For the western region, they include energetic Atlas Iron managing director David Flanagan, Platinum Australia chief John Lewins and colourful Cape Lambert Resources chairman Tony Sage, while Andrew Jessett from MineWare was nominated for the Northern region.
Regional judging will be held from July to September with the national awards to be held in November.
The western region winner will be announced on August 12.
This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the awards.
Flanagan was nominated for his role in setting up Atlas Iron which delivered first ore within just four years of listing and within eight weeks of environmental approval at a cost of $A18 million.
The company has challenged market perception that the high-grade (62-63% iron) sold by the majors was the only acceptable benchmark, when it sold ore in some instances at a grade of 54% iron. The average is around 58% iron.
As for Lewins, in just seven years he grew Platinum Australia’s market capitalisation from $5 million to $600 million primarily through his strategy of acquiring and developing shallow platinum projects in South Africa, using his patented Panton Process technology.
His view, based on personal experience in SA, was that junior companies did not have access to capital to develop deeper operations.
Using tight capital control and fit-for-purpose plant design, Lewins was able to develop projects such as Smokey hills, which was previously considered too small to be economic.
This same strategy has seen the company acquire and progress additional projects such as Kalahari Platinum and the Rooderand platinum properties, making the company only the second Australian junior to make the transition to producer.
Not one to shy away from the media, after 13 years as a fund manager Sage honed his skills and developed a strategy that to this day underpins the success of Cape Lambert.
That is, maintain and build a strong cash position, not rely on debt, and grow the business.
He also learnt the importance of controlling as many aspects of the business as possible, such as quality exploration, finance and corporate capacity.
Unlike traditional resource companies, Cape Lambert only focuses on investment in early-stage resource projects and companies, and has a diverse portfolio comprising not only mineral assets but interests in other resource companies as well.
Since its inception in 2001 Cape Lambert has achieved sustainable growth year-on-year, delivering $100 million to shareholders at the height of the global financial crisis.
Regardless of market conditions, he has remained committed to the success of the resources industry.
When the capital markets stopped supporting juniors, Cape Lambert issued more than $40 million in convertible notes to a range of companies.
As for Jessett, after completing a Masters in Engineering Science, he first worked with CRC Mining as a member of the three-man team who developed the revolutionary Universal Dig and Dump (UDD) dragline technology.
In 2005, at the age of 29, he sold the first installation of the resulting Pegasys technology to BHP Billiton and began trading as MineWare.
Today, the company is the world’s leading provider of sophisticated mine and heavy equipment monitoring technology to the open cut coal mining industry.
