Professor Valenta is currently the Director of the Sustainable Minerals Institute at The University of Queensland. He also has an outstanding track record as a researcher in geology and geophysics applied to mining and mineral exploration,
leading research aimed at improving the discovery, extraction and processing of hydrothermal mineral deposits. He has also focused on developing 4D mineral system models as a tool to improve targeting techniques and geological and resource models, and to help predict mineral processing performance.
Trained as a geologist before settling in Australia, Rick Valenta worked briefly in petroleum exploration in western Canada and completed a PhD on the George Fisher Zn-Pb-Ag deposit in the Mount Isa region. He then spent five years as a professor at Monash University, Melbourne, where he worked on the science and practice of structural interpretation of geophysical data, developing highly successful industrial training programs and collaborating on a significant number of publications and software products.
Rick then spent 23 years in various industry roles such as chief geologist, operations manager and CEO. The companies and exploration teams under his leadership have been involved in numerous copper, uranium and gold mining discoveries, as well as in several business transformation processes. Throughout his career, Rick has held senior executive positions on teams that have raised more than $150 AUD million in venture capital investments and created more than $2 AUD billion in shareholder value.