Ship Loaders, Sheep Stations & Uranium Dreams: Marnie Finlayson's View on Authentic Leadership

In this episode of Hearts & Mines, David Beilby speaks with Marnie Finlayson, Managing Director of ASX-listed uranium explorer DevEx Resources. A minerals processing engineer by training, Marnie spent 17 years at Rio Tinto across iron ore, gold, uranium, battery metals and rare earths, culminating in the role of Managing Director of the company's battery materials business, and played a key role in implementing recommendations from Rio's landmark workplace culture review. This is a candid, high-energy conversation covering Marnie's upbringing on a remote sheep station north of Kalgoorlie, why she walked away from a major ASX company to build a junior uranium explorer from scratch, what authentic leadership really looks like at the top, and how AI has become a genuine part of her leadership team. A warm, honest conversation from one of WA's rising resource sector leaders. Marnie Finlayson🔗 linkedin.com/in/marnie-finlayson-460a1233 David Beilby 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbeilby/ Alana Bray-White 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/alana-bray-white-8b4478219/ ivy & gecko 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/ivy-gecko Timecodes: (00:00) Cold open (00:50) Welcome Marnie Finlayson & the Raoul rivalry (02:28) Career snapshot: engineer, Rio Tinto, Northern Star, DevEx (03:33) Growing up on a sheep station north of Kalgoorlie (06:25) Boarding school and the School of the Air (08:14) Letters to Grandpa and the lost art of letter-writing (10:30) Finding mining: WASM and life on site (13:26) The tertiary education gap in mining (14:10) The ship loader operator and finding purpose (15:40) Life outside work: cold ocean swims, boxing, yoga and fiction (17:25) What leadership means to Marnie (19:29) Courage, diversity of thought and challenging the status quo (22:07) Authenticity, listening and lessons from Serbia (26:55) Trust, credibility and selfless leadership (29:52) The challenges of leading DevEx as Managing Director (31:23) Winning hearts and minds in a small company (33:33) Building culture from Rio Tinto to a junior explorer (37:09) The biggest challenge facing Australian mining (40:50) How DevEx uses AI (43:18) The risks and downsides of deploying AI (46:41) DEI, the "anti-woke" movement and inclusion in Australia (49:14) Rapid-fire questions (56:58) Advice to her 20-year-old self (57:09) Closing thoughts and farewell Follow Hearts & Mines 🌐 LinkedIn 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/hearts-mines Recorded and produced by Podwave Studios:https://podwavestudios.au/ Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in 'Hearts & Mines' are those of the podcast participants and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ivy & gecko or any other agency, organisation, employer, or company associated with the podcast. Content provided is for informational purposes only. #HeartsAndMines #MiningPodcast #WomenInMining #AustralianMining #UraniumExplorer #DevExResources #NorthernStarResources #RioTinto #WAResources #ResourcesSector #MiningLeadership #BoardroomInsights #AuthenticLeadership #WomenInResources #KalgoorlieToBoardroom #ASX #JuniorExplorer #MiningIndustryAustralia #AIinMining #ClaudeAI #ChampionOfWomenInResources #WASM #PerthPodcast #MiningCulture