Local gold miner Silver Lake Resources has beaten several high profile mining companies to win a prestigious and meaningful award.

The win is close to the company’s heart as it is the Craig Oliver Award, named in honour of the late mining executive who perished in the Sundance Resources plane crash in 2010.

Announced at the RIU Explorers Conference in Fremantle on Tuesday, the award was presented to Silver Lake managing director Les Davis by Mr Oliver’s daughter Georgia and his sister Janie Jones.

“We were deeply honoured to win the Craig Oliver Award and to be honest, we didn’t think we would win, as the other nominated companies performed extremely well in the selection criteria,” Mr Davis said.

“The award is both honourable and special, given Janie and Brendon Jones own the pastoral station that Silver Lake mines on.

“Like Craig’s family, the mining industry feels the loss of Craig, however, he will always be remembered as a family man and hard-working industry stalwart.”