Charlie Sartain - Advisory Board Chair - Sustainable Minerals Institute

“Charlie Sartain graduated with an honours degree in mining engineering from the University of Melbourne and worked as a professional and executive for more than 30 years in the mining industry, initially in engineering roles at Mount Isa Mines then in various mine management and senior executive roles in the gold and base metals industries. He worked for MIM Holdings Ltd for 20 years and then with Xstrata plc for 10 years until mid 2013, including the last 9 years as CEO of Xstrata Copper, Xstrata PLC’s largest global business unit. He has lived in Australia, Argentina and Chile during his professional and executive career.

Alongside and following his executive career, Charlie assumed various governance roles in listed companies and not-for-profit organisations. He was a non-executive director for a range of Australian and overseas listed companies over a ten-year period. He has been a Board Member of the Wesley Research Institute since 2009, including Board Chairman since 2020. He is Chairman of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland and was a former two-term Member of the University of Queensland Senate. He was formerly President of the International Copper Association and a member of the DFAT Council of Australian Latin America Relations. 

He is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). He was awarded The Institute Medal by the AusIMM in 2016 and was conferred a Doctor of Engineering honoris causa by the University of Queensland in 2019.”