Brigitte 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. 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 hydrometallurgical 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.

Educated in the UK with a BSc (1st Class Honours) in Mining Engineering and MSc in Mineral Exploration. Mark commenced his mining career in 1977 at Chingola in Zambia. Following single contracts in Zambia and Botswana, Mark immigrated to Australia to begin a thirteen-year career with Mount Isa Mines. There he worked in a number of mine operating and technical positions of increasing seniority before leaving to become the first Manager Mining and then Asset President for BHP World Minerals’ Cannington Project. Mark then spent seven years leading multi-site mining, processing and refining operations with Sons of Gwalia (gold), WMCR Nickel (nickel), and Iluka Resources (mineral sands). Returning to hard rock mining in 2008 he joined Australia’s largest underground mining contractor Barminco as its first Chief Operating Officer following its sale to private equity interests. In 2011 he returned to Queensland to take responsibility for the closure of MMG’s Century operation and the pre-production development of its Dugald River project. Following a year in Zambia as Chief Operating Officer for Konkola Copper Mines plc, Mark returned to Australia and finished his full-time career working for Newcrest Mining at Gosowong, Telfer and finally on the integration of the Canadian Red Chris open pit operation into Newcrest. Since retiring in 2021. Mark has worked as consultant on number of business recovery programmes. His focus over the last twenty-five years has been on sustained safety transformation, business improvement focusing on margin enhancement across the value chain and cultural change. Mark is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM); he has served as one of the two Deputy Chairs of the AusIMM’s Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) and as a Board member of the Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG) for many years.

Tim McCredden is a Senior Metallurgist at IGO Ltd. His work interests are focused on developing data driven metallurgical processing improvements. Tim has been working in the mining industry for 13 years with experience across multiple commodities and processing flowsheets. His educational background is in metallurgy, genetics, and project management. This diverse background allows novel approaches to processing problems. Delivering effective change is his desire in both work and personal spaces. In 2023 Tim won innovator of the year for IGO Ltd with the Scats Sorting Project, the feature of this abstract. His personal interests include sport, history, travelling and gatherings with family.

Dean has 43 years’ experience in mineral processing testwork, operations, management and consulting. His expertise covers most aspects of mineral processing technology. Dean has fulfilled roles as Manager Process at Wood for 2 years, Process Consultant for 6 years, Technical Director of Process for 9 years and is now a Senior Consultant (Casual) in the Wood Process Group. He has had been involved in a large majority of the mineral processing studies and projects conducted by Wood (formerly Amec Foster Wheeler and Minproc) in the past 21 years, typically in consulting and reviewing capacities. Dean’s expertise includes comminution, classification, geometallurgy, scrubbing, direct ship iron ore, iron ore concentrate circuits (magnetite and magnetite plus hematite), laterite beneficiation, mine to mill optimisation, dense media separation, mineral sands processing, flotation, plant modelling (especially the use of JKSimMet), detailed process review, ore characterisation interpretation, sampling, plant surveys, testwork program design and testwork management.

William Futcher is a highly experienced metallurgy professional with over twenty years of expertise in copper, gold, and base metal processing. His career is marked by a consistent track record of optimising operational performance through meticulous plant diagnostics and data-driven strategies. William is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Preconcentration supported by degrees in Geology and Metallurgy, and a Masters in Mining Engineering. William currently works at Newmont where his primary responsibility is in the technology and innovation space closely linked to process operations and the broader value-chain from mining to tails storage.

Christoph currently serves as Senior Vice President of Grinding at Metso, where he leads a multi-functional team responsible for the global grinding equipment business line. He has held various managerial roles within the company, overseeing a diverse range of products and markets. Christoph began his professional career in Germany before relocating to Perth, Australia, in 2007. He is passionate about purpose-driven leadership and believes in the importance of mineral processing technology in fostering sustainable innovations in mining, while adopting a holistic approach to ensure customer success.