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 Nawshad Haque is a Principal Research Scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Australia and leads the Techno-economics for Decarbonisation Team. Dr Haque has over 23 years of R&D experience since having a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney. He has played a key role in the development of CSIRO’s technology evaluation capabilities. Dr Haque is currently an elected Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a member of the TMS. Dr Haque has co-supervised 20 PhD students and over 60 vacation scholarship projects.

Professor Mohsen Yahyaei is Director of the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) at The University of Queensland. He specialises in modelling and simulation of mineral processing circuits and in autonomous, value-sensitive decision systems that lift plant performance. Mohsen leads JKMRC’s New Generation initiatives which are advancing Ore Sensing, Liberation Modelling, Mineral Processing Solutions, and Decision Support to boost productivity, cut energy and water intensity, and design more circular, resilient flowsheets. He collaborates widely with global mining companies on comminution and flotation optimisation, coarse particle processing, and human-in-the-loop automation. A widely published researcher and supervisor of multidisciplinary teams, he focuses on translating research into operational tools and evidence that improve outcomes across the minerals value chain.