At the inaugural AusIMM Mineral Resource Estimation Conference in Perth last week the results of the Parker Challenge Competition were presented, with the Hot Chili Resource Development team awarded first place for their outstanding application and demonstration of professional best practice.
The innovative Parker Challenge was designed and judged by the mining industry’s most experienced Resource Geologists, to quantify the “between person variance” seen in resource estimation. Hundreds of participants from around the world were given the same deposit to estimate, with Rio Tinto suppling the dataset from their Oyu Tolgoi deposit in Mongolia, as well as sponsoring a $55,000 prize.
Hot Chili Resource Development Manager Kirsty Sheerin thanked her team for their afterhours dedication to completing the Challenge, while also advancing the company’s Costa Fuego Project in Chile, currently on track to deliver a Preliminary Economic Assessment this financial year. The experience and talent of Senior Resource Geologist Chris McKie, Senior Project Geologist Madeline Wallace and Senior Database Administrator Katie Collins resulted in a winning submission, which the judges unanimously deemed to have no fatal flaws, standing out from other entries for its robustness of process and execution.
Ms Sheerin added, “Hot Chili has assembled one of the best resource development teams going around, highly motivated – and clearly competitive! – the collaborative culture fostered by Managing Director Christian Easterday has enabled this result. Hot Chili developed this approach with the guidance and mentoring of industry doyens such as Dr Steve Garwin as Chief Technical Advisor, Elizabeth Haren as Resource Geology Qualified Person, and Dr John Beeson as Lead Structural Geologist. This technical mentoring resulted in a first-class porphyry estimate, with the team utilising knowledge gained during completion of the Cortadera Mineral Resource Estimate in 2022”.