MARK Woffenden believes that his new role as Chief Executive Officer of the Parker Centre will be unlike any other chapter of his mining career.

“The AJ Parker Centre is different from conventional business models and organisations, and it will be a personal pleasure to work with this innovative team,” he said.

Mr Woffenden has spent most of the past 20 years working in the Australian mining industry. Most recently he has worked at KPMG but he was a member of the CRA (now Rio Tinto) group of companies for much of his career.

Mr Woffenden brings a wealth of practical and managerial experience to the Parker Centre, particularly in the areas of technology and organisational design work.

This is seen in his work practice reforms in the pot rooms of the Bell Bay smelter and evaluation of new process control system for alumina reduction at Comalco.

He has also worked at Hamersley Iron, where he was extensively involved in mine planning and organisational improvement. During this time, he created a new Operations Planning Division, having participated in the design and implementation of a new business model.

Mr Woffenden will continue the work of former CEO Professor Ian Ritchie, focusing on enhancing the reputation and strength of the Centre.

“The Centre is at the interface of national and international research and industry on both large and small scales,” he said.

“From this perspective, we are in a key position to help the mining industry adapt to its emerging needs.”

Mr Woffenden said the Parker Centre had special opportunities to help the mining industry respond to increasing public pressure for sustainable practices, preventing pollution or damage of the environment to the unacceptable detriment of other land users.

“I have huge admiration for the team who built the Centre, and we are now at a point where we can grow with whatever opportunities emerge in the next few years,” he said.

‘We could expand nationally or internationally, stay in the mining industry or expand into broader applications for hydrometallurgy.

“One major challenge is to look at ways to make a graceful transition from Commonwealth funding to other means of support, to grow into whatever form we decide the Centre will take in the future.”

In eight years the Parker Centre has grown into the world’s largest hydrometallurgy research organisation.

The Centre is a joint venture comprising five research providers and thirteen industry participants. The majority of the Centre’s research focuses on well-established production processes. The benefits to industry are primarily delivered by making incremental improvements to these processes, rather than by devising entirely new methods of production.