May tech talk: Beyond Optimisation - Rethinking Innovation in the Resource-to-Reserve Stage

Join the Sydney Branch for their May tech talk: Beyond Optimisation - Rethinking Innovation in the Resource-to-Reserve Stage.

About this event

Innovation in the mining and mineral processing sector is becoming increasingly critical as ore grades decline, mineralogy becomes more complex, and the shift toward critical minerals demands new processing approaches. One of the most under-recognised opportunities sits at the resource-to-reserve stage, where flowsheets are defined and optimisation programs are undertaken.

While typically approached as an engineering exercise, this phase represents one of the highest-value innovation windows in the project lifecycle. Yet outcomes are often constrained by the experience and assumptions of the study team, or default to further research rather than exploring alternative pathways. In reality, there is a powerful third approach—applying a structured deep tech innovation lens to unlock greater value across the flowsheet.

At this AusIMM session, Scimita will draw on real case examples to unpack five recurring failure patterns observed in technologies progressing through the TRL 3 to TRL 7 phase, with direct relevance to projects at the resource-to-reserve stage. These include the drift between research and innovation, misalignment between technical progress and economic value, and the tendency to prematurely scale before key uncertainties are resolved.

The session will also explore the human factors that drive these outcomes—our pull back toward curiosity-led work or forward into execution without sufficient grounding. Scimita will outline how a structured Innovation Journey and governance framework enables disciplined progression, ensuring innovation remains aligned to both technical and commercial outcomes.

Building on this foundation, Pat Stewart (Advanced) will explore how businesses can fund and sustain this kind of disciplined innovation by turning the R&D tax incentive into a strategic growth lever, rather than a delayed reimbursement.

The session will begin with a concise overview of the program and the importance of receiving high-quality advice to maximise eligibility and outcomes.

The core focus will be on how to convert the incentive into immediate, non-dilutive funding that accelerates business momentum. Attendees will learn how unlocking R&D capital earlier can enable faster hiring, sustained product development, and more deliberate growth decisions - on their own timeline rather than being constrained by cash flow cycles.

Drawing on Advanced’s approach, the session will introduce the concept of a “capital flywheel,” where businesses reinvest into R&D, access funds earlier, and continuously accelerate outcomes while maintaining control and avoiding dilution.

The emphasis will be on practical application and sharing case studies on how Advanced Portfolio founders have utilised R&D funding as a repeatable, strategic component of their capital stack to scale more efficiently.  

Speaker/s

Patrick Stewart

Head of Growth at Advanced

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Pat Stewart is Head of Growth at Advanced: the fintech revolutionising innovation finance. Advanced helps founders unlock their R&D refund early, turning government incentives into a growth engine.

With a background in alternative capital and a track record of scaling financial services from startup to institutional, Pat leads national growth strategy and partnerships across Australia’s innovation ecosystem. At Advanced, he drives a radical but simple belief: capital should move at founder speed: fast, flexible, and in sync with execution.

An MBA-holder and founder himself, Pat knows what it’s like to build with limited capital and limitless ambition. Before joining Advanced, he co-founded an allied health business and held leadership roles at Westpac and Allianz, where he specialised in business banking and alternative finance.

Pat now brings that mix of startup grit and big-bank scale to the table, helping founders stay in control and rewrite the rules of how innovation gets funded. He regularly speaks on non-dilutive capital, innovation funding, and the future of founder-aligned finance.

Peter Xi

Partner in the Tax Division at RSM Australia

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Peter Xi is a Partner in the Tax Division at RSM Australia, specialising in R&D Tax Incentive advisory and compliance. Based in Sydney, he works with start ups, SMEs, and multinational organisations across sectors including technology, engineering, manufacturing, and consumer products. Peter has extensive experience in innovation funding, R&D governance, audits and reviews, and complex tax structuring for innovative projects. He previously held roles at PwC and Virgin and is known for successfully managing large scale R&D claims and advising clients in both English and Mandarin.

Peter holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Professional Accounting) and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Macquarie University, as well as a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney.

Dr Mobin Nomvar

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Dr Mobin Nomvar is an engineer, scientist, and deep tech innovation leader with a track record of bridging research, technology development, and commercial outcomes. Over the past decade, he has founded and built Scimita, a deep tech innovation house focused on advancing technologies from early-stage concepts (TRL 2–3) through to commercial readiness (TRL 6–7) across the resource, energy, and industrial sectors.

Through this work, Mobin has developed and refined a structured Innovation Journey and governance framework that is now being applied across multiple deep tech programs. This framework addresses one of the most critical gaps in the innovation ecosystem—the disciplined progression of technologies through the mid-stage development phase, where technical uncertainty, commercial alignment, and human factors intersect. His work has enabled organisations to align technical development with technoeconomic drivers, avoid premature scale-up, and systematically unlock value across complex systems such as mineral processing flowsheets.

Mobin’s experience spans engineering, applied science, and commercialisation strategy. Prior to founding Scimita, he led projects with the United Nations Development Programme supporting Iran’s Energy Sector and National Action Plan. Since completing his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Sydney, he has been deeply engaged in the commercialisation of emerging technologies, working closely with startups, corporates, and research institutions.

In parallel, Mobin has delivered hundreds of lectures, workshops, and advisory sessions to researchers, founders, and innovation teams, focusing on the discipline required to translate research into commercially viable outcomes. He is widely recognised for his ability to connect technical depth with commercial clarity and is a trusted advisor to multiple private and public deep tech ventures.