Karsten Winter is originally from Germany, where he obtained his Mineralogy degree in 1993.
He worked as a management consultant for AT Kearney before moving to Australia to join Western Mining Corporation (WMC) in 1994. Shortly after starting, he was responsible in the selection, financial justification, purchase and installation of a new XRD instrument. During his tenure at WMC, he held various positions, with his last role being 'Manager Mineralogical and Geological Services'.
After leaving WMC, Karsten returned to study, initiating a PhD in Biomineralisation at Curtin University of Technology.
In 2006 he joined Ultratrace (now BV) to set up and run a commercial XRD facility. This included everything from site selection and preparation to purchasing the XRD, before moving to Brazil in 2008, where he started his own consultancy.
He consulted to AMMTEC in late 2009 and started working both in Australia and remotely from Brazil as Senior Mineralogist from 2010 to 2012, during which time AMMTEC was bought by Australian Laboratory Services and became ALS Metallurgy Pty Ltd. During this time he was fully and solely responsible for XRD analysis and interpretation, as well as the Mineral Liberation Analyser (MLA, from 2010 to 2011).
He was also responsible for the selection and successful commissioning of the new XRD instrument.
After the Management position of the Mineralogy department became vacant, Karsten returned from Brazil to take on the role in 2012. During his tenure as Manager Mineralogy at ALS Metallurgy he oversaw the successful move and downsizing of the department during the mining downturn, and the subsequent successful growth of the department into a leading Mineralogy Laboratory. He held this role from 2012 to 2024.
As manager of the Mineralogy department he became increasingly involved in providing guidance and consultancy services to internal and external clients for their successful project execution.
After being made redundant in 2024, he decided to expand on the knowledge and skillset developed over the years to help companies in selecting the best approach to obtain mineralogical data in support of their projects.
Zahra Bonyadi holds a PhD in Economic Geology and has extensive experience in both applied and research-based mineralogy and geology. Her expertise spans mineral characterization, ore deposit studies, and advanced analytical techniques, including XRD, TIMA, QEMSCAN, SEM-EDS, and hyperspectral data interpretation.
She began her career in academia as a Research Fellow and Lecturer in Economic Geology, leading projects on mineral chemistry, ore deposit modelling, and alteration systems, while supervising postgraduate students and delivering industry-aligned research outcomes. She then worked with mining companies as an exploration geologist, focusing on mapping alteration zones, spectral interpretation, and technical reporting across base, critical, and precious metal deposits.
After moving to Australia, Zahra joined ALS Metallurgy as a Mineralogist, where she conducted detailed mineralogical assessments and contributed to QA/QC processes across a wide range of commodities. She is now Senior Mineralogist at Mineralogy Solutions, providing consultancy services in XRD and TIMA analysis, delivering integrated mineralogical interpretations, and guiding clients on effective mineralogy workflows to support exploration and processing outcomes.
Zahra is passionate about applying high-quality mineralogical and geological data to create value for clients, integrating advanced analytical results with exploration and processing strategies.
