With more than 30 years’ experience under his belt, Phillip Enderby has made a significant impression on the mining and minerals processing industry.
So much so that he has been awarded the Contribution to Mining accolade at this year’s Australian Mining Prospect Awards.
The judges said the win was a result of Enderby’s ‘leading by example’ approach to management.
“Enderby has been dedicated to making mining more environmentally friendly and efficient since the start of his career, it’s great to see someone from the technology side be recognised for their efforts,” the judges commented.
Enderby has forged lasting relationships with senior management and acted as a solid role model for younger professionals throughout his extensive career.
Mentoring young professionals in the industry is something Enderby said he lists as one of his proudest career achievements.
“There’s no big achievement, there’s been a lot, I’ve worked with Glencore for a long time and run a number of plants,” he told Australian Mining.
“I think a big achievement is mentoring the younger guys and bringing them up, getting them up to the more senior levels.”
Described as “passionate” by his colleagues, Enderby has been recognised over the years for his ‘out of the box’ thinking and sharp problem solving skills.
Leading the team at Bulga’s Coal Handling Preparation Plant, Enderby innovatively used flocculants to easily manage refuse material facilitating its disposal.
Enderby also spends a considerable amount of his time dedicated to ensuring the continued success of the mining sector, having been nominated to the position of Chairperson of the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) for the past two years. He held a committee position prior to this appointment.
It is on this committee and also as a member of the Australian Coal Processing Society (ACPS) that Enderby continues to share his know ledge and passion ensuring new technologies and research continues to be undertaken.
Commenting on the award which recognises long serving excellency in the industry, Enderby said winning the award was unexpected.
“It’s something I certainly wasn’t expecting; it’s certainly a privilege and an honour,” he said.
Enderby explained throughout his career he has witnessed the cyclical nature of mining first hand.
“We’ve seen a lot of challenges, we’ve seen good times and bad; we will ride through this,” he said.
But he explained no matter the economic climate mining operations need to be productive and operate safely.
“The main thing is being safe and efficient, and whether it’s a boom time or bust it doesn’t change, we still need to be efficient in the boom times and we still need to be safe,” Enderby said.
“We also need to think of the community with everything that we do, they’re our main focus.”
Enderby said his career goal is to climb the ranks at GlencoreXstrata.
“I want to move up within the organisation,” he said.
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