By Colin McVie Manager of Project Development - Mining Plus, Australia
Members of the Australian Mining Plus team joined nearly 2,500 other delegates that made the trip to Kalgoorlie, for this year’s edition of one of the largest mining industry events out of Western Australia; Diggers and Dealers. Mining Plus was joined by other Byrnecut Group team members from Murray Engineering, Byrnecut Offshore and Byrnecut Australia.
Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard OM AC was a hit, as he kicked off the event on the first day with a keynote speech (which was very well received by the audience... Mr Howard is a well-known cricket fan, and he couldn’t help but mention the cricket battles between Australia and England occurring over the other side of the world). This kicked off an amazing three days of presentations featuring many great and diverse projects and companies.
The topic of gold and the gold industry definitely shined this year; a result of many companies benefiting from the positive AUD price of the commodity. Another keen topic of focus at the event was technologies including drones, exploration targeting techniques, ore sorting, assaying options, and the use of A.I for big data sets.
As always the night life is an important part of the week and networking during the Diggers and Dealers event. The highlight on the opening Monday night was Mining Plus’ annual event at the Beaten Track brewery in Boulder. Year-on-year, this event continues to grow and the night proved a lot of fun by everyone that attended. Make sure you follow-up to get your invite from the Mining Plus team for next year! (Contact me here so I can add you to the list).
The Mining Plus team was presented with another great evening on Tuesday, with members attending the Women in Mining WA (WIMWA) and the WA School of Mines Alumni (WASMA) annual Sundowner. The Sundowner is quickly becoming a large and key event year-on-year. Incoming WASM Director and WIMWA founder Sabina Shugg gave a great speech about the step change required in mining and WASMA President Raleigh Finlayson announced Saracen’s significant commitment to WASM activities in the future.
As always, what felt like a very long week (but in reality was an action packed three days...) ended on the Wednesday night, with the MP team getting together and attending the WesTrac Gala Dinner to present various awards and celebrate what makes mining awesome (cue our Mining Plus saying; Mining is Awesome).
This year’s award winners were; Northern Star Resources Limited who won Deal of the Year for their acquisition of the Pogo Gold Mine in Alaska, USA. Also (through a video prospector) Mark Creasy received the GJ Stokes Memorial Award, reporter Barry Fitzgerald took the Media Award, and Bellevue Gold received the Best Emerging Company Award.
Definitely, the highlight for the Mining Plus team, was catching up with old friends and contacts, and meeting new people. Thanks to everyone for another great Diggers! The team is already looking forward to future events.
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