by Ross Louthean

The role of women in the Australian mining sector was the strongest yet in Diggers & Dealers awards.

The GJ Stokes Memorial Award went to Amanda Lacaze after moving into the mining sector to run Lynas Rare Earths to set up a major processing plant in Kalgoorlie for its Mt Weld deposit and maintaining an operation in Malaysia at a time the company was facing debt and other challenges.

She restructured the balance sheet, cut costs and focused on high-value magnet material which created remarkable growth and over the next 12 years Lynasa became the largest producer of separated rare earths outside of China.

Main image: Former CEO and managing director of Lynas Rare Earths Amanda Lacaze who is now Chair of the Minerals Council of Australia

Since leaving this role recently she now serves as chair of the Minerals Council of Australia.

The Digger of the Year Award went to West African Resources which is developing the large Kiako gold mine in Burkina Faso with a projected life of 20 years.

The Dealer of the Year went to Greatland Resources which acquired the maturing Telfer gold-copper mine in far north Western Australia and the remaining 70 per cent of the nearby Havieron project from Newmont for $US475 million, securing full ownership of a world class development hub in the Paterson region.

The Emerging Company was Minerals 260 which acquired the Bullabulling project west of Coolgardie and grown it to a 6.2 M ounce resource to produce 150,000 oz pa.

The Media Award went to Tara de Landgrafft, who is the rural and resources reporter for the Goldfields-Esperance region for the ABC, while the Ray Finlayson Award for leadership and academic excellence at the WA School of Mines went to Elissa Quinn-Williams. She is a fourth year mining engineering student.