Ben has extensive knowledge and experience supporting proponents to navigate regulatory approvals from exploration to final investment decision. As Director, Zones and Projects within Critical Minerals Queensland, Ben is leading delivery of baseline social, environmental and ecological impact data within Critical Mineral Zones and draws on strong relationships with industry, government agencies and other stakeholders.

Mansour Edraki leads the Environmental Geochemistry Group at the Sustainable Minerals Institute. He has about 30 years of experience in conducting research and consulting projects for the mining industry globally focusing on the management of mine waste and mine impacted water.

Dr. Steve Jason Chingwaru is a geometallurgist and postdoctoral researcher specializing in sustainable mining, mine waste reprocessing, and critical mineral recovery. He holds a PhD in Geometallurgy from Stellenbosch University, where his research on Witwatersrand gold tailings identified over 420 tonnes of potentially recoverable gold, highlighting the economic and environmental potential of reprocessing historical mine waste. His work integrates geometallurgical characterization, automated mineralogy, LA-ICP-MS, and gravity separation modelling to evaluate metal recovery from complex mineral systems. Steve has published in leading journals including Minerals Engineering and Scientific Reports and has received numerous research grants and awards, including Stellenbosch University’s 2024 Top Postgraduate Research Award. He was also recognised among the Top 100 Chemistry Authors of 2023 by Nature Portfolio. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher with the MIWATCH program at the Sustainable Minerals Institute (University of Queensland), where he investigates critical metal recovery from historical mine wastes across Australia.

Lauren is a PhD student at Queensland University of Technology, with her current work focusing on mine waste valorisation for developing materials for the energy transition. With her undergraduate degree in chemistry, she combines her deeper knowledge of chemical processes and synthesis techniques to analyse mine waste compositions and develop strategies for synthesis of in-demand products from waste sources. Having a research background in extraction of critical minerals from various waste streams, she endeavours to explore aspects of process engineering to meet sustainability requirements, whilst exploring the complicated chemistry associated with extraction. She hopes to contribute to the sustainable energy transition by sourcing critical minerals from wastes, and repurpose them to develop materials required for next-generation photovoltaics.

Dr. Niloofar Karimian is a Research Scientist at CSIRO Mineral Resources and an Adjunct Lecturer at Monash University and Southern Cross University, specialising in the environmental geochemistry of mining-impacted systems. Her research focuses on the behaviour of contaminants in acid sulfate soils (ASS), acid mine drainage (AMD), and disturbed ore environments, particularly involving antimony (Sb), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), and phosphorus (P). Dr. Karimian earned her PhD in Environmental Geochemistry from Southern Cross University and was awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for Outstanding Thesis. Her work examines how redox-driven mineral transformations control contaminant mobility, with particular emphasis on iron minerals that form in acidic, sulfate-rich environments. She is especially recognised for advancing understanding of antimony behaviour in iron- and manganese-rich systems. In parallel, she leads research on phosphorus deportment in iron ores, developing low-temperature Fe(II)-catalysed recrystallisation pathways to mobilise phosphorus from goethitic ores, an approach relevant to sustainable iron ore processing. Dr. Karimian is also known for her expertise in synchrotron-based spectroscopy (XANES/EXAFS) integrated with mineralogical and geochemical techniques. She has authored over 46 peer-reviewed publications and actively mentors graduate researchers while contributing to the scientific community through editorial roles and international collaborations.