Mining engineer, Christofer Catania, has been appointed General Manager of Australia-based engineering consultancy firm, MEC Mining, almost 15 years after becoming one of MEC’s first university vacation students.

Back then MEC Mining serviced Queensland’s coal industry and Catania was studying at university in Brisbane when he began work for the company’s three founding directors. MEC Mining now has a global presence, working in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania, and has projects across a variety of mineral sectors – no longer just coal.

Catania has been influential in the company’s growth strategy having worked for MEC for about eight years in total, across four stints, since 2005, the company said. In the past three years at MEC Mining, he has moved from Manager of Consulting, to General Manager of Operations before his current appointment to General Manager.

Catania said he was both “excited and humbled” to be appointed as General Manager.

“I’ve spent a lot of my career invested in making MEC Mining better, so to have any opportunity to lead the company means people must have believed in the commitment I’ve applied and my understanding of the business,” Catania said.

“For MEC Mining, our vision is to further diversify our market and service offerings, including potentially in the complementary technical fields. I’m excited to help navigate through those challenges and grow into a much bigger and more diverse company.”

During Catania’s role as General Manager of Operations, MEC Mining opened a Perth office led by Erin Sweeney and, in March this year, the company created a new Underground Metal Principal role based in Western Australia, filled by Alessandro Dotta.

“A lot of our growth is in the Western Australian market and in underground metals, particularly in the gold market,” Catania said.

“In the past year MEC Mining experienced 25% growth from the year before, largely associated with our growing international presence and our establishment of a WA team, and we look forward to meeting or exceeding that growth in the coming year.”

MEC Mining Non-Executive Director, Simon Cohn, said Catania’s high level of technical and operational expertise, project management, and leadership experience would make him an exceptional General Manager.

“Chris has a deep history at MEC Mining with a proven track record for delivering successful projects at an operational and leadership level, both domestically and overseas,” Cohn said.

“I look forward to working with Chris and the entire leadership team as we further grow MEC Mining and our standalone advisory arm. It is also great to have James Cooney leading MEC Advisory which specialises in strategic management and evaluation of resources projects.”

Catania’s position of General Manager is supported by Chief Financial Officer, Julia Cooper, who celebrated eight years with the company in April.