CoI Panel

About the Community of Interest (CoI) Advisory Panel

The Community of Interest (CoI) Advisory Panel is an independent, multi-interest group comprised of individuals from representatives of First Nations and communities where the industry is active, environmental NGOs, social performance experts, and the finance sector. Industry representatives participate in panel discussions but are not involved in CoI advice.

The CoI Panel provides advice to the MCA and its member companies to improve sustainability performance through implementation of the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) program.
Panel members volunteer their time to oversee TSM and provide their unique perspectives to advise on approaches to mitigate impact, manage risk and identify opportunities to support sustainable outcomes. Membership of the panel does not imply an endorsement of the MCA or the minerals industry.

The objectives of the CoI Panel include:

1. Advise on the on-going development and implementation of TSM
2. Identify current and emerging priority sustainability issues – with a focus on TSM – to support the sector and its communities of interest meet new challenges
3. Consider information on the industry’s performance and on issues raised by its communities of interest
4. Provide a place for open and informed national-level dialogue, allowing members to test industry policies and approaches and seek COI views
5. Contribute to the understanding, support and awareness of the goals and achievements of TSM among communities of interest.

For more information about the CoI Panel, refer to the Terms of Reference.

COI Panel reports and statements

COI Panel Meeting Summaries can be accessed below.

Community of Interest Panel – 6 March 2024

Panel Members

The Australian minerals industry appreciates panel members volunteering their valuable time to represent their communities of interest in the TSM program.
Current COI Panel members include:

Deanna Kemp (Social)

As Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) at The University of Queensland (UQ), Deanna leads an international program of work enabling a team of more than 30 applied social researchers working across a range of programs including governance, development, and social impact. Deanna engages with industry, government, civil society groups and mine-affected communities to conduct applied research to build knowledge for responsible resource development.
Prior to joining CSRM in 2006, Deanna worked in the mining industry in corporate and operational roles, including at BHP, and as an independent social assessor for a number of other global resources companies.

Fiona Sutton Wilson (Environment)

Fiona Sutton Wilson is CEO of Earthwatch Australia, an environmental NGO established in 1982. In 2019, Fiona moved from her 20 year career in higher education to Earthwatch, to lead a dynamic team of environmental scientists, educators, and field coordinators delivering scientific expeditions, national citizens science programs, and school sustainability education. Working alongside Traditional Custodians, Fiona and the team deeply engage communities, corporations, and youth in nature-based solutions that tackle the greatest threats to our biosphere: climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Fiona has received recognition for her work through a number of awards and fellowships, most prominently in research and leadership.
Earthwatch also partners with the Australian Government and BHP to deliver the largest species discovery program of its type in the world, Bush Blitz: scientific expeditions to document Australia’s species and support biodiversity conservation efforts across Australia’s states and territories.

Luarna Dyvenor (co-chair) (First Nations)

Luarna Dyvenor is a Barada Barna woman and deputy chair of the Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation. With their country located in the Bowen Basin, Barada Barna host over 20 mines on their country.
Luarna has negotiated and is implementing land use agreements and heritage management plans with various mining companies.
She is a strong advocate for her people and looks to leave this world a better place for future generations.

Jamie Lowe (First Nations)

Jamie Lowe is a proud Gundjitmara Djabwurrung man and CEO of the National Native Title Council (NNTC). He first joined the NNTC as Chair in 2017 and two year later was appointed CEO. In this role he is charged with supporting First Nation’s people’s right to true self-determination speaking for and managing their own Country; governing their own communities; participating fully in decision making; and strengthening their own social and economic development.
Prior to joining NNTC Jamie was CEO of the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation in South Western Victoria, awarded Native Title in 2011and 2023 over the Great Ocean Road. He was also an inaugural member of the historic First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, the representative elected body tasked with negotiating a Treaty with the Victoria Government.
Internationally, Jamie is the NNTC representative on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) – a high-level advisory body to the New York based UN Economic and Social Council.
As a key influencer, Jamie firmly believes that creating economic independence and maintaining and growing cultural identity are vital in creating a self-determining nation of First Nations peoples and will continue to tirelessly advocate for a national Treaty whilst remaining a strong advocate for Traditional Owners and communities across Australia.

Peter Long (Community Development)

Peter is a professional engineer, environmental scientist, businessman and local government politician who has been resident in Pilbara region of Western Australia for nearly 40 years.
He started a professional services consultancy in 1985, which grew to some 100 staff, undertaking engineering design, construction supervision, biological & TO surveys, plus environmental management and approvals for major resource projects across the northern half of Western Australia. He was Mayor of the City of Karratha for a decade where he was involved in extensive redevelopment of the town’s limited facilities with the objective of making it Australia’s most liveable regional city. Peter has a passion for the sustainable development of regional towns and communities and has held directorships on a range of organisations including the CRC for Developing Northern Australia, RDA-Pilbara, Rangelands NRM, Pilbara Kimberley Universities Centre, the North West Defence Alliance, the Western Australian Local Government Association and Engineers Australia committees, some of which he continues involvement with.
Prior to coming to Karratha, Peter worked on major resource projects in Australia, NZ, South Africa, Europe and Saudi Arabia. He has lived and travelled extensively in the UK, USA, India & south-east Asia.

Industry Representatives

Dave O’Brien (Glencore)

Dave O’Brien is the global HSEC and Human Rights Lead for Glencore’s Coal Department. David has over 38 years’ experience in the mining industry, with over twenty five years of this experience in the field of environment and community. Over the last five years in his current role, Dave has gained international experience in countries such as Colombia, South Africa and Canada. He has worked at a number of different operations and in a diverse range of roles and brings valuable operation experience to the committee. He is educated in mining engineering and also environmental auditing, risk management, and business management.
Dave is a member of the Minerals Council of Australia Sustainability Committee and for six years was chair of the NSW Minerals Council Environment and Community Committee.

Ian Palmer (Rio Tinto)

Ian Palmer is General Manager, Sustainability Strategy & Performance at Rio Tinto. Ian has over 20 years’ experience in the resources industry in various roles across operations, design, project evaluation, strategic planning and management consulting. He is passionate about sustainability and developing tangible actions to deliver improvements.
Ian’s expertise in sustainability began in 2009 through his work in the Energy & Climate Strategy team. Working across all Rio Tinto business units and partnering with external stakeholders, Ian focused on developing and critically evaluating renewable power generation and decarbonisation projects.

Briony Coleman (Newmont)

Briony is a sustainability professional with broad operational and business experience in the areas of environment, social responsibility, external relations, governance and health/safety. For much of her career she has led sustainability programs for Newmont – the world’s leading gold mining company – at mining and mineral processing operations in Australia and the United States. Her academic background focuses on natural sciences and community relations.
Currently leading Newmont’s global sustainability governance programs, Briony builds management strategy around the organisation’s conformance to legal commitments, external obligations and internal standards, and continuous improvement of management systems. She is actively involved in a number of working forums for internationally-recognised sustainability frameworks.

Geraldine Slattery (BHP)

Geraldine Slattery was appointed BHP’s President Australia, effective October 2022. She is also a member of the BHP Executive Leadership Team. She holds accountability for BHP’s operating assets and growth projects across Australia’s iron ore, metallurgical coal, nickel and energy coal assets. Prior to her current role, Geraldine was President for BHPs Global Petroleum Division.
With a background in operations and engineering, Geraldine has a demonstrated track record of leading large and complex businesses across multiple jurisdictions globally.
Geraldine holds a BSc (Physics) and a MSc International Management

Tania Constable (co-chair) (MCA)

Tania Constable PSM joined the Minerals Council of Australia in July 2018 where she is proud to promote and advocate for a strong, vibrant and innovative minerals industry in Australia.
Prior to joining the MCA, Tania was Chief Executive Officer of the CO2CRC (Collaborative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies) a leading global research organisation testing carbon capture and storage low emission technologies in Australia.
Tania previously worked as chief adviser in the Personal and Retirement Income Division of Treasury, working on tax-related matters, and has had a long association with resources and energy, holding various senior executive roles in the Australian Government. Tania had responsibility for policy advice to the Minister for Industry on oil and gas regulation, exploration and development, and sustainable mining activities.
During this time Ms Constable also had the privilege of being the Australian Joint Commissioner and Sunrise Commissioner for Australia and Timor Leste, leading joint activities on the development of the Joint Petroleum Development Area and Greater Sunrise Project. She was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2014 for outstanding public service in the development of Australia’s liquefied natural gas and other resource and energy industries.