Production Centres Advisory Board
To reflect the opportunities presented by the formation of the Production Centres within the Sustainable Minerals Institute, the Advisory Boards for the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre (BRC) and the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) have been combined. The combination of these two Centres seeks to bring together the world class processing abilities of the JKMRC, with the similarly world renowned research into Mass Underground Mining and other geological projects within the BRC, and aims toward developing innovative solutions to long standing problems in the mining industry. The combined Advisory Board will provide advice to the Directors' of BRC and JKMRC. The two Centres remain separate entities with their own skill bases and facilities. The representatives of this Advisory Board include academic and industry representatives that span the gamut of the mining industry focusing in the areas of mine geology, mining engineering and mineral processing. The Advisory board members are as follows.
Scott Cowie - Anglo American
Chair
Scott Cowie leads mining studies in Anglo American, from concept through to feasibility, across multiple products, geographies and mining methods. Mining studies are evaluations of proposed mining projects to determine whether the mineral resource can be mined economically.
Scott has more than 20 years’ experience in open-pit and underground operations, study management, and environmental permitting. He has held corporate, operational, and consulting engineering roles with PanAust, Tetra Tech, Glencore, Xstrata and MIM in Australia, Canada, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Scott has a degree in Engineering (Mining) from The University of Queensland, a degree in Law from Queensland University of Technology, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Rick Valenta - The University of Queensland
Director, Sustainable Minerals Institute
Professor Rick Valenta is the Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) at The University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia.
Rick leads research aimed at improving the discovery, mining and processing of hydrothermal ore deposits. Trained as a geologist, Rick worked for a short time in Petroleum exploration in Western Canada before coming to Australia to complete a PhD on the George Fisher Zn-Pb-Ag deposit in the Mount Isa region. He then spent 5 years as a lecturer at Monash University in an industry-supported role aimed at developing the science and practice of structural interpretation of geophysical data. During this period, he was involved in the development of very successful industry training programs and a significant number of publication and software outputs.
Rick then spent 23 years in industry roles including Chief Geologist, Chief Operating Officer, and multiple CEO roles. Companies and exploration teams under his direction have been involved in a significant number of mineral discoveries of copper, uranium and gold, as well as several transformative company transactions.
Rick is a Fellow of the AusIMM, a practising member of the Association of Professional Geologists of Ontario (APGO), a member of the Geological Society of Australia, the Society of Economic Geologists, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is also the Chair of the Research Committee of the Queensland Exploration Council.
Barry Harris - Sibanye-Stillwater Australia
Senior Vice President Australian Region, Sibanye-Stillwater Australia
Barry Harris is a resource industry professional with over 20 years’ experience, spanning roles responsible for corporate compliance, operational mine management, strategic planning, project development and execution, technical improvements, full cycle financial management, high performing team development and ongoing mentoring.
Graduating from The University of Queensland with an honour’s degree in Mining Engineering, Barry has gone on to complete post graduate studies including a Master’s of Mineral and Energy Economics, and is a graduate of the AICD and MIoD Company Directors courses.
Barry’s experience within the mining industry has included varied roles in underground coal and a range of metalliferous operations, spanning numerous jurisdictions. During this period he qualified for and held various statutory positions, responsible for the full range of operational delivery.
Barry is currently heading up all aspects of Sibanye-Stillwater ambitions within the Australian region.
Sue Keay - Consultant
Consultant, Future Work Group
An expert in emerging technologies, Sue Keay is passionate about developing new technology industries in Australia and founded and chairs Robotics Australia Group. She led the development of Australia’s Robotics roadmaps, outlining how robotics and automation will impact on every sector of the Australian economy. Sue is recognised by SME on their global list of 20 women making their mark in robotics and automation in 2021, as an outstanding contributor to the drone and robotics industry (2020) and as a Superstar of STEM by Science & Technology Australia.
Amy Lamb - Rio Tinto
Chief Advisor Process Development, Rio Tinto
Amy Lamb has over 25 years of experience within the mining industry and holds degrees in Chemical Engineering (BS), Metallurgical Engineering (MS) and an executive MBA. She volunteers as a Director on the Board of AusIMM and is a graduate of the AICD Directors’ course.
Amy’s expertise spans multi-commodity technical and production management, strategy development, strategic planning and project management. She has previously held operational and corporate roles in MMG and Rio Tinto. Her strengths and focus are the use of communication and cross-discipline involvement to achieve desired outcomes from change.
Virginia Lawson - Glencore
General Manager of Processing, Glencore Global Copper Assets
Virginia Lawson graduated from the University of Melbourne as a Chemical Engineer. Virginia spent her early years in small gold mines with WMC and MIM before moving to Mount Isa. After more than 10 years in various roles in Mount Isa Virginia moved to Canada with INCO (now Vale) where she had technical responsibility for all of the Vale Base Metal Mills in Canada. In more recent years Virginia has spent time consulting into operations through Glencore’s XPS in Canada and Glencore Technology in Australia.
Virginia is currently General Manager of Processing for Glencore’s Global Copper Assets. She is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Chartered Professional (Metallurgy).
Brigitte Seaman - Newmont
Head of Processing – TS Processing and Metallurgy, Newmont
Dr Brigitte Seaman is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of industry experience, spanning roles in ore deposit characterisation, planning, technology and innovation, business development, and technical services working for WMC, BHP, Newcrest and most recently Newmont.
Some of Brigitte’s most significant achievements in Technology and Innovation include leading the concept development and then supporting the successful implementation of the world’s first Hydrofloat in sulphide processing, and delivering a feasibility level development of a novel hydromet process.
In Technical Services, Brigitte has focused on delivering value through leading a team that focuses on operating discipline, project delivery, development of whole deposit knowledge, and continuous optimisation of processing in collaboration with site teams.
Brigitte’s academic credentials include an undergraduate and master’s degree from the University of Cape Town’s Chemical Engineering department and a PhD from UQ’s Sustainable Mineral Institute.
Ian Sheppard - Aeris Resources
C
hief Technical Officer, Aeris Resources
Ian Sheppard is a mining engineer with more than 30 years’ experience in mine operations, technical studies and business development gained in gold, base metals and iron ore. His experience includes both underground and open pit mining.
Ian has worked in Australia, Canada, Papua New Guinea and been involved with mines in Laos and Indonesia. His current role is the Chief Technical Officer for Aeris Resources, a small copper mining company based in Brisbane. Previously he held General Manager Roles with Norton Gold Fields Limited and PanAust Limited and more than seven years with Ok Tedi Mining in Papua New Guinea as General Manager and Executive Manager with responsibility for operations, technical services, business development and exploration. Mine management experience was at Mount Isa Mines in Queensland and the Kalgoorlie region in Western Australia.
Ian holds a degree in Mining Engineering from the University of New South Wales, a Masters in Mineral Economics from Curtin University of Technology, as well as a First Class Mine Managers Certificate from Western Australia. He is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Nyah Teiotu - BHP Mitsubishi Alliance
Specialist Mine Scheduling, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance
Nyah Teiotu is a Mining Engineer (UQ Bachelor of Engineering ’11 / Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) ’16), a proud Wemba Wemba woman, BHP’s first Indigenous female engineer, and the Queensland Resources Council’s Most Exceptional Indigenous Person of 2019.
Nyah has 8 years of experience working in Mining, is an alum and mentor of the BHP Tertiary Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (AIEF) Scholars , and advocates for more Indigenous people to work as professionals in the Mining Industry.
Nyah currently works as a prestrip engineer at BMAs Blackwater mine where she lives with her family.
Kerry Turnock - BHP
Global Practice Lead - Resource Characterisation, BHP
Kerry Turnock has 29 years of resource sector experience spanning geoscientific, operational, technical marketing and technology disciplines. This multidisciplinary experience underpins Kerry’s ability to understand the value of geoscientific inputs for organisational decisions ranging from grass roots exploration through mining and processing and to the end customer.
Kerry has worked in numerous commodities including iron ore, diamonds, uranium as well as supported coal, copper and chromite technology projects. Kerry is a passionate advocate for the voice of geoscience in multidisciplinary decision making as well as the role of technology in enabling geoscience transformation. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Geology from Monash University.