During my time as a Liveris Scholar, I have had the opportunity to immerse myself in several different extracurricular experiences. This includes three conferences with the Australasia Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and many lunch events with Queensland Energy Club. Now that I have completed my bachelor's degree, I am excited to share these invaluable experiences with you all.
NEW LEADERS SUMMIT 2023
During the AusIMM New Leaders Summit 2023 in Adelaide, I had the chance to not only hear from many inspiring professionals in the mining industry but also learn about a variety of brilliant ideas and discussions from fellow students.
There are so many incredible speeches and conversations over the jam-packed days and some highlights for me are:
- Dr Paul Heithersay talked about "reindustralisation" of the world that is taking place right now, where we rethink and redesign the way our industry is operating. He emphasised the importance of innovation in industry, as well as legislation and regulation alongside to incentivise those innovation projects.
- Sarah Mansell from Worley elaborated on the tangible efforts mining industry is putting into improving sustainability, such as conducting materiality assessment and Life-cycle Analysis.
- Cu Phan from BHP discussed several initiatives the company is implementing to improve gender and ethnicity equity in the workplace, and to provide support for employees with consideration of their background. It was very exciting to see mining industry is taking an active step towards improve diversity and inclusion and setting more ambitious targets in those areas.
- As a metallurgy student, I was intrigued by Dr Seher Ata's speech about her research into froth floatation, and how we could deal with challenges arising from declining ore grade, increased complexity of the ores. Her passionate explanation of such a fascinating topic definitely excites me about the future of metallurgy.
Post conference, we went for a few site visits. At Fleet Space Technologies, my mind was blown away learning about the powerful mineral exploration tool they invented, which utilises satellites and ambient noise tomography and requires minimal manual labour compared to traditional exploration drilling. I was also fascinated by the 3D printing technology on site which is able to produce such a versatile range of tools and equipment. It was also great to visit the mineral lab which has done test work for some of the most legendary sites such as Olympic Dam.
NEW LEADERS SUMMIT 2025
After having a blast at the New Leaders Summit in Adelaide in 2023, I attended the same conference this year again in Perth. The two-day conference was packed with enriching experiences, from listening to insightful presentations to networking with company representatives as well as peers.
Some of fascinating topics covered in this conference include:
· Integrated copper supply chain
· Governance and leadership
Other than the technical presentation sessions, I got the opportunity to explore Perth as a whole. My favourites include visiting Rottnest Island, where I fully admired the beauty and harmony of an island ecosystem. I also undertook a guided tour in Perth Mint, including watching a gold pour. As someone passionate in metallurgy, watching the molten gold being poured into the mould and forming gold bar is an absolutely mesmerising experience.
Queensland Energy Club Lunches
Following my passion for energy transition and renewable energy, I attended multiple Queensland Energy Club lunches where I got to hear from extinguished professionals from the government and the private sectors on anything and everything about energy transition. Some highlights include talk about carbon capture, battery and oil and gas.
