After a month-long nomination process, the judging panel faced the difficult task of combing through the submissions to finalise a shortlist.
The outstanding achievements of the past year meant that it was impossible to keep the nominees to only four in each category.
The nominees are…
CEO of the Year
Nev Power - Fortescue Metals Group
Eduard Haegel - BHP Nickel West
Sandeep Biswas - Newcrest Mining
Ken Brinsden - Pilbara Minerals
Peter Cook - Westgold Resources
Mick Wilkes - OceanaGold
New/Emerging Leader of the Year
Andrew Cole - OZ Minerals
John Welborn - Resolute Mining
Nick Mather - SolGold/DGR Global
Paul Donaldson - Danakali
Deal and/or Merger of the Year
Gold Road Resources for its $350 million sale of 50% of Gruyere to Gold Fields
Evolution Mining's $880 million acquisition of 30% of Glencore's Ernest Henry
Metals X's takeover of Aditya Birla Minerals
The Metals X/Westgold Resources demerger
Superior Gold's $45 million acquisition of Northern Star Resources' Plutonic mine
Attila Resources' acquisition of MMG's Century assets
Explorer of the Year
Cardinal Resources for its Namdini gold project in Ghana
Kalbar Resources for the Fingerboards mineral sands discovery in Victoria
West African Resources for ongoing success at Sanbrado in Burkina Faso
MOD Resources for its T3 copper find in Botswana
Kidman Resources for the Earl Grey lithium discovery in Western Australia
**
We will be profiling the nominees over the next couple of weeks while the judges deliberate and settle on a winner in each category.
The winners will be announced by July 21.
