In fewer than ten years, Brisbane-based PanAust Limited has grown from a grass roots exploration company to being in the S&P/ASX top 100 index. This rapid growth has occurred through the successful development of projects such as Phu Kham Copper/Gold and Ban Houayxai Gold/Silver in Laos during periods of major uncertainty and volatility arising from the Global Financial Crisis and the recent woes of the Eurozone economies. While the macro-economic backdrop has led to increased funding challenges for some new projects, perhaps the larger challenge that faces all new projects is the competition for capable technical skills. Lessons learned from these challenges are progressively being applied to strengthen PanAust's approach to project development in the future. In particular, a dedicated project development business unit was formed to progress project studies and project implementation.Minimising the time taken from exploration's discovery of mining potential, to its realisation as an operating mine, is a primary driver for PanAust to increase its market value for shareholders. PanAust isaccelerating project development timelines by integrating and overlapping the functions of resource definition, technical studies and project implementation. Critical to this approach is to assume success from the outset and to ensure consistency of approach and resources through each phase. While appropriate review or gating processes still avoid pursuing a project development beyond a point that is warranted by results, the fast track approach will nonetheless result in some additional expenditure in these circumstances. Ultimately, the value at risk is minimal in comparison with the value generated by bringing a project into operation substantially earlier.CITATION:Walker, P and Hess, F W, 2012. PanAust - On the fast track to success, in Proceedings Project Evaluation 2012 , pp 85-92 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).