Lisa October and Diana Kasymova have been announced the winners of the 2025 Mining Innovation and Research Battlefield after a competitive final round at Mining Indaba in Cape Town.
Key Points
● Lisa October of the University of Cape Town and Diana Kasymova of Metso have won the 2025 Mining Innovation & Research Battlefield, convened by the Development Partner Institute and hosted at Investing in African Mining Indaba.
● The winning pitch focused on the utility of water in tailings and innovating the water cycle to reclaim tailings with fit-for-purpose recycling.
● The Battlefield is a high-profile platform for innovators and researchers to share their ideas around this year’s challenge: What are the innovative and sustainable solutions for revolutionizing tailings management, and how can these be applied to achieve zero harm while supporting a more responsible and circular mining economy?
● At Mining Indaba, the world’s largest African mining investment event, as part of the Industry Intel stream, three finalists pitched their ideas on Tuesday 4 February 2025 to a high-profile panel of industry experts from across the mining sector.
● The winners have been awarded a US$25,000 research grant, sponsored by Anglo American, to further develop their concept over the next 12 months.
(4 February) Cape Town, South Africa – Following an intense round of live pitches showcasing innovative solutions for sustainable tailings management, the winner of the 2025 Mining Innovation and Research Battlefield has been announced.
Convened by the Development Partner Institute (DPI) and hosted at Mining Indaba, the Mining Innovation and Research Battlefield (MIRB) is a high-profile platform to unearth innovative solutions to mining’s intractable challenges. This year our selection committee reviewed submissions from across the globe addressing the challenge: ‘What are the innovative and sustainable solutions for revolutionizing tailings management, and how can these be applied to achieve zero harm while supporting a more responsible and circular mining economy?’
Three finalists from a wide field of applicants took the opportunity to present their concepts at Investing in African Mining Indaba, the world’s largest African Mining Investment event, as part of the Industry Intel stream. Laura Nicholson, Content and Communities Director for Mining Indaba, says that all finalists presented compelling innovations and research ideas to industry experts from across the mining sector.
“The caliber of innovations presented this year was exceptional, with each finalist demonstrating how tailings management can be revolutionized through creative, sustainable solutions. Hyve Group is proud to have collaborated with DPI to grow this initiative from its inception – seeing it evolve into such a dynamic platform for innovation.”
Florence Drummond, Executive Director of DPI, agrees, says the event is about solving intractable challenges as well as equipping bright innovators for the future.
“MIRB serves a dual purpose – it uncovers innovative solutions to complex industry challenges while fostering the next generation of mining leaders. Through this platform, we not only discover practical solutions to tailings management, but we also create opportunities for emerging innovators to build vital industry connections and gain exposure to senior leadership. This combination of innovation and professional development is exactly what our sector needs to drive meaningful change.”
The MIRB competition was judged by an expert panel with representatives from Anglo America, Trafigura and the University of Cape Town. Norman Mukwakwami of Trafigura, one of this year’s expert judges, agrees that the ideas presented at the Battlefield all have the potential for great change.
“As a major player in the global commodities trading industry, Trafigura recognizes the importance of responsible and sustainable practices in the mining sector, particularly in the area of tailings management. What stood out in this year’s Battlefield was how the finalists approached tailings management from multiple angles, drawing on environmental protection and circular economy principles. Their solutions demonstrate that the future of mining isn’t just about managing waste, but about transforming what we consider waste into value. The innovative thinking we’ve seen today gives me confidence that we’re moving closer to achieving zero harm in tailings management.”
After much deliberation, the judges awarded the winning position to the cross-disciplinary team of Lisa October and Resoketswe Manenzhe of the University of Cape Town, and Diana Kasymova of Metso. The research team proposed an ecosystem approach to using water as an enabler, pioneering a method for distributed water circuitry to maiximize flotation performance while improving tailings management with up to zero water effluent waste.
As the Battlefield winner, Lisa’s team was awarded a US$25,000 research grant, sponsored by Anglo American.
Other finalists in this year’s challenge included Vitor Loureiro Gontijo from the University of Queensland, who focused on waste-to-wealth opportunities for co-processing uranium and copper tailings to extract rare earth elements and cobalt, and Mwiza Muwowo of BioCarbonX, whose innovative project considered creating biochar from re-purposed tailings material to decarbonize the atmosphere and recarbonize the biosphere.
The 2026 MIRB challenge will be announced in the second half of 2025. To follow the progress of the winners and learn more about future events, connect with DPI on Linkedin for regular updates.
ENDS
