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2003

Despite including the annual preview to the Australian Nickel Conference, the month’s cover story was focused
on the failed son of the nickel sector, Andrew Forrest. “Twiggy” was in the formative stages of resurrecting his
reputation after the troubles of Anaconda Nickel and had alighted in the Pilbara with the idea of creating a “third
force” in iron ore. “Forrest insists a third railway is not just breaking the stranglehold of the big two but rather
opening up the Pilbara at a time when iron ore demand is set to surge – with China’s growing prosperity a driver,”
we reported. The edition also carried a preview to the inaugural Africa Down Under (ADU) conference in Perth.
A modest affair of less than 100 delegates, the event featured the likes of Bill Turner (Anvil Mining), Hamish
Bohannan (Gallery Gold) and Craig Williams (Equinox). Sixteen years later, more than 1,200 delegates attended
the 2019 edition to listen to more than 30 company and a dozen ministerial presentations.

2005 2007

By 2005, ADU was up and running, with Paydirt dedicating 26 In those heady days of the mid-2000s, every commodity got its
pages to the event. That year’s closing panel session included many own mini-boom times and none more so than uranium. By 2007, the
of Australia’s early-movers on the continent with RSG Global’s Rick sector was running hot with exploration occurring around the world.
Yeates chairing a debate which included John Borshoff (Paladin En- We headed to Namibia where not only was Rio Tinto Ltd still produc-
ergy Ltd), Mike Holman (Anglo American plc), Mark Ashley (LionOre), ing at its 30-year old Rossing mine and Paladin Energy Ltd starting
Craig Williams, Alex Burns (Sphere Investments) and the late Craig operations at Langer Heinrich but ASX-listed upstarts Bannerman
Oliver (Nkwe Platinum). The topics would become familiar ones Resources Ltd and Extract were looking for the next major yellow-
down the years of the conference; how to access finance, skills and cake discovery. Extract succeeded, making the Rossing South dis-
infrastructure on the continent. The cover story was a local affair with covery not long after Paydirt’s visit. The junior was eventually subject
Derek Fisher explaining how his Moly Mines group would develop to an all-out bidding war that delivered a healthy return for any inves-
the Spinifex Ridge moly project in WA. In his editorial, Barry Avery tor wise enough to act on the Paydirt story at the time.
dismissed any suggestion the boom was coming to an end, rightly
predicting it would have several years to run yet.

2009 2012

ADU has dominated the October edition of Paydirt for more than It was going to take something big to
a decade and the magazine has charted the growing interest from knock ADU off the October cover and in
Australian and African governments in the conference. In 2005, 2012 it arrived when Mark Bennett (a for-
then High Commissioner to South Africa Phillip Green said it was mer ADU regular during his time with Li-
a rarity for Australian heads of mission to meet up at an event such onOre) delivered it with the discovery of
as ADU and admitted even he was surprised at the level of engage- the Nova-Bollinger nickel deposit in the
ment on the continent. By 2009, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Fraser Range, WA. The Nova discovery
Smith, speaking at the conference, said: “The Australian Govern- hole had only been drilled three months
ment is deeply committed to strengthening Australia’s engagement previously but Bennett’s Sirius Resourc-
with Africa. In the past, Australia has not given Africa the priority it es’ was already flying on the ASX. Since
requires and deserves. The Australian Government is determined drilling at Nova began, the Sirius share
to change that.” price had shifted from 5c to $1.55 and continued to climb before In-
dependence Group NL eventually bought company and project in a
$1.7 billion cash and scrip deal.

2014 2016

It was back to ADU in 2013, 2014 and 2015 with high profile This was the year that October Pay-
speakers such as the African Development Bank’s Sheila Khama dirt’s two great loves – Africa and nickel
featuring heavily. In 2014, the traditional discussions about com- – conspired to feature in the same sto-
munity development, infrastructure and sustainability were joined ry after Hugh Morgan astonished the
in the ADU programme by a frightening new development gripping ADU audience with his Comet Minerals’
parts of West Africa; Ebola. A special session was convened featur- “nickel balls” discovery in Nigeria. Three
ing Public Health England chief and renowned Ebola expert David years on from the unearthing of the geo-
Heymann. The session attempted to contextualise the Ebola crisis logical oddity, Comet is still building its
and quantify how mining companies should respond and what they understanding of the occurrence and
could do to protect their workforces and assist their host commu- how it may be developed.
nities. The conclusion drawn was that companies should work in
networks to promote good practice and keep each other informed
about public health concerns around their projects. It was a col-
legiate approach that is now being replicated with regards security
in West Africa.

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT OCTOBeR 2019 Page 19