Director's Welcome August 2021
Bringing together experts from academia and industry to develop solutions for challenges facing the mining industry is a key priority for the team at SMI, and I am delighted to announce we recently received funding for a three year, $1.65million research project that aims to drive transformational change in the public disclosure requirements of mine tailings information.
Industrial disasters, disclosure deficits: Can transparency level the playing field? was awarded funding under the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage scheme, with additional funding from industry. Led by Professor Deanna Kemp and Professor John Owen from the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, the project is a partnership with Anglo American, Newcrest, the University of British Columbia in Canada, and the University of the Free State in South Africa.
This is a significant opportunity to build Australia’s research capacity on one of the most pressing issues the mining industry faces, and through provision of funding for two PhD scholarships and a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, we are also ensuring the pipeline of future talent.
Earlier this week, the Queensland Resources Minister, Scott Stewart visited SMI to learn more about the new economy minerals research we are undertaking and in particular our work around phytomining. We had a very productive morning with the Minister, and it was great to have him onsite and further cement our relationship with the state government.
In July, I had the opportunity to travel to Mount Isa with the Executive Dean of UQ’s Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology Professor Vicki Chen and SMI’s Deputy Director (Strategy) Professor Alice Clark to meet with the town’s mayor Danielle Slade. The reason for the visit was to start discussions on a UQ presence in the town - as many of you know SMI has a long history of undertaking research at Mount Isa, and we are keen to pursue further discussions on establishing a base in the area.
It is now just over a year since JKTech and JKMRC integrated under one management structure and a key goal of that initiative was to leverage off the expertise in both organisations for better outcomes for industry. So, it was particularly pleasing to announce recently that JKTech is funding the commercialisation of five geometallurgy and mineral processing research projects developed by researchers in JKMRC, and the WH Bryan Geology and Mining Research Centre (BRC). Not only are we able to bring the projects through to industrial implementation, but the funding will also support four related PhD projects.
SMI recently completed a webinar series in partnership with the Australian Embassy in Brazil and the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy on the topic of mineral governance and sustainable development. There were three webinars in the series and all of them featured rich conversation with input from industry and academics in both Australia and Brazil on some of the key challenges facing industry: climate change and the global energy transition; management and re-use of tailings; and the potential role of hydrogen in decarbonising mining operations. The webinars are available on the website if you’d like to check them out.
Finally on a personal note, I’d like to pay tribute to Dr Jo-Anne Everingham who retired from SMI’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining at the end of July. Through her research, Jo-Anne has been a driving force in supporting communities affected by mining and she has rightly earnt her the respect of her colleagues, industry and government. It will come as no surprise to many of us that Jo-Anne’s final day in the office was just one day after her final postgraduate student handed in their thesis! I wish Jo-Anne all the best for her next chapter, she will be missed by all of us at SMI.
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