A new $1.25 million partnership between Evolution Mining and The University of Queensland will establish the Jim Askew Evolution Mining Fellowship, a five-year initiative focused on unlocking unrealised potential in orebodies to improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability in mining.
Named in honour of Jim Askew, one of Evolution’s founding directors and a well-respected leader in the resources sector, the Fellowship will fund a dedicated postdoctoral research position under the leadership of the program’s Chief Investigator, Dr Nathan Fox at UQ’s Sustainable Minerals Institute. It will also support additional postdoctoral researchers and higher degree research students.
Evolution’s Managing Director and CEO, Lawrie Conway, said the Fellowship reflects the company’s commitment to innovation and long-term thinking:
“We’re proud to partner with The University of Queensland to support research that will help shape the future of mining. At Evolution, we believe that innovation and sustainability go hand-in-hand, and this Fellowship reflects our commitment to the resources sector - driving progress, sharing knowledge, and creating value for the industry and the communities in which we operate.
“As one of our founding directors, Jim played an important role in evolving our business to who we are today. This Fellowship honours his technical expertise and lasting enthusiasm for our industry, for which we thank and acknowledge him.”
Jim Askew shared his thoughts on the Fellowship:
“I’m honoured and delighted that Evolution has endorsed this Fellowship at UQ, an institution that has been a world leader in resource industry research and impactful applications throughout my career. The harvesting of real-time geometallurgical variability, the analogues so derived - and the correlation with exploration and financial investment decisions - facilitates ever-better design, environmental and extraction decisions.
“With the power of data analysis now available to our industry - and the emergence of new critical minerals sectors, many with complex geometallurgical profiles - honing better outcomes is achievable. Having robust, benchmarked geometallurgy models that can dynamically respond to new data and evolving processing routes will be delivered within the five-year window of this Fellowship.
“To have been on Evolution’s journey, at Board level, for 14 years and to retire as the Company assumes the mantle of a major Aussie mining company, it is truly heartwarming to now see Evolution’s commitment to industry Fellowships. This support is a credit to Evolution thought leadership.”
Professor Rick Valenta, Director of UQ’s Sustainable Minerals Institute said this strengthens the University’s global leadership in resource innovation.
“This generous support from Evolution Mining is a powerful example of how industry collaboration is key to creating real change. By investing in cutting-edge research and the next generation of mining experts, this partnership reinforces UQ’s role in leading sustainable resource innovation and will help deliver more sustainable, efficient, and safe mining practices - both in Australia and around the world.”
The Fellowship will focus on integrating geological and processing data to better understand orebody behaviour, enabling predictive modelling and smarter decision-making across the mining lifecycle.
