The Development Partner Institute has released our 2025 Impact Report, documenting a year of meaningful progress in creating platforms for collaboration across the mining value chain.
The 2025 Mining Innovation & Research Battlefield attracted 23 applications from researchers worldwide, all addressing this year’s challenge: developing innovative and sustainable solutions for revolutionizing tailings management. Eight finalists advanced to Round One, with three pitching their ideas at Mining Indaba in Cape Town in February 2025. Lisa October and Resoketswe Manenzhe from the University of Cape Town, together with Diana Kasymova from Metso, won the US$25,000 research grant sponsored by Anglo American. Their research takes an ecosystem approach to water and tailings, pioneering distributed water circuitry to maximize flotation performance while improving tailings management—potentially achieving zero water effluent waste.
The Youth Salon program conducted 11 virtual events throughout the year, connecting over 70 Indigenous youth across continents. Delivered in partnership with the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, these sessions create space for First Nations youth to discuss challenges facing their communities, concerns about the energy transition, and how to develop common understanding around these issues.
The Deep Dives with DPI podcast continued, with episodes including Grace Akinyi discussing her work protecting women in artisanal gold processing in Kenya, Mark Podlasly sharing insights on Indigenous partnerships in Canada’s mining sector, Sean Lowrie from ARCA on carbon capture innovation, and Makomborero Muropa on becoming authentic change agents in mining.
DPI welcomed ARCA as a new Core Partner in 2025, strengthening the organization’s ability to facilitate dialogue with Traditional Owners. The partnership enabled conversations between ARCA and Tjiwarl Aboriginal Corporation around carbon capture projects on Tjiwarl lands in Western Australia, honoring the legacy of genuine First Nations partnerships in project development.
Looking ahead to 2026, DPI plans to launch the MIRB Hub platform, develop an online course on the Development Partner Framework with Colorado School of Mines, and expand Country Catalyst work with Vale Base Metals exploring socio-economic challenges in specific mining regions. We’re also working on our new podcast “Voices of Transformation” season, featuring leaders actively reshaping mining’s role in society.
