Achieving our ambitions for a systemic shift in sustainability across the mining sector requires more than process optimisation and energy efficiency gains. We need to implement step change solutions, using new technology to replace historic conventions and, in doing so, enabling new flowsheets and approaches to resource supply chains. Banksia Minerals Processing is demonstrating what it takes to bridge the gap between breakthrough technology research and commercial application, as they develop a new copper refining process with the potential to traditional smelting. As a result, the team hopes to provide a playbook for other step change solutions to build on. Come and hear Founder and Managing Director, Leigh Staines, share the Banksia story.

This session will cover the complex ESG framework and standards landscape companies face today—and how to cut through, prioritise what matters, and avoid falling into the trap of disclosure for disclosure’s sake. We’ll explore practical ways to address mandatory requirements and meet stakeholder expectations, embed sustainability into strategy, and ensure reporting if focused on real performance success metrics and value rather than becoming just a checkbox.

With a looming global critical minerals deficit and intensified geopolitical competition, the mining sector has become a cornerstone of economic and territorial security, the global energy transition, and technological advancement. However, most new critical minerals projects run into long delays. We completed analysis of 224 global mine projects in predevelopment, interviewed representatives from 5 key stakeholder groups from the mining ecosystem, conducted and participated in export panels and reviewed open-source information to examine the underlying challenges that prevent the speedy development of critical mineral mines. We have translated these findings into a practical roadmap for reducing delays and enhancing commercial viability.

The mining industry stands at a critical intersection of resource extraction and climate action. As a key enabler of the global energy transition, mines face the urgent challenge of reducing their carbon footprint. This session will cover the global market outlook as well as emission profiles and decarbonisation strategies, offering insights into the CO2e variability of copper and gold mining operations.

Bellevue Gold is Australia’s most renewably powered mine, and is the world's first net zero (Scope 1 and Scope 2) emission gold mine. With operations commencing in late 2023, and the solar farm constructed in 2024 and the wind turbines in 2025—now Bellevue Gold has claimed the title of Australia most renewable powered mine—including running the entire mine with ‘engines off’ and 100% instantaneous renewable energy for over 100 hours.

Vulcan Energy is building the world’s first carbon-neutral, integrated lithium, and renewable energy business to decarbonise battery production and support a sustainable future. Lithium is sourced from deep geothermal brines and extracted using Adsorbent Direct Lithium Extraction (A-DLE), an efficient, low-cost, and sustainable process that minimises water and land impacts whilst significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Coupled with geothermal power generation, Vulcan will deliver sustainable lithium for the energy transition.

Sensor-based ore sorting (SBOS) is widely promoted as a sustainability silver bullet, increasing resource efficiency, reducing energy consumption in comminution and decreasing tailings volume. However, crossing the infamous Valley of Death from promising lab-scale SBOS tests to a reliable, high-throughput industrial operation is fraught with practical, often-glossed-over pitfalls. This presentation moves beyond the glossy vendor brochures to provide frank, lived experiences of the real-world "traps for young players" in SBOS implementation. Peering into the dusty SBOS black box, critical yet under-discussed "challenges in the field", and their impact(s) on the sorting investment case, are flagged and mapped in a comprehensive causal loop diagram. Attendees will gain a realistic understanding of the SBOS technical and operational hurdles, enabling them to make informed decisions and equip them to ask OEM's and EPCM's probing questions that move SBOS's Known Unknowns into the Known Known quadrant.

The fragmentation resulting from drill and blast has a significant impact on the subsequent comminution processes—in terms of achievable throughput rate, unit costs, and energy efficiency—just as particle size from grinding strongly affects the performance of the downstream separation process. Attempts to optimise each stage in isolation often not only fail to optimise the overall process, but can be actively detrimental. By employing a structured approach, supported by extensive auditing, surveys. and data analysis, real and durable results can be achieved. Mine-to-Process Optimisation projects led by Hatch’s Mining & Mineral Processing group typically achieve more throughput, lower comminution energy intensity and higher recovery.

CSIRO’s Sustainable Mining Technologies programme delivers practical, field-proven solutions to industry challenges in emissions abatement, water-positive mining, efficient resource recovery, and waste reduction. This presentation showcases emissions reduction technology for ventilation air methane, from R&D to pilot scale, alongside modular water treatment pilots and advanced sensing technologies for in situ analytics. Real-world trial data, scale-up pathways, and case studies will be presented, demonstrating CSIRO’s commitment to advancing sustainability in mining.

• Field-proven CataVAM technology for methane abatement
• Modular pilots for mine waste water treatment
• Advanced sensing for real-time resource analytics
• Case studies highlighting operational impact and scalability

This presentation examines how nature-based design, including geomorphic modelling and ecosystem restoration, can improve tailings storage facility closure outcomes. Focus is placed on enhanced physical stability, chemical neutrality, and biodiversity, showing how these approaches reduce long-term environmental liabilities and maintenance costs, deliver quantifiable performance, and create multifunctional land uses beyond regulatory compliance.

Viridian Biometals is developing proprietary critical minerals refining technology that is 50%+ less expensive to build and 30%+ less expensive to operate than conventional processing. The technology harnesses bacteria that breathe ore and extract metals with low energy consumption, no toxic waste, and no need for a freshwater supply, solving the most pressing environmental and economic problems with conventional refining.

As sustainability reshapes mining finance, trust in data, ESG performance, and valuation has become critical. This paper explores how agentic AI can function as a financial governance engine, integrating geological, operational, and ESG data into a continuously updated, auditable valuation model. By transforming static feasibility studies into living digital twins, AI enables real-time risk visibility, stronger investment confidence, and accelerated access to sustainability-linked capital.

Unlock data-driven decarbonisation with life-cycle assessments and emissions benchmarking. Discover how integrating granular emissions data and performance metrics identifies hotspots, drives targeted interventions, and aligns with global regulatory and market expectations. This session shows how transparent, science-based frameworks accelerate decarbonisation across complex supply chains.

Data science can reveal powerful insights, but deployed models often fail due to trust issues, unclear actions, or misaligned decision processes. To deploy cost effective and sustainable AI apps require much more than a good enough model. This talk discusses the key notes an AI program of work needs to truly “hear the music in the data.”

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting has become complex and fragmented, with companies in the minerals industry facing multiple frameworks, memberships, regulatory obligations, and site-level certifications. This creates duplication, inefficiency, and risk, particularly for junior and mid-tier companies with limited resources. A collaborative initiative is presented designed to help stakeholders across the entire minerals value chain understand, track and respond to ESG reporting obligations and credentials.