Australian Mining sat down with Austmine CEO Christine Gibbs Stewart to discuss what the mining industry needs to thrive into the future.
From decarbonisation to eliminating fatalities to public perception of the industry, the headwinds faced by the mining sector are no secret, and many would argue they cannot be addressed by any one company alone.
“At this year’s Austmine conference and World Mining Congress, almost everyone I spoke to said that the industry needs more collaboration,” Austmine chief executive officer Christine Gibbs Stewart told Australian Mining.
“We are maturing as an industry and we are collaborating more, but it’s probably a deeper type of collaboration that we need, one that involves more trust and respect for all the players involved.”
It is this type of deeper collaboration that best demonstrates the values of Austmine.
Representing over 700 mining equipment, technology and services (METS) companies across the country, Austmine has been driving innovation in mining and technology while championing the METS sector for more than 30 years.
Austmine encourages its members to collaborate by providing an avenue for them to work together.
“Bringing people together is the core of what we do,” Gibbs Stewart said.
“The member companies that we connect with one another have great synergies. They come up with ideas to work together, optimising their processes and securing new deals.
“We’re getting out there and promoting what the METS sector does. We’re raising the reputation and creating opportunities for the METS sector as a whole, on the global stage.
“And then for individual companies, I love it when we can help our members realise a new opportunity, make a new deal, get a sale, or come together to create something new or better.”
On an industry level, Austmine takes an ‘open mic’ approach to driving innovation, bringing suppliers and mining companies together to work on some of the industry’s biggest issues.
“We have a lot of challenges upon us,” Gibbs Stewart said. “We need to be more sustainable, we need to have a very good public perception. People don’t necessarily want to work for the mining industry, but with the programs that we run and with the exciting high-tech METS sector that we represent, we’re helping to change the conversation.
“Another core tenet of Austmine is that we run innovation opportunities for mining companies. Miners often need more than one solution to a problem or they’ll need a solution that isn’t available yet from a single source. So we can bring members together in that way to help them collaborate to provide solutions for these industry problems.”
One of the ways Austmine brings the industry together is through the events it facilitates, such as the biennial Austmine conference.
Held in Adelaide in May, Austmine 2023 focused on transforming the future of mining. The event brought together industry stakeholders who, through presentations and exhibitions, explored redesigning how the mining industry operates, ensuring the sector meets the expectations of a new generation, as well as a more sustainable future.
Another key event is the Mining Innovation Roadshow.
“A key theme of the Mining Innovation Roadshow was collaboration and bringing people together to talk about some of those key issues that the industry is facing,” Gibbs Stewart said.
“The event focused on everything from decarbonisation to leveraging digital to automation.”
Similar industry-wide problems will be tackled at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC), which is set for late October in Sydney.
Open collaboration allows companies to pool their knowledge and resources, and to share opportunities to tackle the challenges that are bigger than a single company.
“Currently, decarbonisation is a big issue for our members, and learning from each other in that space is a really important thing to do,” Gibbs Stewart said. “One of the biggest efforts that we facilitated was the Charge On Innovation Challenge. We partnered with Rio Tinto, BHP and Vale and challenged innovators to find a solution for charging large electric haul trucks on open-pit mine sites.
“We had over 350 suppliers across 19 industries and 31 countries participate in an expression of interest to this challenge. Eighty vendor companies submitted their conceptual solutions and 21 companies were then invited to present a detailed pitch, which were whittled down to eight finalists in the end.
“Charge On Innovation is a great example of how Austmine brings opportunities to our members and the wider METS community.”
Austmine’s next endeavour is mineinnovate, a digital platform designed to help drive collaboration between mining companies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), engineering firms, contract miners, and many more.
“mineinnovate is a digital space where companies can put out the challenges they’re facing – or innovation opportunities, as we call them – for our members and the wider community to respond to,” Gibbs Stewart said.
“The platform will be able to link people together from a collaborative point of view to engage with one another and see what’s going on in the industry, and ultimately improve the way things are done.
“The platform is also linked to some other programs and ecosystems like Austmine from all over the world. Of the first challenges that we put out, three are from India and two from Saudi Arabia. It’s a space for the world.
“It just goes to show that the mining industry is a global industry. With a digital space like mineinnovate, business can flow in a borderless way.”
Gibbs Stewart believes mineinnovate symbolises the fact the industry is mature enough to work together.
“Going back five years, people weren’t that open to discussing their biggest issues in a public format,” she said. “But now we’ve moved on such that the industry recognises that, because of the challenges it faces, everyone needs to be contributing.
“Things are much more open these days, not just in what is being put out, but also in how others are responding.
“It’s that kind of collaboration which is going to really drive the industry forward.”
This feature appeared in the September 2023 issue of Australian Mining.
