For the Australasian resources sector, the JORC Code is more than a regulatory framework, it’s the bedrock of global market confidence. Now, as the latest comprehensive review of the Code nears its conclusion, the Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee is navigating a changing of the guard.
The recent departure of industry stalwarts Peter Stoker, Chris Cairns, and Jill Terry, alongside Steve Hunt stepping down as Chair, takes with it more than eight decades of collective institutional memory and marks the end of a foundational era for the executive.
Yet, as the baton passes to a newly appointed leadership team led by incoming Chair Graham Jeffress, JORC isn’t just turning a page. It is embracing a deliberately diversified structure, one reflecting the increasingly complex, multidisciplinary realities of modern mining and perfectly positioned to guide the next chapter of global resources reporting.
To appreciate the magnitude of this transition, let’s take a look at the legacy left behind. Peter Stoker has been instrumental in a remarkable six revisions of the JORC Code since 1992. He transitions into retirement as 21-year veteran Steve Hunt hands over the Chairmanship after a 12-year developmental period to continue serving as a CRIRSCO representative.
They are joined in this executive transition by Chris Cairns, whose fierce advocacy ensured the Code remained workable for the exploration sector, and Jill Terry, who spent 15 years championing the increasingly critical environmental, community, and permitting aspects of reporting.
Serving on the JORC committee is a notoriously rigorous and largely thankless job. It requires countless unbilled hours, navigating industry pushback, and balancing the competing demands of junior explorers, tier-one producers, investors, and regulators.
These outgoing and transitioning members did not undertake this commitment for accolades. They did it to protect the integrity of the Australasian mining industry and to maintain the Code’s status as the undisputed benchmark in global reporting. During their tenures, the Code transformed to meet the demands of an increasingly scrutinised market, embedding vital concepts like the ‘if not, why not’ reporting basis that fundamentally tightened global compliance.
Now, the mandate falls to a new executive. Graham Jeffress steps into the Chair, supported by Deputy Chair Andrew Hall, Ann Ledwidge, Georgina Rees, and Lynn Olssen. The reconstituted committee is designed to reflect the breadth of today’s resources sector.
By deliberately balancing its membership across exploration, resource evaluation, and mining engineering/metallurgy, and augmenting it with legal, economic, and ESG expertise, JORC has built a capable team to address the modern market.
This multidisciplinary approach arrives not a moment too soon. The current Code review nears completion with the final release targeted for late 2026 pending formal ASX and ASIC approvals, and the industry is bracing for the implementation of its first major overhaul in over a decade.
The impending update will be more than a clerical tweak. Much like the 2012 revision, which forced a fundamental recalibration of how Competent Persons documented and justified their estimates, this new iteration will be felt across the entire sector. We can expect heightened stringency around how environmental, social, and governance (ESG) elements are applied as ‘Modifying Factors’, forcing stricter permitting disclosures and greater accountability to prove reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction (RPEEE).
For listed explorers and established miners, the release of the new Code will trigger a sector-wide undertaking. While existing resource and reserve statements may enjoy a brief grace period, JORC is proposing a strict 12-month transition phase before the new rules become mandatory. Companies will not be able to rely on their JORC 2012 estimates indefinitely. They will inevitably need to re-evaluate, upgrade, and republish their data to align with the fresh compliance hurdles, requiring significant time, capital, and technical resourcing.
The road ahead will undoubtedly present transitional challenges as the industry adapts to these incoming standards. However, thanks to the decades of tireless, behind-the-scenes work by the outgoing executive, the foundation has never been stronger. The baton has been passed, and the next era of Australasian resource reporting is ready to begin.
