Libero AI and Mineplex launch CCM Diagnostic to help mining officers prove their critical controls are real
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Libero AI and Mineplex have launched the Critical Control Management Diagnostic, an independent assessment that gives mining officers evidence, not assumption, that their critical controls are genuine, effective, and meeting the standard now expected of the industry.
July 1, 2026. Brisbane, Australia. As new Queensland laws make critical controls a legal duty for every coal mine and place that duty personally on officers, specialist mining safety and risk practice Mineplex and causal risk intelligence firm Libero AI today announced a joint offering, the Critical Control Management (CCM) Diagnostic. It combines Mineplex field and documented assurance with Libero AI's CaNeTA Intelligence to answer a single question every officer now has to face: can we prove it?
The launch comes as new obligations take effect in Queensland. From 1 June 2026, the identification and management of critical controls became a legal requirement for every Queensland coal mine, metals mine and quarry. Under the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 and the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999, a mine's safety and health management system must identify critical controls for its Material Unwanted Events. Each coal mine must include critical controls in its principal hazard management plans. These are legislated duties with penalties attached, not guidance.
The obligation lands personally on officers. The Act requires an officer of a corporation to exercise due diligence to ensure the corporation complies, and it names critical controls directly. An officer may be convicted whether or not the corporation itself has been charged. The diagnostic was built to help officers answer a single question with confidence: can we prove it?
Mineplex's Scott Graham, who has over 20 years of experience as a Site Senior Executive on operating Queensland mines, said:
“Receiving a safety report is not the same as having assurance. Officers now have to show they understood the risks and the controls, and that they tested them. This diagnostic gives them a defensible, independent answer, grounded in the field and in their own data.”
Two evidence engines, one answer
The diagnostic combines two complementary strands that neither firm could deliver alone.
Mineplex provides field and documented assurance. It tests whether the right things are called critical controls, whether they are genuine controls rather than plans or procedures mislabelled, and whether they hold up in the field. This draws on document review, structured field verification, and interviews with officers, site leaders, control owners, and frontline crews, assessed against the ICMM Critical Control Management Good Practice Guide (April 2026), Queensland Guidance Note QGN 35, and the binding legislation.
Libero AI provides structural assurance through CaNeTA Intelligence, its end-to-end AI causal risk intelligence solution. CaNeTA Intelligence works with the data a mine already holds, its risk registers, bow-ties, broad-brush risk assessments, and incident data, and converts it into a causal network that maps how risk events trigger, propagate, and concentrate across the operation. The network is then analysed using the CaNeTA (Causal Network Topology Analysis) methodology developed at the University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute and published in the peer-reviewed Risk Analysis journal. Libero AI operates the analysis on IBM watsonx, with Australian data residency. No new data infrastructure or software implementation is required.
Together, the two strands surface single points of failure, sleeper risks, and controls that are carrying more structural load than a conventional risk score would ever reveal.
Proven in the field
The approach draws on work already delivered with drilling contractor Mitchell Services, where CaNeTA Intelligence helped the company move beyond verification counts to understand the causal patterns behind them.
Josh Bryant, General Manager, People, Risk and Sustainability at Mitchell Services, said:
“CaNeTA uncovered hidden connections and blind spots across our transport and maintenance activities, enabling us to build greater resilience across the system.”
Research underpinning the methodology has shown that treating a small, structurally selected subset of risk events can be as effective as controlling the entire network, because structural position, not risk score, determines where a single intervention has the most impact.
The diagnostic is available now. While it was built for the Queensland regime, it suits any operator, in any jurisdiction, seeking independent proof that its critical controls are real.
About Mineplex
Mineplex is a specialist mining safety and risk practice led by a former Site Senior Executive, advising operators on critical control management, governance, and statutory compliance.
About Libero AI
Libero AI is a Brisbane-based artificial intelligence company that helps heavy industry unlock AI as a strategic player. Its CaNeTA Intelligence solution delivers end-to-end AI causal risk intelligence, powered by the University of Queensland's peer-reviewed CaNeTA methodology and running on IBM watsonx. Learn more at liberoai.com.au.
Media contact
Libero AI · Brisbane, Queensland
liberoai.com.au · +61 418 123 133
This release provides general information and is not legal advice.
