22 Each year AMEC presents a number of industry awards to recognise the outstanding contributors to the mineral e xploration and mining industry The AMEC Environment A ward refects the importance of managing the environmental impacts of mineral e xploration and mining projects It is made to a company that goes above and beyond in their management of environmental impacts or is developing innovative methods to achieve better long term environmental outcomes There were a number of diverse entries covering a variety of areas The judging panel shortlisted three entries and selected the Soilwater Group for their Application of groundbased LID AR project The Soilwater Group has developed and successfully tested a new survey technique which uses groundbased Light Detection and R anging LiD AR to assess erosion and surface instability Using this technique quantifable and objective data on stability can rapidly and routinely be captured to defnitively prove that a postmine landform is stable The LiD AR process is fast cost efcient and measures any movement of material to a high degree of accuracy This can be used to provide certainty to the regulator that land can be relinquished The AMEC Media A wards recognise e x cellence in journalism covering the A ustralian mineral e xploration and mining industry There are two Media A ward categories ElectronicOnline and Print A large number of entries were received in each category and the standard was e x ceptionally high The AMEC ElectronicOnline A ward went to Jarrod L ucas from the ABC for his article titled A ustralia s major gold miners digging deeper underground in hunt for major discoveries This article e xamines how the industry is addressing the declining number of surface discoveries by using deeper drilling techniques It e xplains how over the years the number of surface discoveries is dwindling and the industry is addressing this by drilling deeper than before in the hope of fnding viable discoveries for production The clear plain English language used is an e x emplary e xample of the direction we need to be heading in if we want our communities to better understand why increased e xploration and innovative thinking is critical to supporting our industry The 2018 AMEC Print Media A ward went to Mark Andrews from A ustralia s P aydirt for his article titled A downstream food Can A ustralia build a battery industry This article provided a well written account of the potential for A ustralia to be the leaders in battery mineral mining and downstream manufacturing It considered the barriers that are preventing this and emphasized the need for all levels of Government to work together to facilitate and develop the industry and the need for better investment Congratulations are e xtended to all winners for showcasing the best of the A ustralian mineral e xploration and mining industry Mark Andrews Murray P ollock AMEC A wards