Zara has over two decades of experience in the mining industry. she is currently the vice president of Mining at Silixa, pioneering the applications of distributed fiber sensing technology in mines with the aim of contributing to the industry’s safety and efficiency through innovation. 

Zara completed her PhD at McGill university in mining geotechnical engineering and then worked at Vale operations in Sudbury as a Ground Control Engineer for several years. 

Throughout her career Zara has taken on roles in underground and open pit operations, research, consulting and technology development, working with the global mining industry in Australia, Latin America and North America primarily. 

Zara believes innovation and technology can play a key role in protecting our workforce from hazards and creating safer work environments.

Over the past few years at Silixa, Zara has led the development and implementation of fiber sensing based solutions in key areas of mining such as Rockmass response monitoring, Tailings storage facility monitoring, and flow metering/process control.