Polina Sparks, MMTA
Dear MMTA Members,
I am happy to be joining the MMTA in Member Services.
My life in metals started in 1998 as a reporter at Metal Bulletin, where I eventually became senior assistant editor, having drafted an English-Russian glossary of metallurgy and trade along the way.
It continued as editor and later head of research at Metal-Pages, and subsequently as analysis editor at Argus Metals International.
In that time, I have managed and trained international editorial teams and have covered every non-ferrous metal market, including base and minor metals, ferro-alloys, rare earths, and steel raw materials; have worked on developing metal norms and benchmark pricing; and have taught myself — with a lot of help from the metals community — various aspects of geology, metallurgy, hedging, LME futures and options, international trade and chemicals regulations. I have also been down mines, around a lot of furnaces, and have developed a minor obsession with aircraft engines.
My ongoing focus has always been on titanium alongside high-temperature aerospace metals, and I was one of the early members of Women in Titanium since its foundation at the International Titanium Association.
In the past year I have worked as Employment Group advocate with Long Covid Support, a non-profit organisation supporting people living with Long Covid, the chronic health caused by a Covid infection (1.5m people in the UK alone). My colleagues and I have worked with the WHO, the CIPD, the Society of Occupational Medicine, the Royal College of Occupational Physicians, the TUC, parliamentary groups, individual unions, employers and organisations to support inclusion and rehabilitation of staff with Long Covid. In December 2021, our consultancy, Long Covid Work, which works directly with employers, has won a special recognition award from the Vocational Rehabilitation Association (VRA).
Having previously been a member of the MMTA, I am honoured to be here to support our metals community, and I look forward to seeing you at future events. In the meantime, I can be reached at polina@mmta.co.uk
Polina Sparks
