Voices of IMARC 2025: Part 1

A record-setting IMARC 2025 drew more than 11,000 attendees and many of the mining world’s most powerful and important voices to Sydney, Australia. The calibre of speakers and of the discussions about the industry’s most pressing issues and trends underlined IMARC’s status as a major international meeting place for miners, investors, governments and mineral and metal consumers.

Mining Beacon editor Richard Roberts caught nearly 50 individual presentations and panel discussions across three days to capture the diverse and powerful messaging from this year’s event. This, below, is the first of two exclusive presentations of the Voices of IMARC 2025.

Of course, IMARC kicked off after news out of Washington DC that US president Donald Trump and Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese had signed a Critical Minerals Framework agreement on the back of months of negotiations. The CMF aims to speed the buildout of new mineral supply chains.

It was music to the ears of many at the event, including first-time IMARC visitor, Utah governor Spencer Cox, who was leading a big state trade delegation to Australia.

A critical union

“We actually have been planning this trip for over a year. It just happened that we arrived on the same day that prime minister Albanese and president Trump signed an historic deal. We felt like it was inspired that we were here on the ground – the only state on the ground. We got a headstart on 49 other US states.” – Spencer Cox

“I thought the Trump-Albanese deal was fascinating: $3 billion invested from government capital to unlock $50 billion worth of investment. That's the kind of thing we need. Better public-private partnerships. Governments are not great at picking winners but they can pick good public-private partnerships.” – Appian Capital Advisory head of global affairs, Dominic Raab

“Every problem-solving exercise has to begin with an awareness of the problem. There’s finally a global recognition that there are issues with supply chain sustainability, manufacturing capability [and] mining operational capabilities. And we’re seeing notifications like today – a real representation of execution on that awareness.” – Traxys CEO, Mark Kristoff

“There are obviously benefits for Arafura and the Nolans project but ... there are sector benefits as well. It is demonstrating how seriously the West is taking the issue of rare earth supply and building out those value chains. Having resilient value chains is critical to underwriting industry and manufacturing. I think the big thing it does is it de-risks raising money for what are really quite challenging projects from an equity perspective.” – Arafura Rare Earths chief financial officer, Peter Sherrington

Supply chain links and kinks

“If you think about the direction of travel over the last 20-to-25 years we have flatlined at best in terms of our supply chain position and in many, many of the commodities we’ve actually reduced our self-reliance on those commodities.” – Wood Mackenzie vice chairman of metals and mining, Julian Kettle

“Western supply, in particular, is a drama. Why is it a drama? Because we’ve moved from a unipolar dynamic and we’re now in the multi-polar dynamic. It’s not coming. We’re in it right now. China is a superpower right alongside the US and suddenly there’s awareness around supply problems in the West. For 30 years we’ve effectively de-industrialised processing of raw materials. We now are waking up to what that means and it’s most pertinent in rare earths and critical raw materials. But it’s way broader than that. It’s 60% of aluminium, 60% of iron, 50% of zinc ... They’re all processed in China. It’s deeply uncomfortable for the West, we’re only just working that out, and we have got a lot of work to do to get anywhere near fixing it.” – Nero Resource Fund founder & co-portfolio manager, Russell Delroy

“In the end, the OEMs [car manufacturers, etc] have got to come on board, because if their time horizons remain short term they’re going to run into serious, existential problems down the track. McKinsey do an annual survey on critical minerals and found that just 15% of OEM leaders will pay a 10% premium for ESG-grade minerals. The short termism that has been part of Western culture, whether it's government, whether it's shareholders, whether it's the media, but across the board, is going to be our undoing.” – Appian Capital Advisory head of global affairs, Dominic Raab

“India will absolutely need a functioning rare earths industry, [including a] metal and magnet industry, to be something of an alternative to China. I would see India as a natural partner of Australia because for the Indian resources, say, the beachline monazite along the coastline of India, this is an environmental problem. They have constant problems with radioactive pollution and lawsuits as a country under the rule of law.” – Ginger International Trade & Investment director, Thomas Kruemmer

“The real weakness is in the processing and refining. And this is a tragic event in a way because Europe used to have the leadership in some of the refining and processing in the past. In rare earths, for example, the techniques for separating rare earths on a commercial scale were actually developed in France back in the 1950s and 60s. But all that expertise has been lost over time.” – European Raw Materials Alliance director, Massimo Gasparon

“We believe Australia will be a key market for our future investment and concentration, especially the mining business. Regarding the mining equipment, it sets the highest standard worldwide. And we’ll focus on our future transformation ... building smarter, greener equipment [for the] Australian market. Hopefully in the future we can be a trusted partner to the key miners and contractors in the industry and bring more value to Australia.” – XCMG Oceania director of mining equipment business, John Cui

“We think that building is so important and that's something that we've struggled with as the United States over the past few years. We used to be better at building things. We put too many rules in place to make it harder to build the things that we need to clean up our environment and to make to make energy production more sustainable.” – Government of Utah governor, Spencer Cox

“I think we do need to think a little bit differently about how we approach the market, contracts [and] collaboration. You said we can’t plan for the unplannable. I do actually actively encourage my team to think about the unthinkable.” – Newmont supply chain operations, PNG, director, Nick Stokes

ESG equals sensible governance

“Those who ignore ESG and those who ignore license to operate just aren't going to be able to raise the capital needed, aren't going to be able to attract the workforce and aren't going to be responsible to continue what our industry needs to do. One failure for the industry impacts us all, and I think we all need to remember that as we go forward.” – EY global mining & metals leader, Paul Mitchell

“Australia now stands at a unique intersection of climate responsibility and economic opportunity. The transition to green steel is no longer a distant vision it's a strategic imperative and one that can reshape the future of Australian economic prosperity if we act now with conviction and vision.” – Fortescue general manager, green metal, Tijana La Bianca

“For younger generations and for women the research has shown that they really look at their next employee, they look at how they're performing from a sustainability perspective and decide whether or not they'll actually work for that company. It's not just about money anymore.” – Sandfire Resources chief sustainability officer, Cath Bozanich

“From a student and young person’s perspective ... without a social license to operate there's not much I am going to be able to do.” – University of New South Wales mining engineering student, Celine Gironda

“The mining industry holds up Australia and it’s going to hold up Aboriginal people in a way that we can’t imagine. We have to open the gates on that. We have to open the gates and make that occur at a bigger level so people like me can become all of what an Aboriginal society can be as well.” – Aboriginal Enterprises in Mining, Energy & Exploration (AEMEE) chair, Derek Flucker

“They have fewer moving parts, they generate less heat, they go faster and they break out more dirt. In my experience in this industry we like the newest and brightest toys. We’ve never said no to them ever. So my challenge to the industry is to say, these are series one machines, they'll have their quirks, but any series one machine will always have these quirks. That is no different to any better machine that’s come before us. The fact that it’s electric or diesel electric or hybrid shouldn't scare us away from the change. We will find the operational benefits. We will find the return on investment. We will make the machine better and then it will stop becoming an electric machine and just be the machine.” – Perenti head of mining electrification & technology, Darren Kwok

“I’m seeing my unit costs come down. For those out there who think this is just about energy generation, it’s not. That’s the easy part. It’s how you make it work in the field. That’s where the challenge is. But it is profitable in in-field work I’m seeing as we speak. And I can’t wait for the next four or five years when we have a ceremony when the diesel tap will be turned off.” – Fortescue director of mining operations, Stephen Cole

The youth of today!

“Last Christmas I had a task to do and I actually gave it to a couple of graduates. I said, do you mind doing this for me – I really don't have time for it right now. I was on site, and they said, sure, no problem. They did it and to be honest they did it better than I could do it. That’s actually where we are ... These guys have access to information, they can do it faster, they can do it better. And we need to embrace that.” – Aurelia Metals CEO, Bryan Quinn

“Someone said to me the other day, just tell me everything you know and then get out of the way.” – IGO non-executive chair, Michael Nossal

“I brought someone from my university and she came here for a day and was completely shocked by this whole event. She’d never seen anything like it. And she told me, oh, I’d forgotten mining isn't all just coal mines. It’s really important to take control of that narrative, really share our successes, and show young people what we're actually up to. Because there is less and less of that message getting put out there.” – University of Newcastle environmental engineering student, Emily-Jane Schutte

“The tendency to treat exploration and innovation as costs to be cut — rather than as long-term investments — creates instability that ripples through people, suppliers and communities. Every cycle we lose talent, disrupt learning and slow momentum. If we could shift the mindset to treat people, data and technology as core capital — assets that retain value across cycles — we’d maintain continuity, capability and trust. If anything, downturns are when we should innovate smarter, not smaller.” – Barton Gold junior geologist and IMARC 2025 NextGen Leaders Award winner, Renzo Ocampo

“I came to Australia in 2014 and I have seen in the last 10 years how the reputation of geoscience has declined. We have always seen this coming but ... Australian geoscience is in crisis. I don’t know who is going to explore for all these critical minerals the politicians keep talking about.” – University of New South Wales senior lecturer earth sciences, Indrani Mukherjee

“When I consider the circular economy I think of it as all about people. It’s all about talent. It's all about how we skill up to transition to this circular economy future. And the shortage of specific skill sets that we are now experiencing all over the world, but in Australia in particular, is a big one. We’ve got to be a little bit more sophisticated about how we solve this crisis.” – Circular Australia chief circular engineer/ University of Sydney Faculty of Engineering associate dean, Ali Abbas

Finding, funding and fast-tracking mines

“The plant in Kwinana commenced construction in late 2015, completed construction in 2020 and we’re still ramping it up. It was a gamble by Tianqi that perhaps didn’t quite pay off like the way they would have liked it to. As a comparison they’ve recently completed a 30,000-tonne carbonate/hydroxide dual-product plant [at Zhangjiagang in China] in 11 months. And they are looking to ramp that up in probably four-to-five months to nameplate capacity.” – Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia CEO, Raj Surendran

“These projects are not being funded because of the risk to investors; because the environment they are trying to sell into is too nascent. The addressable market outside of China is still so small at the moment. And because the only pricing mechanism we have to relate to is the one gifted to us from China, which is heavily manipulated. Until we work out how to create really strong demand signals and a fair price environment for these projects then we shouldn’t expect to see private investment moving toward them.” – Australian Strategic Materials CEO, Rowena Smith

“There’s a real opportunity for us to take it through to oxides here in Australia. But once you get to that point, the discussions about metallising and doing magnet manufacturing in Australia ... That, to me, is just dumb.” – Rowena Smith again

“How can we work quicker? It’s an arms race and speed is of importance.” – ARENA investment manager, Anish Muchhala

“Since 2010 a total of 207 million tonnes of copper was found in the world. Over the same period 272Mt of copper was mined. The industry is not making enough new discoveries to replace what is being mined.” – MinEx Consulting managing director, Richard Schodde

“Cost absolutely is key and from our perspective. We’ve got the largest resource in the natural graphite industry and that's the reason it got developed. It is the best resource. And at the scale that it can operate it should be in the first quartile of the cost curve. The issue is that demand hasn't caught up in the ex-China world and that’s because customers want a co-located source of supply. They want it to be accredited to Western standards. They want it to be uncontracted if they can get it, so available when they want it, not necessarily on a long-term contract, and they want it at a China price. And these things are just fundamentally inconsistent.” – Syrah Resources CEO, Shaun Verner

“The other fundamental is that we will never be able to compete on capital cost. We might get there on opex but building a facility in the US, as we've done, or in Australia, we just can't compete with Chinese capital costs.” – Shaun Verner again

“Two years ago we could have sat here and talked about a pretty robust nickel industry in Australia. It is now completely eviscerated and, in my mind, never coming back. And that is because it is fundamentally uncompetitive. And that is coming for us beyond nickel. China is wiping the floor with us. How are they doing it? Scale, low-cost, reliable power and, specifically within nickel as a case study, they’re doing it in a dynamic where the regulatory risk is low. It’s pre-permitted. All the tape, however you want to define it, is dealt with so there’s no risk. You can turn soil tomorrow and if they start tomorrow they’ll build a nano factory within nine months.” – Nero Resource Fund founder & co-portfolio manager, Russell Delroy

Don’t miss Voices of IMARC: Part 2