MIWATCH Blog

Recently, BRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Steve Jason Chingwaru had the opportunity to present his research and chair at the MEI’s Physical Separation Conference 2026 in the beautiful but stormy Cape Town, South Africa.

Mining may stop, but the legacy (waste) it leaves behind often keeps moving. In this MIWATCH blog, Dr Elin Jennings explains how in in rivers affected by acid mine drainage (AMD), metal(loid)s like arsenic, copper and zinc don’t just disappear once mining ends.

Lexi Kng completed her industry placement at the Yancoal’s Cameby Downs Mine in the Western Downs region of Queensland during the summer of 2025–2026. From coal processing and engineering within technical services to environmental monitoring and community life in “melon country”, read about her hands-on experience in regional Australia.

I am very excited to share that I started my PhD as an ARC ITTC Critical Resources for the Future (ITTC CRFF) PhD candidate ~3 months ago. My research will focus on transforming pyrite to pyrrhotite using pyrometallurgy and extract the valuable elements using hydrometallurgy.

Whilst the change of season brings in cooler temperatures (almost jacket weather now in Brisbane) things are hotting up at MIWATCH in the leaching space as we welcome two new Winter Interns Skye Plenderleith and Jonathan Sayer who have joined Eric Ansah to work on projects focused on low-grade copper ore leaching and carbon dioxide sequestration potential.  I caught up with them both to find out a little bit more about their background and motivations

Earlier this year, Lexi K'ng completed a 6-week work placement at the MMG Rosebery Mine in Tasmania and is very thankful to Anita Parbhakar-Fox and Rick Valenta, Sustainable Minerals Institute and MMG Rosebery for giving her this opportunity supported by the Trailblazer program.

MIWATCH are thrilled to welcome Collins Adoko to SMI to start his PhD as an ARC ITTC Critical Resources for the Future (ITTC CRFF) PhD student.

Copper is a powerhouse metal of the energy transition but getting it out of the ground from tough minerals like chalcopyrite is no easy feat. MIWATCH Post-Doc Eric O Ansah explains new research.

New MIWATCH postdoc, Dr Elin Jennings outlines the findings of her first paper from her PhD.

Many of us at MIWATCH started out in Environmental Geochemistry to tackle the challenge of acid and metalliferous drainage (or AMD). Motivated by that, we are excited to welcome new postdoc, Dr Elin Jennings.