Speakers 2024

MRIWA Research Showcase 2024

Fraser’s Kings Park, Perth City
Tuesday 20th August 2024

Nicole Roocke

Chief Executive Officer

Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA)

Appointed CEO of MRIWA in November 2018, Nicole Roocke spent the previous 15 years at the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia coordinating industry input on a variety of government regulatory and policy issues and facilitating collaboration within the resources sector.

Nicole holds a Master of Science in Industrial and Organisational Psychology from UWA and a Master of Risk Management from UNSW.

Tim Walton

Research Portfolio Manager

Tim is a Research Portfolio Manager leading the Mining Equipment, Technology, Services (METS) initiative and MRIWA’s IP area, he has worked in a diverse range of areas including university research strategy and partnerships, defence, conservation education, natural resources management, minerals policy and regulation, heavy industry and port logistics.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Edith Cowan University, an MBA from Curtin University and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Opening Keynote

Peter Klinken AC

Chief Scientist

Government of Western Australia

Professor Peter Klinken is a leading Western Australian medical research scientist, highly regarded for his work in advancing the understanding of genes involved in leukaemia, cancer and anaemia. After obtaining his PhD from the University of Western Australia, he undertook research at the US National Institutes of Health in Washington and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne.

His previous roles have included Professor in Clinical Biochemistry at the University of Western Australia; Director of Research at the Royal Perth Hospital; and the Director of the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research (previously the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research).

Under his stewardship, the Harry Perkins Institute attracted world-class researchers to WA and made numerous acclaimed medical discoveries. He also spear-headed the development of two new state-of-the-art medical research facilities at the QEII Medical Centre and Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Professor Klinken has brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the role of Chief Scientist of Western Australia, providing independent expert advice to the WA Government. He has supported the Government in growing the WA science industries to achieve future prosperity for Western Australians, as well as assisted with changes to legislation.

He is also passionate about issues for Indigenous people, and ensuring that the education system provides opportunities for everyone in a rapidly changing world.

Professor Klinken was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2017. He was Western Australian Citizen of the Year (Professions) in 2008, and made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (2015) and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2016).

Keynote – Session 2 METS

Michelle Carey

Chief Strategy Officer

IMDEX

With over 30 years’ experience in the mining industry working for companies including BHP and WMC, Michelle has spent over a decade in senior leadership roles with IMDEX with her current role encompassing strategy, M&A and IMDEX’s transformative growth initiatives which include management of a portfolio of early-stage investments. With extensive experience in developing and bringing to market innovative products for the mining industry, Michelle’s background includes a PhD in Geochemistry from Monash University.

Keynote – Science Communication Awards

Preeti Castle

Strategic Engagement Director

The Western Australian Biodiversity Science Institute

Preeti has extensive experience in building brand reputation and sustaining social licence through effective communication and stakeholder engagement. As WABSI’s Strategic Engagement Director, Preeti develops strategies to help build an engaged and informed stakeholder base, and to make scientific knowledge accessible and understood by end users of biodiversity science. Preeti has worked with several international and national organisations across financial services, science, technology and environment, and established a niche consulting firm that specialised in developing strategies to communicate scientific and technological concepts with clarity. In addition to her role at WABSI, Preeti holds the International Engagement portfolio on the National Council of the Australian Science Communicators, is a Board Member of the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia and previously served as a Board Member and the Deputy Chair of the Munda Biddi Trail Foundation. Preeti has a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, an M.B.A. from The University of Western Australia and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Conference speakers

Prok Vasilyev 

Research Fellow 

John de Laeter Centre, Curtin University 

Dr. Prok Vasilyev is the Project Lead for the FBI CRC Trusted Supply Chain (TSC) project and a postdoctoral research fellow at the John de Laeter Centre, Curtin University. With extensive experience in analytical geochemistry and material sciences, he has developed new intellectual property and achieved significant research outcomes, particularly in the provenance of battery minerals and the development of an independent chemical fingerprinting method. Dr. Vasilyev has also contributed to global supply chain traceability initiatives, such as those led by UN/CEFACT, and has played a key role in advancing Australia’s efforts in the battery and critical raw materials sectors.

Ryan Noble

Senior Principal Research Scientist CSIRO 

CSIRO 

Dr Ryan Noble is a Senior Principal Research Scientist and the Group Leader of Predictive Mineral Systems Science. Ryan works on numerous regolith and groundwater geochemistry projects related to gold, base metal, Ni, U and REE mineral exploration. His current project interests are focused on getting the maximum information from soil samples with the least effort, ML driven landscape classification and developing the UltraFine+ technique. Ryan is a Past-President and a Fellow of the Association of Applied Geochemists. He is a Board member of the Australian Geoscience Council and the current Chair of Australian Earth Science Education. 

Andy Fourie

Professor

The University of Western Australia

Andy is a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at UWA.

He has Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and a PhD from Imperial College, University of London. After a period in consulting practice with SRK in Johannesburg, he began an academic career at the University of Queensland. His research is in mitigating the impact of mining and municipal solid waste disposal. Andy has published over 200 articles, including more than 80 in international journals. He has recently been appointed to the ICMM (International Council on Mining and Metals) ‘expert review panel’ for the ICMM Global review of tailings storage facility standards and critical controls.

He has contributed to a new series of guidelines for managing mine tailings in Australia, as well as developing a document for the International Atomic Energy Association on barrier systems for retaining uranium mining waste.

Simon Bolster 

Managing Director 

Portable PPB 

Simon is a geoscientist specialising in regolith, geochemistry and remote sensing with over 30 year’s experience in the gold industry, working in 30 countries across 5 continents. He has worked for several major mining companies, including Normandy, Anglo American and Newmont, where he held the roles of Consulting Geochemist and Global Manager Remote Sensing.  

He has been Head of Exploration for a successful explorer in West Africa, managing teams that resulted in new economic gold discoveries at a number of projects.   

Simon is a co-founder and Managing Director of Perth based Portable PPB which has completed the R&D and commercialisation of the game changing patented detectORETM low level gold by pXRF technique, that enables gold explorers to discover, define and mine gold faster and smarter.  

Simon Hadley

Design Director

Syrinx Environmental Pty Ltd

Simon Hadley’s key strength is his ability to integrate sustainability principles into landscape and built form. With a particular focus on urban and environmental design, he cross-connects planning, engineering, architectural and science disciplines.

Shawn Ryan 

Director  

Big Roller™ Overland Conveyor Company 

Shawn Ryan, has over 20 years of experience in heavy engineering, technology development and commercialization. Shawn is a qualified Mechanical Engineer that has delivered Iron Ore overland conveyor projects having recently completed the engineering, quality control and project management of supply and manufacture items, including conventional idlers, ground modules and conveyor belt. He is the inventor of the Big Roller™ patented ground module.

Shawn Ryan presents the latest research on belt/idler interactions for energy efficient overland conveying and a scope review of the upcoming MRIWA Project (M10549). 

Paul Colley

Chief Executive Officer

Total Marine Technology Pty Ltd

Paul is a founder of Total Marine Technology which has a 23-year track record of developing Remotely Operated Vehicles and intervention tooling for the offshore energy sector. 

He has a passion for high tech manufacturing in Western Australia and exporting home grown knowledge and capability to the world. He sits on several boards and is active in the not-for-profit sector.  

In his spare time Paul runs kite making and flying community workshops.    

Louis de Klerk 

R&D Manager 

Northern Minerals 

Louis is a Chemical Engineer that has more than 40 years’ experience in developing resource processes and projects.  The last 7 years have been as R&D Manager at Northern Minerals developing a heavy rare earth project based on the deposits at Browns Range in WA. 

Northern Minerals built and ran a pilot plant that processed 10 tph of ore to produce a rare earth concentrate.  This was converted to the sulphate form and then purified to a mixed rare earth carbonate product. A DFS for a commercial concentrator based on the pilot plant data is nearing completion. 

Lina Hockaday 

Senior Engineer/Research Fellow 

Curtin University, WASM, C3MET 

Lina has 18 years of pyrometallurgical research experience after obtaining her B. Chem Eng and M.Sc. in extractive metallurgy. From 2002 to 2010, she worked on various pyrometallurgical pilot plant projects at Mintek, South Africa. Since 2015, her focus has shifted to greener processing and applications of concentrating solar energy in mineral processing. In 2023, she completed her PhD in Mech Eng on “Solar Thermal Treatment of Manganese Ores.” Dr Hockaday relocated to Perth in 2021 and joined Curtin University in 2022 as a senior engineer and postdoctoral research fellow, focusing on projects for low-carbon iron ore upgrading. 

Henning Prommer 

Professor, Director 

University of Western Australia & Ekion Pty Ltd 

Prof. Henning Prommer is a Research Professor at the University of Western Australia and a co-founder and Director of Ekion. Throughout his career he has worked on understanding and quantifying the interactions between fluid flow and minerals in subsurface media across spatial and temporal scales, including ore bodies. Besides his research in environmental hydrochemistry and hydrogeology, he has worked on a variety of (conventional) in situ leaching projects, initiated the research program on electrokinetic in situ recovery (EK-ISR) and recently started Ekion to further develop and commercialise EK-ISR. 

Pete Kinny

Professor

John Curtin Distinguished Emeritus Professor 

Pete Kinny is a retired isotope geochemist / geochronologist. He is a former head of the Department of Applied Geology and Director of the Institute for Geoscience Research at Curtin University.