing for Decarbonisation" Strategic Program initiative. This seminar will present some preliminary perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for improving mine project development time frames.

Bio: Professor Mark Noppé is currently the CEO of JKTech (the technology-transfer company of the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI)), on secondment from his role as Director of the SMI’s BRC. Mark provides research and advice on mining and geoscience project assessment, development and operations, supported by 25 year’s consulting and 12 year’s industry experience with Anglo American. Prior to joining SMI in October 2023 Mark was the group chair of SRK Consulting and a Corporate Consultant, where he and the teams focused on a range of geosciences, project development and mining projects for industry and investment clients. He was MD of the SRK Consulting (Australasia) and prior to that was the founding MD of Xstract Mining Consultants. Mark is a Fellow of the AusIMM, an AusIMM director, a non-executive director of junior explorer Litchfield Minerals Limited and mentors with the International Women in Resources Mining annual program.