Northern Star Resources Executive Chairman Bill Beament has capped of a remarkable period of success for the company by being awarded the Mines and Money Legend in Mining at the International Mines and Resources Conference in Melbourne.

Mr Beament joins industry luminaries such as Andrew Forrest, Robert Champion de Crespigny and Jake Klein in receiving the prestigious award, which recognises exceptional contributions and performance in Australia’s mining industry.

Under his leadership Northern Star has completed a series of expansions and acquisitions which has seen the company’s production grow to a forecast 850,000 to 900,000 ounces of gold in FY2019. The company took its business global in September when it completed the acquisition of the Pogo project in Canada.
Investors in Northern Star have been rewarded with a more than ten-fold increase in the company’s share price since 2014. Mr Beament is also Chairman of the Western Australia School of Mines Alumni Patrons Group.

The IMAC Gala Dinner was also the forum for the announcement of the METS Ignited Collaboration Award. The award recognises projects that contribute to a culture of collaboration within the mining innovation ecosystem and achieve mutual business gains through successful collaboration.

Due to the calibre of applications received this year the honour was awarded to two winners. Unearthed and Newcrest Mining developed an automated online platform which aimed to provide Newcrest with a long-term solution to access a digital community on demand, and to enable them to work with some of the best innovators in the world to identify, develop and implement new solutions for multi-million-dollar operational challenges.

After a pilot process involving two successful challenges (Hydrosaver and Get 2 the Core) that delivered commercially applicable solutions, Newcrest officially launched The Newcrest Crowd as an industry-leading initiative in August 2018.

The other joint winner was Core Resources and Downer Group subsidiary Mineral Technologies, who jointly developed and implemented a novel leaching process technology that solves the problem of high-arsenic concentrates. The Toowong Process removes arsenic from feedstock at the mine-site, and then "fixes" it in an environmentally safe and stable form that enables final disposal at the mine-site.

As orebodies become increasingly complex and more contaminated, smelters around the world, often located in industrialised urban areas, are finding it incredibly difficult to source clean feedstock. The Toowong Process can help resolve this issue.

Colin Moorhead was recognised for his contribution to our mining industry by winning the AusIMM Recognition for Exceptional Leadership. Colin has had an outstanding career with Newcrest Mining, before switching to lead emerging Indonesian gold producer PT Merdeka Copper Gold, Tbk. He is the current president of AusIMM.

The night of mining excellence, also featured a guest appearance from the $200,000 Lexus Melbourne Cup Trophy which proved to be a popular attraction for guests seeking a selfie. Manufactured by ABC Bullion, the 18 carat gold trophy was produced using gold that was mined, refined, and crafted wholly in Australia for the first time in its 150-year history. The appearance forms part of the 16th annual Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour in 2018, featuring 37 destinations across Australia and Europe.

Accompanying the iconic trophy was six ABC Bullion 400oz ABC Gold Bars (99.9% gold) with a combined value of over $4.1million, as well as two large gold specimens valued at $5million and weighing in at 94kg and 63 kg respectfully, from RNC Mineral’s “Father’s Day Vein” of Beta Hunt gold mine located in Western Australia.