Networking Drinks
Join us for networking drinks at 6:30pm, a fantastic opportunity to connect with industry colleagues before formalities begin at 7:00pm. This relaxed setting offers the perfect chance to engage in meaningful conversations ahead of the evening’s awards program.
Sponsored by Evolution Mining.
Awards
Two prestigious awards will be announced during the dinner:
HSEC People’s Choice Award
Recognizing the standout initiative among the four category winners of the NSW Minerals Council’s HSEC Awards. Sponsored by Develop
Outstanding Contribution to Mining Award
Acknowledging an individual’s exceptional leadership, innovation, or sustained performance in the mining industry. Sponsored by The Bloomfield Group
2025 HSEC People’s Choice Award
HSEC People’s Choice Award Winner
Sponsored by Develop
NSW has some of the world’s leading mining operations and some of the best practitioners in health and safety, environmental management and community engagement.
The winners of the NSW Minerals Council’s Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) Awards were announced in August 2024 at the HSEC Awards Dinner.
We recognised the most outstanding innovations and contributions to a responsible mining industry across four categories. These winners were:
Health Excellence
The Bloomfield Group, Fostering a Mentally Safe & Respectful Workforce
Safety Excellence
Glencore’s Bulga Open Cut, Remote Inspection System
Environmental Excellence
Glencore’s Liddell Coal, Rehabilitation Certification
Community Excellence
BlackRock Industries, Second Chance for Change Program
The HSEC People’s Choice Award was chosen from these four category winners.
We polled over 400 industry colleagues at the NSW Mining HSEC Conference to determine the HSEC People’s Choice Award Winner:
BlackRock Industries, Second Chance for Change Program
Second Chance for Change was named the 2025 People’s Choice Award, chosen by industry leaders at the NSW Mining Conference from the winners of the NSW Mining HSEC Awards.
Second Chance for Change won the Community Excellence Award for its pioneering rehabilitation and employment initiative supporting Aboriginal men in the final stages of incarceration through training, mentorship and employment pathways. Delivered in partnership with mining companies, the program has supported more than 200 participants to build skills, reconnect with community and transition into meaningful employment, helping to reduce recidivism, address labour shortages and create more inclusive workplaces across the sector.
2025 Outstanding Contribution Award
Outstanding Contribution to NSW Mining Award
Sponsored by The Bloomfield Group
Jake Klein
Non Executive Director of Evolution Mining
Jake Klein is one of Australia’s great entrepreneurs — a visionary who has built companies from the ground up, created thousands of jobs and delivered immense value for shareholders, governments and our country.
Jake is best known as the founder and Chair of Evolution Mining.
But Jake’s story didn’t start in mining.
He grew up in South Africa, studied commerce at university and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC.
In the early 1990s Jake moved to Australia with little more than a thousand dollars in his pocket. He began his career here at Macquarie Bank in the investment banking division, before taking the leap into resources. It was a bold decision at the time, but it set him on a path that would define his career.
Those early years gave him a solid foundation in finance, risk and governance. And they taught him that building businesses requires determination, courage and the ability to adapt. His incredible career shows what can be achieved when you meet those challenges head-on.
Before Evolution, Jake co-founded Sino Gold, serving as President and CEO and building it into the largest foreign gold producer in China before its $2.2 billion sale in 2009.
Then in 2011 Jake established Evolution Mining with a clear vision: to create long-term value through safe, low-cost and responsible mining. What has followed is one of the most impressive growth stories in Australian business.
Evolution Mining is now a top 50 company on the ASX valued at around $20 billion with six operations and is widely recognised as one of the world’s most efficient gold producers.
Headquartered here in Sydney, Evolution Mining has deep roots in New South Wales, with major operations near West Wyalong and Parkes producing gold, copper, and silver, sustaining hundreds of jobs, creating opportunities for local suppliers, and providing lasting economic benefits for regional communities.
Jake has been a driving force behind that success.
Jake recently stepped back from his executive role at Evolution Mining and now serves as Chairman. But he is far from finished. True to form, Jake is already pursuing a new venture called Endura Mining, a gold mining company in New Zealand, with support from AustralianSuper.
Previous Winners
Stefanie Loader
Stef has been in the mining industry for 30 years, working across Australia, Laos, Chile, Peru, Canada, United Kingdom and India.
Starting as a Project and Exploration Geologist at Rio Tinto in 1994, Stef was part of discovery team for Khanong copper deposit at Sepon in Laos and designed the first Rio Tinto Global Drilling Data Model.
Identified as a future leader, Stef worked in London with Rio Tinto’s CEO and ExCo where she provided technical and strategic advice, and implemented the first structured framework for prioritisation of global exploration expenditure.
She led the Order of Magnitude Study and subsequent Pre-feasibility study for the development of the Bunder diamond mine in central India and achieved the first Mining Lease approved for a non-Indian company for diamonds in 2011.
In 2012, Stef was made Managing Director of Northparkes Mines, being the first woman to led a mining business for Rio Tinto in NSW, where she improved safety performance and achieved operating costs savings during the transition of the mine to new owners.
In 2014, Stef became the first woman to Chair the NSW Minerals Council, a role she served in for two and a half years with distinction.
Since departing her executive role in 2017, Stef has gone onto to build an impressive portfolio of non-executive roles including St Barbara, the Forestry Corporation of NSW, Sunrise Energy Metals, and she is currently Chair of Port Waratah Coal Services. She also supports her adopted region of Central West NSW on the Boards of CatholicCare Wilcannia-Forbes and Orange360.
Chris Lauritzen
Chris commenced with MACH Energy in 2016, where he was appointed the General Manager role following the acquisition of the Mount Pleasant Project from Rio Tinto.
Prior to that, he had a long history of achievement and experience over 30 years in mining operations, mineral exploration, resource assessment, mine planning, and more.
With humble roots starting as an exploration geologist in the Gunnedah Basin in 1980, Chris has developed a stellar career helping to develop a range of projects and work in operations that have gone on to be significant contributors to the state and national economies, including Maules Creek, Coal Cliff, Western Main, Howick (now part of Hunter Valley Operations), and more.
In 2000, Chris worked in Indonesia for seven years and then returned to Rio Tinto before joining BHP as its Global Coal Commodity Expert in Singapore.
Chris is now part of the executive leadership team at MACH Energy Australia and looks after major approvals and government relations. He is known by colleagues as a steady hand, a thoughtful professional and a calm and experienced leader.
Chris is a strong contributor to the wider mining industry through his work as a valued member of the NSW Minerals Council’s Executive Committee.
He is also a fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Fiona Robertson
For more than 30 years, Fiona has combined her understanding of resources and finance to work with emerging resource companies as a banker, CFO and non-executive director, successfully guiding growth-oriented businesses through the transition from juniors to ASX 200 producers.
Fiona’s contribution to the profile and support for women in mining in NSW has been outstanding. Her enthusiasm and hard work have been key to building the NSW WIMnet Committee, which she chaired from 2013 to 2015.
WIMnet launched its first Mentoring Program in 2015. And her legacy continues with WIMnet Chairs and Committee members developing under Fiona’s leadership… as the mentoring program goes from strength-to-strength.
She has also been a significant contributor to our Women in Mining Awards, guiding and judging at both the State and National levels over many years.
John Richards
John commenced with Bloomfields in 2002, was appointed Managing Director and CEO in 2010, and then Chairman of the Group in 2016. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, a feature of John’s career has been his extensive engagement in the broader mining industry and in the local community.
John’s contribution to the NSW Minerals Council includes many years of distinguished service on the Council’s Executive Committee, as well as a two year term as Council Chair. He also successfully chaired the Upper Hunter Mining Dialogue, where his positive local community profile and contribution helped to improve engagement between the industry and the community in the Upper Hunter region.
By any measure, John’s career in the NSW mining sector has been highly successful. He is one of our most respected and distinguished industry representatives, affectionately regarded by his teams and industry colleagues for his thoughtfulness, his humour and his massive contribution to The Bloomfield Group, our sector, and the community.
Thank you to our event sponsors for their continued support.
Gold | Naming Rights
Yancoal is a leading Australian coal producer, producing a mix of premium thermal, semi-soft coking and PCI coals.
Since 2004, we have generated over $10 billion in Foreign Direct Investment for Australia, and we now own or operate nine coal mines across NSW, Queensland and WA.
In 2022, these operations produced 44 million tonnes of saleable coal, which we sold into 13 markets (mainly located in Asia). Yancoal is publicly listed on the ASX and HKEx.
Silver Sponsors
Evolution Mining has evolved from humble beginnings into a globally relevant gold mining business with a reputation of delivering value for all stakeholders. With sustainability integrated into everything we do, we operate six mines across Australia and Canada, with a portfolio vision of up to eight assets in Tier 1 jurisdictions. Our values of safety, excellence, accountability and respect guide our daily decisions and behaviour, as we strive to make working at Evolution a career highlight for our people.
Komatsu develops and supplies technologies, equipment and services for the construction, mining, forklift, industrial and forestry markets.
For more than a century, the company has been creating value for its customers through manufacturing and technology innovation, partnering with others to empower a sustainable future where people, business and the planet thrive together. Front-line industries worldwide use Komatsu solutions to develop modern infrastructure, extract fundamental minerals, maintain forests and create consumer products.
The company’s global service and distributor networks support customer operations to enhance safety and productivity while optimizing performance.
Newmont (ASX: NEM) is the world’s leading gold company, a producer of copper, zinc, lead and silver and Australia’s only molybdenum producer. The company’s world-class portfolio of assets, prospects and talent is anchored in favorable mining jurisdictions in Australia, Africa, Latin America, North America and Papua New Guinea. Newmont is the only gold producer listed in the S&P 500 Index and is widely recognized for its principled environmental, social and governance practices. The company is an industry leader in value creation, supported by robust safety standards, superior execution and technical expertise.
Bronze Sponsors
We’re revolutionising underground mining to be safer, more sustainable, and more rewarding.
DEVELOP creates high-performance projects that offer certainty to clients and value creation to shareholders. Our underground DNA is central to evolving the production of essential ingredients to harness the power of our people to produce clean metals that drive global decarbonisation and empower a more sustainable world.
In NSW, DEVELOP completed its acquisition of Woodlawn and the extensive tenement package in May 2022 for A$30M upfront and success driven milestone payments. The high-grade copper-zinc-lead-gold-silver underground operation is in the world-class Lachlan Fold belt, 250km south-west of Sydney.
The Bloomfield Group is a proud and successful Australian mining and engineering group.
Australian owned and operated, Bloomfield has been part of the Hunter community for more than 85 years and employs hundreds of local people.
The Bloomfield Group operates two open-cut coal mines in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales. These operations include Rix’s Creek Mine northwest of Singleton, and Bloomfield Mine east of Maitland.
Whitehaven Coal is proud to be the leading Australian coal producer.
We operate six mines in the Gunnedah Coal Basin of NSW and Bowen Basin of QLD. Our operating assets are complemented by two high‑quality, near-term and large-scale development assets, being Vickery, near Gunnedah, and Winchester South, near Moranbah.
We’re proudly local, with approximately 75% of our NSW workforce living in the towns around our operational footprint. We understand the importance of mining to regional communities and over our more than 20-year history, we have developed a reputation for excellence in project delivery, safe operation, environmental performance and supporting local economies.
Established in 2016, MACH Energy’s Mount Pleasant Operation is the Upper Hunter’s youngest open-cut coal mine, delivering first coal in December 2018.
Characterised by high quality coals, a low-strip ratio and high-processing yield, Mount Pleasant contains some of the most attractive coal resources in the Hunter Valley.
We recognise that high quality coal is an important component in the transition to a lower carbon emissions world. MACH Energy is in the business of delivering high quality coal to local and global customers through leading innovative mining, environmental and community practices. We are “powering our future with reliable energy.”
RZ Resources is an Australian-owned critical minerals company with mining and processing capabilities, making us one of the few emerging mineral development companies able to establish sovereign supply chains in Australia for local customers and those in the U-S, Japan, and Europe.
RZ’s flagship proposed mine, Copi, features one of the largest mineral deposits in the world, with the capacity to produce critical minerals including titanium, zircon, and rare earths, while delivering long-term benefits and value for our local, national, and global communities for decades to come.
RZ Resources also owns a mineral processing plant in Brisbane, which is the only operational plant of its type on Australia’s east coast.
