2017 Craig Oliver Award

CONFERENCE CALLER: The winner of the Craig Oliver Award was revealed on the opening morning of the RIU Explorers Conference in Fremantle.

The award is in memory of Craig Oliver who was killed, along with other Sundance Resources Board members in a plane crash in the Congo in 2010.

It is presented to an ‘all round’ small to mid-cap company deemed to have excelled in areas including exploration, mining, corporate, market results, environmental and community over the previous 12-month period.

Previous winners include:

2011 – Independence Group;
2012 – Silver Lake Resources;
2013 – Sirius Resources;
2014 – Northern Star Resources;
2015 – Doray minerals; and
2016 – Metals X.

Nominees for the 2017 award were: 

Capricorn Metals;
Capricorn is advancing the Karlawinda Gold Project in Western Australia. 

Kidman Resources;
Kidman is chasing lithium and gold with its prime target being the Earl Grey prospect. One of its emerging gold prospects is Blue Vein, where high-grade hits have been encountered below a historic open pit.

Dacian Gold;
Dacian became a doyen of gold mining in Western Australia with its advanced blueprint for the Mt Morgans project.

Western Areas;
Western Areas was behind the creation of the Craig Oliver Award as Craig had been a well-regarded Director of the company.

Western Areas had excluded itself from being considered in previous years, however judges decided the ongoing performance of the company warranted a nomination.

Evolution Mining;
Evolution won the Diggers Award at Diggers & Dealers in 2016 and recorded a net profit for the 2016 December Half of $136.3 million.

Craig Oliver’s wife Shanelle remembered him as, “a man of vision, enthusiasm and determination.”

“His legacy should be an inspiration for junior miners and explorers,” she said.

She presented the award to Evolution Mining vice president business development Aaron Colleran.

“One of the things we don’t do well as an industry is stop and celebrate success,” Colleran said when accepting the award.

“We should celebrate our success more – we are amongst the smartest, most efficient miners in the world – there is a lot to celebrate.

“We’re too often bogged down in the day-to-day issues dealing with problems thrown at us by mother nature.

“Evolution has had a great few years, not because of our mines, but because of our people.

“We have a workforce committed to our core set of values of safety, accountability, excellence, and respect embedded across the organisation.”