Dr Sean Xun is the Acting Chief of Global Mineral Analysis Section at National Minerals Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey. His team collect information and publish reports on international mineral industries, including statistics on mineral production and trade, government policies, industry structure, and commodity sector developments.

Professor Benjamin C. McLellan has been at Kyoto University in the Graduate School of Energy Science since 2010. Prior to that, he was a research at the University of Queensland`s Sustainable Minerals Institute. He heads a group of around 30 post-graduate researchers. His main research themes at present are critical minerals, just energy-resource transitions, sustainability, and coffee. He has specific interests in hydrogen and deep sea mining. He has authored / co-authored over 150 journal articles, and about the same number of conference papers, across a wide range of topics. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Resources (MDPI).

Charles Schofield (LLB (Hons), M Bus and MSc (Distinction)) is a senior corporate lawyer with a vast range of experience in helping clients with structuring, financing and implementing major projects in the mining, resources and renewables sectors. He has practised in top-tier Australian firms, served as a partner in major UK international firms and worked in-house for a global mining group. Charles advises on acquisitions, joint ventures, farm-ins, royalties and development agreements, ensuring commercial arrangements align with approvals pathways and delivery risk. Recently he has been involved in asset acquisitions, joint ventures and new processing facilities for critical mineral projects. Charles also holds a MSc (Distinction) in sustainable development, focusing heavily on critical mineral development pathways.

Diane Hobday is Sector Manager for Materials, Assets & Products at NATA, responsible for technical oversight of the application of standards in testing across the engineering, manufacturing and extractive industries. She has worked with quality systems since the early 1990s and joined NATA in 2008. She has particular expertise in the practical application of ISO/IEC 17025. Diane contributes to the development of Australian and international standards for critical minerals and related materials. Her work includes supporting the development of internationally agreed methods and their competent implementation through accredited testing, to improve comparability of results and confidence in technical data used in international trade.

Leigh Slomp is a senior resources sector executive and professional with over 25 years’ experience in not only technical management roles but also professional standards, policy, advocacy and government relations. He is currently GM Technical Services for Rio Tinto Lithium, having previously held several executive and senior management roles responsible for all aspects of geology and technical services, including as Global Manager Resources and Exploration for ArcelorMittal. Leigh is a Fellow of the AusIMM and the Geological Society of London, currently sits on the VALMIN Committee and was part of the Competent Person Taskforce for the current JORC Code revision. He is also a member of the Industry Expert Panel for the WA Govt. funded MARS Landmark Study.