OZ Minerals Prize awarded to JKMRC alumnus

27 Apr 2020
Wei demonstrates the HVP selective breakage to the CEO of Newcrest Mining, Sandeep Biswas

Dr Wei Huang is one of two winners awarded The University of Queensland’s 2019 OZ Minerals Prize. The prize is awarded to the UQ graduate whose thesis is judged the most worthy in the field of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy published during the previous year.

Wei’s thesis “Selective breakage of mineralised particles by high voltage pulses” was praised by his examiners for providing significant contributions to the application of High Voltage Pulses in the mining industry.

Wei said the prize was testament to the quality of the research work conducted at JKMRC.

“I am truly proud to have had the chance to study my PhD at JKMRC. It was an amazing three years,” he said.

Wei worked under the direct supervision of Professor Frank Shi, a leading international expert in the field of high voltage pulse comminution.

He also worked closely with Dr Christian Antonio and Associate Professor Kym Runge in the HVP comminution research team where he conducted significant experimental work to assist the team complete a number of projects, and used the data for his thesis study.

“I want to say thanks to my advisory team, in particular, my principal advisor (Professor Frank Shi) and my fellow colleagues for their never-ending support.

“The OZ Minerals prize serves as a huge encouragement for me to build upon my skills and learning from JKMRC and apply it in my future work,” he said.

Wei’s research included the development of a new HVP testing method to study selective breakage and selective weakening of the mineralised particles and the high-grade ore particles to improve the energy efficiency of the novel HVP pre-concentration technique.

Wei has published six papers in Tier 1 journals on mineral processing and two conference papers.

His advisory team were Professor Frank Shi (principal advisor), Professor Emmy Manlapig, and Associate Professor Karen Steel from UQ’s School of Chemical Engineering.

Wei shares the award with Maksym Schevchenko, who was the nomination for metallurgy.

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