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EP45 - KEEP THE RISK IN THE ROCK WITH TONY REDA.
In this episode, we speak to Tony Reda from Tectonic Metals.
Tony is trying to create a company where the non-technical opportunities or risks are just as critical a pillar in the company as identifying the technical opportunities present.
They are trying to do the right thing as early as possible. Tony joined us today from his home in British Columbia to talk about what challenges he faces in trying to create such a company.
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#37 - The Elephant in the Room with Jonathan Goodman
MINI - The Good & the Bad of the UNCOVER project
Mineral discovery rates have been declining in Australia. One reason for this decline is the move away from traditional methods of surface exploration and to exploring for deposits deeper in the subsurface. This change would mean that to be successful at finding deposits deeper in the subsurface, we would have to develop new technologies, create new ways of working, collect new datasets and ultimately learn new skills. From this realisation was born the UNCOVER project - a national cooperative initiative between academia and industry to come up with ideas and solutions of what could be done to improve the industry's ability of finding subsurface deposits. NExUS was one of the things born out of the program.
Although UNCOVER was a great initiative, it would also be fair to argue that it failed to achieve some of the big goals it set out to accomplish. Rather than it being a collective push by everyone to change the way the industry worked, it has now broken up in different factions that are going down their own paths. In our discussion with Richard Lilly on UNCOVER, we talk about whether the end result is a good thing, and why did UNCOVER fail to achieve some of it big goals?
This episode makes up part of the discussion we had with Richard in Episode 33.
#32 - Turning Around the Titanic with Sam Walsh
In 2013, Sam Walsh the then head of Rio Tinto Iron Ore was on vacation in Singapore. He got a call. The company was looking to him to become the next CEO of Rio Tinto.
At that time, Rio Tinto was in dire financial conditions. Adopting a growth at all costs strategy for years before, had put the company under immense financial strain. It could have fallen over if things continued that way.
This was the company Sam inherited. And 3 years later, he had turned it around.
Everyone says making changes in big companies is like turning around the Titanic. Well Sam figured out a way to do just that. He joins us this week to tell us how he did it.
#30 - First Tell a Story, then Run it as a Business with Tony Manini
One of the main non-technical challenges in mineral exploration is getting investment. Overwhelmingly, companies seem to favour becoming a publicly listed company on a stock exchange to raise funds. The challenge there is how to effectively engage a largely uninformed investor base and retain them over the long term. Maybe we would be better off with a private funding model for early stage exploration - similar to venture capital firms funding startups. Irrespective of how we get funding, we need to remember to run exploration like a business.
Our guest this week is Tony Manini, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of a private equity firm called EMR Capital.
#29 - A Major Difference with Steve McIntosh
Almost everyone in our industry has an opinion on how big companies should run exploration. We criticise them for being too risk averse, not moving quickly enough and "why can't they do it like it was done in the past". Some of these criticisms might be justified. But comparing these modern exploration groups to the past is a fallacy. We have not seen companies the size of BHP, Rio Tinto or Vale before. These groups have to do things differently. They have to continuously figure out how to fit into the corporate structure of these multi-billion dollar companies, how to provide value to the overall company, and most importantly, they have to be run like a business. Maybe it's time we have an honest conversation on what works and what does not when it comes to running exploration groups in major mining companies.
Our guest today is Steve McIntosh, Group Executive for Growth and Innovation at Rio Tinto, and who has been involved in managing exploration activities within the company for the past few decades.
#20 - The Three Princes of Serendip with Samantha Copeland (Part 2)
A common theme in many sciences is the role of chance or accidents leading to significant discoveries. The world of mineral exploration is no different...the discovery of Ertzberg by Jean Jacques Dozy while climbing glaciers in Irian Jaya. We often attribute these discoveries to luck. But it is serendipity. And the difference is not just semantics.
In this two-part interview, Samantha Copeland talks about how serendipity is a driver of knowledge in many fields; how our understanding is often affected by our biases; the roles that chance and expertise, or wisdom, play; and ultimately how a network, rather than the individual, is the key to recognising the value of serendipitous outcomes.
Are you interested in one day running your own mineral exploration startup... check out our interview with the always honest and frank Mark Bennett on what it takes to do so. Here is an excerpt from that interview.
Check out the full interview here: explorationradio.com/ep-17.html
#podcasts #podcast #insights #startup #startups #explore #exploration #news #listen #audio #radio #mining #industry #perth #australia #minerals #advice #enjoy #lazy #sunday #applepodcasts #spotify #stitcher
#16 - Boiling frogs with Jon Hronsky
This week on @Exploration Radio... Have you ever heard the saying that if you put a #frog into #boiling water, it will jump out. But if you put a frog in cold water and slowly bring the water to a boil, it will not recognise the #danger at all. Could this metaphor be applied to how we deal with #change in #science? When we talk about changing practises and methods in #geology and #exploration, do we have to remember to boil the water really slowly?
#Transitions are difficult. People have built reputations on doing things a certain way. They cannot see the benefit in changing - their #inertia is palpable. But inevitably, change comes. There are plenty of stories in geology and exploration of transitions. The most famous one... is the theory of plate tectonics - an idea that took nearly 400 years from inception of the concept to #validation through #data and finally #acceptance. So now, when we say that exploration is going through a transition - from surface to deeper subsurface exploration - the question is, how long will it take?
On this episode, we talk to Jon Hronsky. Born on a mine site and coming from a family of geologists, Jon has devoted his career to better understand and develop the science of exploration. He gives us his insights on what we stand to learn from Thomas Kuhn and revolutions in science; from Richard Thaler and behavioural economics; and how misunderstanding the risk-reward equation is a death sentence in exploration.
#15 - Change is inevitable. Adaptability a choice
This week on @Exploration Radio... It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent. But the ones that are the most responsive to change. Peta Libby epitomises this spirit. She is incredibly honest and wholly authentic, wears her heart on her sleeve and shoots from the hip; and despite all the challenges and setbacks this industry has thrown at her, Peta has managed to succeed on her own terms.
Talking to Peta, you realise pretty quickly that she is innately adaptable... or in her words “she just gets on with things and focuses on being the driver rather than the passenger in life”. What if to survive in this industry, the most important thing is adaptability.
#14 - 7 Lessons from Julian Malnic
Last episode in our series on #innovation and #disruption... we try to answer the question: What makes an #innovator?
#Mining metals on the #ocean floor... mining water from #asteroids... just some of the #innovative ideas Julian Malnic has #succeeded with. He gives us a window into how he works. How he sees #entrepreneurship as understanding what the value of you being you is. How disagreement and skepticism are good things. How sometimes opportunities find you and 80% of success is just showing up. At the end, #innovation is #entrepreneurship and #enterprise. And don't ride the ski lift if you are afraid of the fall.
Julian Malnic is an innovator. And he has 7 lessons for us.
#13 - An outsider's perspective
The past few episodes have covered different perspectives on innovation and disruption in the mining and exploration industries. In this episode, we continue that discussion. But this time, we are after the perspective of someone outside of our industry...and what do they see looking in.
All of us in the industry, have become really good at coming up with reasons why mining fails to innovate. We are too slow... we do not have the right attitude... top end management have no real imperative to do so... and, as mentioned in the previous episode, maybe we are just not structurally setup the right way. We seem to be wanting to develop solutions from within. But...what about other industries? Surely some of them have already solved the problems we face. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then how come we are not imitating others and fast tracking solutions.
In this episode, we talk to Ash Agarwal from Uptake, a predictive analytics firm based in the US that is transforming companies and industries using the data they already have. So could they do the same for mining?
