Mining is no joke, says industry legend

Amanda Lacaze jokes to her kids and grandkids she’s famous “in a very specific demographic”. It’s a prominence, though, that has got her a seat at some important tables in Washington, Tokyo, Paris and Canberra. Mining “matters”, she said this week. “It is our miracle industry in Australia.”

The serial winner of awards recognising her successful 12-year tenure as CEO of Lynas Rare Earths, Lacaze’s status was elevated to “legend” at this week’s gala dinner of Australia’s biggest mining event, IMARC.

Receiving the 2026 Mines and Money Legend in Mining Award in Sydney, Lacaze promised as she would one of the younger members of her family to be “a cool legend”. Even the grandkids might have been impressed at the 30 minutes or so of reverential quiet afforded Lacaze as she accepted the award and spoke about her time at Lynas.

The circa-US$8.5 billion company has a high-grade rare earths mine in Western Australia, where it has also operated a mixed RE carbonate (MREC) plant at Kalgoorlie since 2024, and the world’s biggest RE separation facility outside China, in Malaysia. Lynas’ early challenges in Malaysia and the sector’s long-term fight to survive outside China’s orbit have been well documented. Lacaze stepped into the CEO’s job in mid-2014 when Lynas was battling to survive.

“My time at Lynas was absolutely career shaping for me,” Lacaze said in Sydney.

“I truly loved my job. I loved it every day – and it was a really hard job at lots of times. When I first took over that job, nothing worked. The plant didn't work. We had no customers because if you cannot reliably produce anything, no one's going to buy from you. We had no money. Our lenders wouldn't speak to me. It took me actually saying to one of them, I am going to get on the plane and come and sit in your foyer until you talk to me.

“We had a lot of people in our company who were working hard every day but they weren't winning. If you feel like you're winning you can deal with anything. But if you feel that you're losing then a speed bump becomes a mountain. And our people at Lynas deserved somebody who would come in and do the best they could possibly do for them.

“They rewarded me with an outstanding 12 years where at the end of it I could look back and say that was pretty cool.”

Lacaze “retired” earlier this year but took on the role of chair at the Minerals Council of Australia.

Asked to be involved in a fireside chat at the IMARC dinner, Lacaze said she pondered the challenge of speaking to her peers after three long days at a major conference and thought riffing with a few good mining jokes would be the go.

But while ski instructor, accountant and, naturally, lawyer jokes came readily to mind, a dearth of decent mining gags got her wondering, did the industry take itself too seriously? The answer was, yes, for good reason.

“Mining is a serious industry and it is more serious in this jurisdiction than any other,” Lacaze said.

“It supports our way of life. Not everybody understands that. Mrs Smith of Blacktown does not understand when we talk about productivity in the mining industry that this actually affects her quality of life.

“Australia's miracle industry feeds our children and our grandchildren.

“So it is serious. It is important. It ensures our relevance internationally.

“I think every, and I say this with respect – and I mean that not like when people say with respect and I’m about to insult you; I mean with respect – every politician in Australia should be thinking all the time about how do we put policy settings in place that support the success of the minerals industry.

“It’s worth noting that the time that it took us to get approval to build the Kalgoorlie facility, three equivalent facilities had been approved and constructed and taken into operation in China. So that gives you a sense of the difference in the timelines that we're talking about here.

“And I don't think anybody is suggesting that we cut corners. Just cut the duplication, cut the wasted effort; cut the 26 weeks it sits in somebody’s inbox before it gets addressed.

“There are ways that we can certainly improve this.”

Lacaze has talked a lot about leadership, women in industries such as mining, and the importance of “bringing your true self” to work and other real-life dramas.

Her tips on the former can be blunt: “There’s no point in pretending that your people matter if you can’t be bothered learning their names,” she says. But that belies a belief in deeper engagement and the creation of a culture at Lynas where people feel like they belong. “We did our 10-year celebrations every year and you know the last one that we did I think 70% of the people who joined us 10 years ago were still with the company.”

Lacaze likes to borrow a famous sporting brand’s motto for her own mantra on bringing more women into mining and into the right roles in mining: “Just do it.

“At our first International Women's Day lunch we had 35 attendees. I think we had a total of 52 women working in the company. On International Women’s Day last year we had a lunch in Laverton with 75 women and one in Malaysia where we had 288.”

She said it wasn’t just about appointments but ensuring women moving into high-performing roles were supported and given “every chance to be successful”. And, again, it was about real engagement on a personal level with the people spending large parts of their life in an environment, away from their homes and families, where most wanted to do the best job they could and actually enjoy being there.

Lacaze said getting to know people mattered “because there are some days when people won't be themselves and you need to understand why not”.

“It's not a task,” she said. “I’m a very curious person.

“I will keep asking people questions until they say no, I’m not going to tell you what colour my underwear is. But I will just keep asking the questions.

“It is important because people do like to share all of themselves and in sharing all of themselves they will then give the best of themselves.”