Australian Mining Magazine: Creating critical conversations
Keynote speaker, IPA Asia Pacific regional director Sally Glen.
AusIMM’s 2024 Critical Minerals Conference is bringing Australia’s role in reaching net-zero front and centre.
As the regional director for IPA’s Asia Pacific region, Sally Glen understands the ins and out of the critical minerals industry.
“IPA is a specialist consultant that does capital project benchmarking and consulting, with a database of over 23,000 projects globally,” Glen told Australian Mining.
“A lot of the work we do around the world is in the critical minerals area.”
It’s this experience that has led Glen to become a keynote speaker at AusIMM’s 2024 Critical Minerals Conference. To be held in Brisbane from August 26–28, the event will see the conversation focus on the role of mining in reaching net-zero by 2050.
Boom and bust
The central position of the critical minerals industry in this transition is well-documented, but that doesn’t mean the sector is immune to challenges.
Glen described the industry as “boom and bust”, liable to go from high to low quickly in regard to economic output and growth.
“The sector is pretty hot right now, and we know what makes projects succeed and what makes them have problems,” she said.
“Critical minerals projects need technological innovation, and that requires time and costs; things that many operators don’t have enough of.”
Glen’s keynote speech will focus on what the broader resources industry can do to help the critical mineral sector succeed.
“One of the key factors for project success is not trying to go too fast,” she said. “If a project is rushed, like if it’s not able to complete its scoping studies properly, then it won’t find its clear path forward to approval and completion.
“I’m planning on leaving attendees with a handful of key things that they should be doing or thinking about to allow projects to reach the end stage properly.”
With a focus on collaborating with client capital champions and decision-makers to manage project risk, Glen has always taken a hands-on approach to her work in mining.
Australia's unique position
As a previous director and senior analyst at IPA Australia and having started her career as a project manager at Rio Tinto, Glen has personally reviewed hundreds of capital projects. The fact she knows the industry inside and out is evident in Glen’s passion for the sector.
“We’re blessed with incredible natural resources in Australia, and we are an internationally recognised location for mining and minerals,” she said. “Our ore puts us into the worldwide critical minerals space, but also into the renewable space.
“Australia is in an advantageous and unique position and we need to follow the fundamentals that are needed for successful asset development.”
Glen believes one of the main reasons Australia is so well-placed to capitalise on the net-zero transition is its experience.
“We’ve been here before; we’ve seen boom cycles and we’ve seen bust ones,” she said. “Everyone knows they have a responsibility to address the fundamentals of critical minerals mining and come back stronger.”
Looking ahead to AusIMM’s 2024 Critical Minerals Conference, Glen said she is looking forward to seeing creativity shine.
“It’s a fabulous opportunity not only for career growth and networking but also for sharing all of the exciting things that are happening in the sector now,” she said. “We know that our clients are now incorporating things like greenhouse gas measures into their development projects, so critical minerals will be the key to helping them further this.
“Along with sustainability, creativity and innovation is going to have to come to the fore both now and in the future. I would encourage everyone to come to the conference, see what’s on offer and bring their whole selves to listen critically and authentically to the content.”
This feature appeared in the July 2024 issue of Australian Mining.