Keynote speaker

Christiane Brendel

Strategic Advisor, Energy, Resources and Major Projects

Christiane is a versatile, adaptable senior executive with almost 30 years' professional and leadership experience predominantly in the mining, resources and utilities industries.

Christiane focusses on the energy and natural resources industries and enhances our clients’ capital projects delivery through her extensive experience. She has a wealth of knowledge in strategizing and the delivery of major projects. In prior roles.

She is a passionate and skilled facilitator for boards and senior decision makers and has extensive experience working with all organisational levels within Australia as well as the Middle East, Eastern and Western Europe, the UK, the US, South America, and India.

Christiane uses her unique capability of strategic, technical and authentic leadership to improve competitive positioning, prepare business cases, undertake feasibility studies and improve efficiencies. As an experienced strategic thinker, Christiane can 'paint' a pathway to value creation.

Christiane holds International Business and Engineering qualifications and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Presentation title:  What is so critical about critical minerals?

Presentation synopsis

A global race is on, it is fuelling demand for critical minerals and metals on a tremendous scale, creating opportunities and challenges across the overall metals value chain. To navigate this, miners, contractors, OEMs and governments need to understand a volatile interplay of 6 key forces or risk missing out on the opportunities presented by this global race.

Extracting resources, refining materials and manufacturing new technologies will underpin the energy transition and more; from health and science innovation to space travel. So many industries need critical minerals in unprecedented quantities.

These are:

1. The role of the US. First the IRA's stimulus for clean energy technologies has created a gravitational pull-on heavy industry, as U.S. demand for critical minerals layers new complexity into forecast demand; followed by tariffs and varying political plays.
2. Geopolitical disruption. The strategic importance of critical minerals is resulting in governments increasingly setting policy based on national interest rather than economic efficiency, including the Aus – US agreement on the critical minerals framework and others.
3. A talent drought. While demand for battery minerals and metals escalates, the shortage in skilled labour needed to implement the latest technologies continues.
4. Emergence of irrational capital markets. Trends and developments including environmental, social, and governance mandates, geopolitical uncertainty, and concerns around energy security are complicating incentive structures and changing the way capital markets reward value now and in the future.
5. Government trade-offs between reducing debt and protecting sovereignty. Widespread national debts and high interest rates create a challenging environment to fund commitments and policy choices.
6. Escalating capital and operational costs. A significant global project pipeline is fuelling price inflation, while coordinated global policies, emissions pledges, and goals are escalating project costs.

Christiane, your presenter will bring these forces alive in an engaging presentation with statistics and stories that will be very engaging and insightful.