This year’s Association of Mining and Exploration Companies’ (AMEC) awards showcased the commitment to exploration, the environment and community within the Australian mineral exploration and mining sector. The winners were announced at the annual AMEC Awards Dinner in Perth on 10 December.
AMEC CEO Warren Pearce said the standard from all nominees was exceptional, making judging in each category a difficult task.
The prestigious AMEC Prospector Award for individual endeavour in the field of mineral exploration is awarded to the individual/s who made the most outstanding mineral deposit discovery within recent years. The award recognises both the discovery and the individuals and/or geoscientific team responsible for the discovery rather than a company.
The 2020 Prospector award was presented to joint-winners Peter Muccilli, Robert Hartley, Tahn Doan & Mark Muller for the Cassini Discovery; and Hilke Dalstra, Jennifer Maguire & Mawson Croaker for the Winu Project.
“Following some lean years for mineral exploration, it is exciting to see so many nominations for the Prospector Award and joint-winners for the first-time event. This is an excellent sign that our industry is recovering and growing,” Mr Pearce said.
The AMEC Community Contribution award recognises companies who are collaborating with the community in emerging and established partnerships to provide enduring benefits to communities.
This year’s winners, SO4 Potash and the Wiluna community have established a partnership that uses a holistic approach encompassing all aspects – from education, and employment for both the community and the company, to responding to cultural and community needs.
“Both SO4 and the Wiluna community are benefiting from this partnership by learning from and supporting each other, it truly represents what a partnership should be,” Mr Pearce shared.
The AMEC Environment Award is presented to a company that goes above and beyond in their environmental management or is developing innovative methods to achieve better long-term environmental outcomes.
This year winners were Consolidated Minerals who developed an artificial intelligence (AI) program to automate the process of identifying the endangered Northern Quoll within camera trap photos.
“This AI application is quite remarkable and has huge potential to become a standard method for remote species identification with very minimal human interference,” Mr Pearce noted.
The AMEC Media Awards were also presented at the dinner. These awards recognise excellence in journalism covering the Australian mineral exploration and mining industry. The entries for the two Media Award categories – Online and Print – are judged on clarity, relevance, quality of research, and level of impact on industry stakeholders.
The winner of the Online Award was Jarrod Lucas from the ABC for his article “There’s got to be a better way: Exploration company pushes to reduce plastic bags”.
The Print Media Award was presented to Peter Ker from The Australian Financial Review for his article “End of the lifestyle company as fewer explorers deliver more drilling”.
Mr Pearce said the standard of the Media Award nominations was extraordinarily high.
“Both these winning entries were exceptional stand outs,” he said. “Their clear concise well written articles play an important part as we continue to better explain our industry to the public and wider community.”
AMEC extends their congratulations to all winners for showcasing the best of the Australian mineral exploration and mining industry.
2020 Winners:
Prospector Award – Peter Muccilli, Robert Hartley & Mark Muller for the Cassini Discovery AND Hilke Dalstra, Jennifer Maguire & Mawson Croaker for the Winu Project
Environmental Award – Consolidated Minerals for the Quoll !Quoll program Community
Contribution Award – SO4 & Wiluna Community for their Lake Way Sulphate of Potash
Project Print Media Award – Peter Ker from The Australian Financial Review for “End of the lifestyle company as fewer explorers deliver more drilling”
Online Media Award – Jarrod Lucas from ABC News for “There’s got to be a better way: Exploration company pushes to reduce plastic bags”