1623 idea what that industry could be.” When I explained I worked for the mining industry she simply observed, “that would not be the first industry that would come to mind in that context”. We then spent 15 minutes talking about how I made such a statement about our industry and how did I justify my bold claim regarding our environmental credentials. At the end of the conversation she said, “you have given me much pause for thought”. I can only hope my thoughts today leave you with as much pause for thought as the Baroness. And in leaving you with a final thought, Mark Zuckerberg recently observed, the highest risk position for any business is to not take risks to continuously drive improving business performance. In mining, the very nature of our industry, within our current social context, requires us to be bolder than we’ve ever been before. I’ll leave you all to reflect on whether you think we are collectively up to that task…and if you think we may not be…I can only hope you personally commit to helping the industry be what it can be. The future of our children is too important to be left to those that don’t care about how we shape our future, and/or those that don’t understand what we do. For those that understand what is possible and have the courage to make a difference. we need you and we will make a role for you in our great mining industry. To my father and his view on my crazy decision to join the mining industry – it took him 30 years, but he finally acknowledged that maybe the choice of mining wasn’t that bad a choice after all. I can only hope it doesn’t take me another 30 years to convince a few more people on the merits of our wonderful industry. The evolution of the “Mining Industry” to being a “Minerals Solutions Industry” is as much about what we do, as it is about where we need to go. And if we want to take people with us, we need to help them understand the journey we are on. Leadership is about creating a clear view of a future we can all see and want – and being bold enough to make it our reality.
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