Mining executives tour Kimberley and raise $68k for youth mental health

Seven mining executives have trekked through the Kimberley for four days to raise money for youth mental health in an initiative called Miners vs Wild, raising $68,000.

Entech principal mining engineer Shane McLeay, AMPS chief executive Brendan Parker, MLG managing director Murray Leahy, Bellevue Gold chief executive Darren Strallow, LiveMine managing director Bud O’Shannessy, Idoba IT and cybersecurity manager Kate Vaisutis and Bellevue Gold head of corporate development Luke Gleeson spent four days in the Kimberley under the guidance of former SAS soldier Terry Hewitt.

All donations raised from the event will go to Perth-based organisation Youth Focus which will be used to support kids with mental health issues.

Organiser Mr O’Shannessy said he and the team had such a great time in the outback they weren’t sure if they wanted to come back.

“There’s something about being out there in the outback where you’re just worried about where you’re going to get your food from and where you’re going to sleep the night,” he said.

“It’s something very freeing and I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.”

The trek took them on several days hike through the harsh Kimberley landscape which Mr O’Shannessy said was challenging but also rewarding.

“It was actually really good. Everything went off really smoothly. There’s a lot of really good campfire conversations,” he said.

“There was some big days of walking. You only walk around 5km a day but as you can imagine, there’s no track so you’re just kind of picking your way through these massive gorges.

“We also did some abseiling down a 35m rock face right next to a waterfall, to get down into the where we camped the night right on the water where we also fished for barramundi.”

Mr O’Shannessy said he looked forward to organising the fundraising event again in the future and growing the fundraiser to an even bigger pool of executives.