It was 2008 when I arrived at MNN, almost by accident, as they needed an urgent replacement for another team member.

I had started at Aspermont about six weeks earlier, writing stories for a now-defunct website called Office Professional.

Having had no interest in, or knowledge of mining, it was a steep learning curve, accelerated by the onset of the global financial crisis later that year.

Despite feeling out of my depth for much of the first 12 months, I stuck it out in an uncertain economic climate and eventually things started to click.

My first site visit in mid-2009 was to the Cairn Hill iron ore in South Australia, just one of many over the years.

From receiving multiple marriage proposals in the DRC while visiting copper mines, to chopper rides in Alaska with Northern Star, from eating jamon for breakfast, lunch and dinner with Sandfire in Spain to going on safari with OreCorp in Tanzania, this role has offered me the opportunity to travel to places most people never get to see.

I've also loved covering some of the world's major mining conferences, from Diggers & Dealers in Kalgoorlie to Mining Indaba in Cape Town to the Gold Forum Americas in Colorado.

I've had the pleasure of interviewing the industry's biggest names and have learned that it really is the people who make an industry interesting and special.

I also hope I played a small part in pushing for greater gender diversity in the mining space.

My time at MiningNews.net has been incredibly rewarding and memorable.

I plan on taking a break and sleeping in - it was thrilling to turn off my 4:30am alarm for the final time this morning!

Thank you to all of our subscribers for the support and readership over many years and I trust MiningNews.net will continue to be the voice of the industry.