University: Curtin University
Academic supervisors: Dr Michael Dizon
Industry partner: DFCRC
Academic Background and Work Experience
Angela has completed a Bachelor of Commerce, Graduate Diploma in Commercial Law. Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. She was admitted as a Legal Practitioner to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 2019.
Angela is an Academic within the Curtin Law School and has taught law at other tertiary institutions in Western Australia. Throughout her career, Angela has also engaged in numerous research projects, which have resulted in journal publications.
For the past year and a half, Angela has been pursuing PhD studies through the DFCRC and Curtin University. She has been researching the viability of digital tokenisation of in-ground minerals within the mining sector in Australia, specifically looking at how rights and interests of in-ground minerals can be digitally tokenised and exchanged for the purposes of digital financing under Australian law, and its legal effects and implications.
Thesis Topic
Digital tokenisation and exchange of in-ground minerals in Australia: An assessment of technical options and their legal viability and implications for digital financing
There has been considerable research into blockchain technology and the digital tokenisation of assets. There have been no studies however on the digital tokenisation of critical minerals yet to be extracted for commercial purposes and its impact on their legal title and native title rights in Western Australia. This thesis will look at why digital tokenisation of in-ground critical minerals is important to the mining sector, and the Australian economy as a whole. It will also assess the current legislative framework in Western Australia to see whether it facilitates the digital tokenisation of in-ground critical minerals and native title processes, and if not, what amendments would be needed to support the transition to a digitised mining sector.
About DFCRC
The DFCRC brings together stakeholders in FinTech, industry, research and regulation to develop and capitalise on the huge commercial opportunities arising from the next transformation of financial markets.
What part of the business is the researcher involved in?
DFCRC’s Mining and Minerals project
What questions/problems is the researcher helping to answer/solve?
1. Is it possible to digitally tokenise critical minerals yet to be extracted from the ground for the benefit of producers, investors, the economy etc?
2. Can legal title be applied to critical minerals in-ground for the purpose of digital tokenisation?
3. How would digital tokenisation to critical minerals in-ground affect a native title holders right to negotiate?