Dr Kathy Ehrig has worked continuously as a geoscientist at Olympic Dam (one of the world’s largest metalliferous ore deposits) over the past 30 years. She leads the team who continue to develop and expand the metallurgical performance predictors (i.e. geometallurgical models) which are used for production through to life-of-asset planning. The geometallurgical data is also used to support plant diagnostic studies, productivity improvement opportunities and to sustainably reduce the cost of producing marketable metals. This role also includes identifying potential new revenue metals (e.g. green technology critical metals) or ones which may pose environmental challenges in the future.

Andrew has over 30 years of experience in the minerals industry, across a range of technical, operational and strategic leadership roles. He completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) from Melbourne University in 1987, and an MBA at Melbourne Business School in 1996. Following employment as a Senior Research Engineer with Comalco Ltd (now Rio Tinto Aluminium) from 1988-1996, he worked for WMC Resources Ltd from 1997-2005 in a number of strategic and operational management roles. Andrew re-joined Rio Tinto in 2006 as GM Technology for the Iron Ore product group, before moving into Rio Tinto’s corporate Technology & Innovation group, as GM Innovation and then Director Partnerships. While working for Rio Tinto, he also served as a director on the Boards of CRC Mining and the Parker Centre. In 2020, Andrew joined CSIRO as Research Director – Mineral Processing.

Joe Zhou is a process mineralogist and geometallurgist with over 35 years of experience in research, laboratory testing and consulting for the minerals industry. During his career, Joe worked for JKTech in Australia, SGS in Canada, AMTEL in Canada, University of Science and Technology of China and Zijin Mining Group in China in various technical and management roles. He established Joe Zhou Mineralogy Ltd in 2010 and has been Principal Consultant and Managing Director for the company since then. Joe also held a position of Senior Advisor Geometallurgy and Mineralogy at Metso Outotec from 2019 to 2021. In the past years, Joe was involved in numerous projects for new deposits and operating mines around the world, and authored or co-authored over 50 publications. Joe is a regular contributor to IMPC. He organized a number of workshops for IMPC, Mill Operators, World Gold and Geometallurgy conferences in Australia and other countries in recent years.

Dr Jing Li is an applied mineralogist and geometallurgist with more than 15 years of experience in ore deposit research, mineral exploration, process mineralogy, mineral processing and geometallurgy. Jing has a strong ability in predictive metallurgy for new ores and troubleshooting for operating plants based on quantitative process mineralogical data. She has been deeply involved in more than 30 projects for feasibility studies and operating mines in various countries, which equipped her with a broad knowledge of microscopy, SEM, XRD and other mineralogical techniques, as well as various mineral processing and metallurgical techniques. Jing has completed numerous papers and technical reports on process mineralogy and presented her work at conferences. As principle geomtallurgist in AXT, Jing is developing the advanced applying technology of automated mineralogy in mineral processing and geometallurgy.

AusIMM MetSoc Chair 2018 - Present Geomet Lead - Studies - Cadia Valley Operations (Newcrest) Principal Metallurgist (Contract) - Cowal - Evolution Over 20 years industry experience in both operations and technical roles; incorporating daily plant management, geometallurgical studies, plant projects and process optimisation. Concentrator design, build and commissioning experience. Base-metal-sulphide flotation expertise with copper, lead, zinc, silver and nickel as well as refractory gold ore processing. Conventional gold leaching and gravity recovery methods.

Dr. Farhad Faramarzi is a Mining & Mineral Processing Engineer with expertise in drilling and blasting which includes design, risk assessment, field measurement, mine-to-mill optimisation and model development. With about 10 year experience in Research, Consulting and Industry, Farhad has worked as Drill & Blast Superintendent - designed, led and surveyed over 100 full-scale production blasts at some large iron and copper open-pit mines with consistent success in delivering results. Farhad’s main area of expertise was built during his PhD in the mineral processing field at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) - The University of Queensland (UQ). At JK Centre, Farhad broadened his skill set and specialised in ore comminution characterisation, design of experiments, process debottlenecking, performance improvement, process modelling and simulation. Currently, Farhad works with Dassault Systèmes GEOVIA's Global Team, developing innovative solutions & providing Technical Services to Mining Industry worldwide.

Lachlan is a process engineer who joined Hatch in 2018, after completing his undergraduate studies at The University of Queensland. In his time at Hatch, he has worked primarily in the area of comminution optimisation, including as part of a number of Mine-to-Mill studies. Lachlan has a keen interest in the challenges facing the mining sector globally, and particularly the role of process engineers in the context of an industry tasked with meeting ever-growing demand whilst minimising environmental impact.