2025 Resourcing Tomorrow Outstanding Achievement Awards winners announced

Recipients of this year’s prestigious Resourcing Tomorrow awards were announced yesterday at yet another memorable awards dinner, with the who’s who of the mining industry in attendance.

Held on the evening of December 4, 2025 in London, the mining community gathered to honour those individuals that continue to drive the industry forward at a time where commodities are directly in the spotlight when it comes to current geopolitical events and government agendas around the world.

Adjudicated by a panel of judges including – mining veterans, industry analysts, and sector legends – the awards represent the positive developments achieved by the global mining industry over the course of the past 12 months. For many nominations there were several tied votes, even after much deliberation, and so decisions were made to award two awards in several categories.

Award Winners:

Upon accepting his award, Robert Friedland joined an elite list of mining legends in the highly-celebrated Resourcing Tomorrow Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by SLR Consulting.

For more than 30 years, Robert Friedland has been recognised by leaders of the international financial sector and mineral resource industries as an entrepreneurial explorer, technology innovator and company builder. He has successfully developed a portfolio of respected public and private companies whose initiatives have led to several of the world’s most significant mineral discoveries and mine developments, applications of disruptive technologies and contributions to significant economic growth in established and emerging markets in the Asia Pacific Region, Southern Africa and the Americas.

TheMining Leader of the Year Award, representing a leader who is top of the pile in the sector, and sponsored by Stratum, is Shaun Usmar, CEO of Vale Base Metals.

Shaun Usmar has initiated a transformation across Vale Base Metal’s operations, finances, and culture that is enhancing safety, increasing production, reducing costs, and setting the stage for growth and long-term value creation. As part of this transformative action, he has empowered operators to run their mines and plants as profitable businesses supported by a lean corporate centre.

The award celebrating the achievements of a women in mining driving forward and demonstrating true leadership, championing innovation, and creating lasting impact across the mining sector, and sponsored by Berenberg and Women in Mining UK, went to Dr Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, Executive Director, Women in Mining Africa and Group Managing Director, Richflood Ltd.

Dr Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji is implementing a groundbreaking plan to establish a continental network of women-led mineral value addition hubs, starting with Nigeria as the administrative headquarters and multi-mineral demonstration lab. Her work directly empowers artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) women by providing technical training, processing facilities, and market linkages.

Winner of the Rising Star of the Year Award, sponsored by Peel Hunt, was Nicola Jackson, Vice President Business Development, Sibanye-Stillwater.

Nicola Jackson has been instrumental in Sibanye-Stillwater’s pursuit of its green metals strategy as the deal captain on both of the group’s recent precious metals recycling acquisitions, with her leadership on these transactions leading to the identification of value creation opportunities in a rapidly evolving sector of the mining value chain.

In a year where deal flow was back on the agenda in a big way, it is no surprise that the judges decided that this year’s Mining Deal of the Year, sponsored by Pinsent Masons, should recognise two winners - one for Deal of the Year, which went to Adriatic Metals’ US$1.25 billion takeover by Dundee Precious Metals and a second for Mine Financing Deal of the Year which was awarded to MP Materials for the US Government financing and offtake deal.

Similarly, in a year where companies were able to generate cash flow and source funding to secure the world’s future sources of supply, the judges decided on two winners in the Exploration Discovery of the Year category, namely Empire Metals’ Pitfield titanium discovery in Western Australia and Endeavour Mining’s Assafou gold discovery on the Tanda-Iguela property in eastern Cote d’Ivoire.

An award that underscores Resourcing Tomorrow’s aim to elevate mining sustainability and transformation themes, the Best ESG Initiative by a Mining Company, sponsored by McCarthy Tretault, went to Pan African Resources for the Mogale Gold Tailings Treatment Project in South Africa.

In the Best ESG Industry Initiative Award category, sponsored by Eldorado Gold, two worthy nominees were chosen in a strong field demonstrating significant industry-wide ESG progress in an award open to Consultancies, NGOs, Investors, Governments. They were The Consolidated Mining Standard Initiative (CMSI) and the London Metal Exchange for its Green Premium model.

Well done to all the much-deserved winners and thank you to those who attended another memorable evening for the mining space.

We look forward to another successful year and welcoming you all back to London on 1-3 December 2026.