Marc Twining

Chair – SAEMC Organising Committee, AusIMM

Welcome

TBA

Uncle Karl Tamaru Smith

Deadly Mob

Welcome to Country

Hon Tom Koutsantonis MP

South Australian Minister for Energy and Mining

Opening address 

Tom was raised in the western suburbs. He attended Cowandilla and Netley Primary Schools before attending Adelaide High School and going on to study at Adelaide University.

The son of Greek migrants, Anthony and Dimitra, Tom joined the Australian Labor Party at a young age with the encouragement of Labor stalwart and former SA Deputy Premier, the late Jack Wright. Tom first volunteered in Jack Wright’s office when he was 14.

Tom was elected to the South Australian State Parliament on 11 October 1997, at age 26. Tom was elevated to the Ministry on 3 March 2009 and remained in Cabinet until the 2018 State election. Over this period, he served as Minister for Correctional Services, Youth and Volunteers, Gambling, Small Business, Transport, Planning and Infrastructure, Mining and Energy, State Development and as Treasurer.

He is SA Labor’s longest serving MP.

Dr Bronwyn Camac

Director, Geological Survey of South Australia (GSSA) –
Department for Energy and Mining

SA Exploration & Mining Review 

Bronwyn has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry as both a geologist and in management. She has worked across the sector starting out with Comalco Exploration (now part of Rio Tinto), Wiltshire Geological Services, Origin Energy, Beach Energy, Santos Ltd, and later as a consultant for InGauge Energy. Her experience includes precompetitive digital log data creation and management, operations geology, conventional and unconventional oil and gas exploration and development, and government and stakeholder engagement. Bronwyn is the current Federal President of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA).

Bronwyn gained her PhD in Engineering Science in 2010, which focussed on using numerical modelling methods to predict the occurrence of naturally fractured shale rock to apply to seal risk; and maintains interest in this area having supervised various post-graduate projects and application of the techniques in unconventional gas resources.

She has now turned her attention to the minerals industry and has taken a position with the Geological Survey of SA as Director. This exciting opportunity allows her to work with a great team of experienced and highly skilled geoscientists and data engineers to deliver high quality precompetitive data sets and industry advice across the mineral exploration sector in South Australia, with a specific focus on delivering the Critical Minerals Project and Strategy for South Australia.

Robert Blythman

Exploration Manager, DiscoverCo

Session 1: Systematic Exploration delivering Zambian Style Copper on the Stuart Shelf

Robert has over 16 years’ experience as an exploration geologist, focused on South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory. He has both mining and exploration experience in orogenic style gold projects and his experience covers a range of commodities including gold, copper, uranium and rare earths.

Charles Nesbitt

Exploration Manager, Core Energy

Session 1: Targeting Critical Minerals: Uranium and REE Exploration on the Eyre Peninsula

Bio to come.

Joseph Ogierman

Managing Director, Heavy Rare Earths

Session 1: Curnamona Province – HRE’s Critical Mineral Generator

A Chief Geologist with over 30 years experience searching for and evaluating gold, base metal and manganese deposits on 3 continents, through all stages from grassroots exploration to resource development. A unique mix of technical expertise and experience coupled with managerial capability with a pragmatic hands-on approach. Leading exploration teams to several discoveries, and upgrading known prospects to mine-ready reserves, including world-class Au-rich base metal deposits.

Steve Hunt

Chair, JORC

Session 1: JORC code update

Bio to come.

Rupert Verco

CEO, Cobra Resources

Session 2: Advancing scalable porphyry targets in the Nackara Arc

Rupert is a mining specialist with over 17 years’ experience in Australia and internationally. His key areas of focus include resource definition, reserve optimisation, mine planning, and mine operations. He has managed operations through all phases of the mining cycle on projects that cover a range of commodities including gold, copper, uranium, tin, and iron ore. Rupert is a fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and holds a First Class Honours in Geology.

Anna Price

Exploration Managing, Auravelle Metals

Session 2: Eyes, ideas and integration –  Re-invigorating exploration over the Yarlbrinda Shear Zone

Anna has almost 30 years’ experience in the mining and exploration industry in a wide variety of commodities including copper, gold, lithium and base metals across Australia, Oman and Portugal.

Anna’s recent experience includes over three and a half years at Sandfire Resources as Exploration Superintendent, six years with LSE-listed Savannah Resources in Oman and Portugal, as well as senior roles with Silver Lake Resources and De Grey Mining.

She holds a B.Sc in Geology from La Trobe University and an M.Sc from CODES University of Tasmania.

Peter Reid

CEO – Petratherm

Session 2: The Muckanippie Titatium Project: A Significant Critical Mineral Discovery

Peter Reid is the founder and CEO of Petratherm Limited which was spun out from Minotaur Resources in 2004. With over 30 years experience in mineral and geothermal exploration he was part of the Prominent Hill discovery team. 

Richard Lilly

NExUS Program Leader, University of Adelaide, Auravelle Metals

Session 2: 10 Years of the NExUS Program

Bio to come.

Jodie Badcock

Chief Executive Officer, Resources & Engineering Skills Alliance (RESA)

Session 3: Mineral Resources Skills & Workforce Ecosystem in SA – Unearthing Solutions

Bio to come.

Leon Faulkner

Managering Director, EnviroCopper

Session 3: The changing geological and technological landscape via the application of In Situ Recovery

Bio to come.

Lachlan Wallace

Managing Director – Investigator Resources

Session 3: Australia’s only pure silver project

Bio to come.

Joe Seppelt

Head of Operations Director, Rex Minerals

Session 3: Progressing Hillside towards development

Bio to come.

Stephen Gandel

Managing Director, Alliance Resources

Session 3: Navigating the path from discovery to production in South Australia – a private company perspective

Bio to come.

Jim McCluskey

General Manager, Planning Technical & environment, BHP Copper SA

Session 3: The intersection of the Geoscientist with Business

Bio to come.

Caitlin Rowett

Technical Services Manager, Hillgrove Resources

Session 4: TBC

Caitlin is the Technical Services Manager and Chief Geologist at Hillgrove Resources, where she has worked for the last 6 years on the development and now the operation of the Kanmantoo Underground Mine. Caitlin has worked around South Australia in both Copper and Gold structurally controlled deposits. 

Dwayne Povey

Chief Geologist, Planning Technical & environment, Peak Iron

Session 4: Hawks Nest Project – Birds of a Fe-ather

Bio to come.

Shaun Light

Principal Geologist, BHP Copper SA

Session 4: Carrapateena – Evolution of data collection and storage from exploration to operating Sub Level Cave

Bio to come.

Kathy Ehrig

Principal Geometallurgist, BHP

Session 4: Olympic Dam deeps & insights from 3D seismic

Dr Kathy Ehrig is recognised internationally as a leader in geometallurgy, establishing Olympic Dam’s geometallurgy program 2006. She completed her Bachelor of Science in geology at California State University, Fresno in 1984 and earned a PhD in geology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1991.