For decades, tailings and mining waste have been treated as costly environmental liabilities. Today, a growing body of research and industry practice is reframing these materials as a source of critical minerals, strategic materials, and precious metals that can be reprocessed, recovered, and reintroduced into the supply chain.
Realising this potential, however, will require a thorough understanding of what was left behind in these wastes, the contained metal tonnage, and how much is ultimately recoverable, alongside continued technological innovation. Central to these questions is the need for a deep understanding of the mineralogy that hosts these elements. Knowing their deportment, distribution across mineral phases, and how they respond to processing is key to selecting the right reprocessing pathway.
Highlights
- Established in 2021 by Honorary Prof Anita Parbhakar-Fox.
- Delivered ~80 mine waste site investigations across Australia.
- Collaborations with Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia state governments and Geoscience Australia.
- Identified potential resources of cobalt (Co), indium (In), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), rare earth elements (REE), and gold (Au) in Australia’s mine waste.
- Expertise in tailings, slags, waste rock, spent heap leach, and coal mine waste.
- Collaborative research projects with other universities including The University of Adelaide, The University of Western Australia and The Australian National University through the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Critical Resources for the Future (CCRF).
- Contributor to Geoscience Australia’s Atlas of Australian Re-mining Potential (https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/australian-remining-potential)
- Works closely with junior to major mining companies and other partners to transform mine waste into future resources.
The Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) research group applies multi-scale and multi-disciplinary characterisation with geometallurgical principles to unlock the value hidden in mine wastes and low-grade materials. From fresh to legacy tailings and other mine wastes, our work guides and supports a more circular and sustainable approach to reprocessing and recovering critical minerals from these materials.
MIWATCH combines conventional chemical, mineralogical, physical, and metallurgical analysis with cutting-edge characterisation techniques, including synchrotron-based methods and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), to better understand the potential of mining and processing wastes.
Our expertise covers the full pipeline of mine wastes: from fieldwork, sampling, geometallurgical characterisation, resource estimation of tailings storage facilities, mineral carbonation for CO₂ sequestration, hydrometallurgy, physical separation, and biogeochemical metal behaviour in solid wastes and acid mine drainage.
Aims
We aim to support the reprocessing of tailings and mine waste as a sustainable source of critical, strategic, and precious elements, through robust characterisation that shifts the perception of waste from an environmental liability into a valuable resource.
Our research builds the scientific foundation through conventional and advanced mineralogy and geochemistry, geometallurgical characterisation, and reprocessing technologies applied to fresh and legacy mine wastes, including tailings, waste rock, and slags. These will collectively support informed decision-making, responsible investment, and sustainable outcomes for communities and economies.
Objectives
Our current priority objectives are:
- To apply multi-scale and multi-disciplinary characterisation of tailings and other mine wastes to generate the knowledge needed to unlock their potential as a source of critical and strategic minerals.
- To establish best practice methodologies and science-based tools to support informed decision-making in the reprocessing of tailings and mining waste.
- To assess the geoenvironmental behaviour of tailings and mining waste, including acid mine drainage impacts and new wastes generated during reprocessing.
Together, these objectives reflect the full scope of MIWATCH's work:
- Characterisation for revalorization and reprocessing
- Decision-making tools
- Environmental responsibility
Background
The complexity of mine waste management continues to be one of the greatest challenges, and opportunities, facing the mining industry.
Resource and reserve depletion, ranked #4 by EY in 2026, highlights how scarcity could become a powerful driver for innovation, prompting the extraction of critical minerals from unconventional sources such as tailings and waste rock.
Both fresh and legacy mine wastes can hold recoverable value in critical minerals. However, this potential is limited by a poor understanding of their chemical, mineralogical, and physical properties.
Without adequate characterisation, not only can this value go unlocked, but environmental management at mine closure and geotechnical engineering design intended to contain the waste will also ultimately fail.
A new approach is therefore required, one that combines critical mineral recovery from these sources with improved management practices, while meeting societal expectations.
Project List
For a list of current and past projects from the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre's Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) research group, please click here.
Core research activities
- Fieldwork, sampling, and characterisation of mine wastes and low-grade materials.
- Pyrite resources in mine wastes for sulphuric acid production.
- Resource estimation modelling for tailings storage facilities.
- Geochemical modelling of acid mine drainage.
- Mineral carbonation for CO₂
- Mineral processing pathways for reprocessing mine wastes, including pre-treatment via physical separation, hydrometallurgy, and bioleaching approaches.
- Mobility, biogeochemical cycling and transformation of metals in mine waste systems and surrounding environments.
- Synchrotron-based techniques for unlocking critical metals in mine wastes.
MIWATCH group members come from a range of mining-related disciplines, including exploration geology, geochemistry, mineral processing and hydrogeology.
Leader
Dr Olivia Mejías González
View Olivia Mejías González's research profile
Research Team
Dr Rosie Blannin
View Rosie Blannin's research profile
Dr Steve Jason Chingwaru
View Steve Chingwaru's research profile
Dr Elin Jennings
View Elin Jenning's research profile
Dr Eric O Ansah
View Eric O Ansah's research profile
Research students
Lexi K'ng
View Lexi K'ng's profile
Enrique Sáez Salgado
View Enrique Sáez Salgado's profile
Collins Adoko
View Collins Adoko's profile
See publications | Technical reports | Journal papers | Conference publications
Technical report papers
Jennings, Elin, Blannin, Rosie, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2025). Cobalt and other critical metals in tailings of major mineral deposits in north Queensland: Kuridala slag study. Brisbane, QLD Australia: Sustainable Minerals Institute - The University of Queensland.
Blannin, Rosie, Gomes, Allan Silva, Chingwaru, Steve, Bhowany, Kam, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2025). Secondary prospectivity of mine wastes from the Thalanga, Highway-Reward and Balcooma volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits. Society of Economic Geology, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 26-29 September 2025.
Parbhakar-Fox, Anita and Blannin, Rosie (2025). Exploration of new economy metals in Queensland’s mine waste: Synthesis. Brisbane, QLD Australia: Sustainable Minerals Institute - The University of Queensland.
Forbes, Liza, Jefferson, Mayra, Brill, Candice, Savinova, Katerina, Ansah, Eric O., and Valenta, Rick (2025). Mt Isa Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements Research Centre - part II. Australia: Sustainable Minerals Institute.
Guerin, Kristy, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Jackson, Laura, Blannin, Rosie, and Kng, Lexi (2025). New South Wales Mine Reuse Project: Maules Creek Coal Mine. New South Wales Mine Reuse Project, RDOC24/180915. Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland.
Blannin, Rosie, Jennings, Elin, Adoko, Collins, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2025). Defining Queensland’s secondary prospectivity - pyrite resources: performance of additional data collection (mineralogical analysis) – Milestone 3. Brisbane, QLD Australia: The University of Queensland.
Blannin, Rosie, Bhowany, Kam, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2025). Mine waste sampling and characterisation in Western Australia: Elverdton tailings. Perth, WA, Australia: Geological Survey of Western Australia.
Forbes, Liza, Evans, Tom, Nell, Kristy, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Blannin, Rosie, Arslan, Unzile Yenial, Mejias, Olivia, Anasah, Eric O., and Valenta, Rick (2024). Mt Isa Critical Minerals and Rare Earth Elements Research Centre. Brisbane, QLD Australia: Sustainable Minerals Institute.
Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Fox, Nathan, Jackson, Laura, and Blannin, Rosie (2024). Mt Isa Tailings Reprocessing Study Initiation- Phase A1 Stream 1 report. St Lucia, QLD Australia: The University of Queensland.
Silva Gomes, Allan, Blannin, Rosie, Bhowany, Kam, Sharma, Dipanshu, Leon, Tomas, Jackson, Laura, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, and Thorne, Jane (2024). Mine waste sampling and analysis: Thalanga waste rock, Queensland. Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane.
Gomes, Allan S., Bhowany, K., Jackson, Laura., Han, Z., Parbhakar-Fox, A., (2023). Assessment of mine waste secondary prospectivity: Iron Blow and Mount Bonnie, Northern Territory. Geoscience Exploration and Mining Information System – Report. Northern Territory Geological Survey. NTGS Record 2023-015.
Gomes, Allan S., Bhowany, K., Jackson, Laura., Han, Z., Nascimento, S., Parbhakar-Fox, A., Assessment of mine waste secondary prospectivity: Brocks Creek, Northern Territory. Geoscience Exploration and Mining Information System – Report. Northern Territory Geological Survey. NTGS Record 2023-014
Jackson, Laura, Corrick, Alex, Han, Zhengdong, Moyo, Annah, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2023). Secondary prospectivity of South Australia’s mine waste: review. Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland.
Bhowany, Kamini and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2022). Exploring for the future – mine waste sampling and analysis: Cannington Mine tailings, Queensland. Sustainable Minerals Institute.
Fox, Nathan and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2022). Assessing Recommercialisation Potential at the Mary Kathleen mine, Queensland. Brisbane, Australia: University of Queensland.
e Abreu, Susana Brito, Southam, Gordon, Villa Gomez, Denys, Ma, Xiaodong, Vaughan, James, Micklethwaite, Steven, Forbes, Liza and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2022). Review of mineral processing technologies suitable for arsenic recovery from sulphidic ores and wastes. Brisbane, QLD Australia: The University of Queensland.
Parbhakar-Fox, Anita and Fox, Nathan (2020). Geometallurgical characterisation of future mine tailings, Alpala porphyry Cu-Au Project: Final Report. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: UQ.
Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2020). Cobalt and other critical metals in tailings of major mineral deposits in north Queensland: Baal Gammon mine. St Lucia, QLD Australia: University of Queensland.
Journal papers
Jennings, Elin, Onnis, Patrizia, Crane, Rich, Mayes, William M., Jarvis, Adam P., and Hudson-Edwards, Karen A. (2026). Geochemical, mineralogical and particle-size controls on origin, transport and storage of sediment-associated metal(loid)s in an acid mine drainage-affected river. Applied Geochemistry 204 106859 106859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2026.106859
Ansah, Eric O., Konadu, Kojo T., Black, Jay R., and Haese, Ralf R. (2026). Chalcopyrite and gangue mineral surface reactions controlling copper heap leaching: Grain-scale insights using low-voltage microprobe analysis and 3D imaging. Minerals Engineering 245 110360 110360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2026.110360
Mejías, Olivia, Poulet, Thomas, Behnoudfar, Pouria, Jackson, Laura, Freeman, Justin, Jones, Thomas Ray, Howard, Daryl L., and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2025). Fate, distribution, and transport dynamics of indium in a polymetallic mine waste environment: An integrated mineralogical characterisation and geochemical modelling study. Science of the Total Environment 998 180268 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180268
Ansah, E. O., Black, J. R., & Haese, R. R. (2025). Impact of mineral dissolution-precipitation on pore geometry during copper sulphide heap leaching. Minerals Engineering, 230, 109379. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109379
Ansah, E. O., Black, J. R., & Haese, R. R. (2025). Coupled Dissolution with Reprecipitation (CDR) Reactions and Their Impact on Copper Sulphide Mineral Surface Area and Dissolution Rates. Minerals, 15(3), 214. https://doi.org/10.3390/min15030214
Jennings, E., Onnis, P., Crane, R., Comber, S.D., Byrne, P., Riley, A.L., Mayes, W.M., Jarvis, A.P. and Hudson-Edwards, K.A., 2025. Spatial and temporal (annual and decadal) trends of metal (loid) concentrations and loads in an acid mine drainage-affected river. Science of the Total Environment, 964, p.178496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.178496
Blannin, Rosie, Frenzel, Max, Tolosana-Delgado, Raimon, Bachmann, Kai, Escobar, Alexandra Gomez, Pereira, Lucas, and Gutzmer, Jens (2024).A quantitative particle-based approach for the geometallurgical assessment of tailings deposits. Earth Science, Systems and Society 4 (1) 10102 . https://doi.org/10.3389/esss.2024.10102
Ansah, E. O., Black, J. R., and Haese, R. R. (2024). Enhancement of copper mobilization using acidic AlCl3− rich lixiviant. Minerals Engineering, 217, 108953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2024.108953
Parbhakar-Fox, Anita and Baumgartner, Regina (2023). Action versus reaction: how geometallurgy can improve mine waste management across the life-of-mine. Elements, 19 (6), 371-376. doi: 10.2138/gselements.19.6.371
Mejías, Olivia, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Jackson, Laura, Valenta, Rick and Townley, Brian (2023). Indium in ore deposits and mine waste environments: Geochemistry, mineralogy, and opportunities for recovery. Journal of Geochemical Exploration, 255 107312, 1-26. doi: 10.1016/j.gexplo.2023.107312
Mishra, Partha Narayan, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Olaya, Sebastian Quintero, Scheuermann, Alexander and Bore, Thierry (2024). Electromagnetic methods for assessing moisture content and density of an iron oxide copper gold deposits (IOCG) tailings sample. Acta Geotechnica. doi: 10.1007/s11440-023-02120-y
Nascimento, Sibele C., Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Cracknell, Matthew J., Cooke, David R., Miller, Clare B. and Heng, Wei Xuen (2023). Geochemical, mineralogical, and geophysical methods to establish the geoenvironmental characteristics of the King River delta, Queenstown, Western Tasmania. Applied Geochemistry, 159 105820, 105820. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeochem.2023.105820
Moyo, Annah, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Meffre, Sebastien and Cooke, David R. (2023). Geoenvironmental characterisation of legacy mine wastes from Tasmania – Environmental risks and opportunities for remediation and value recovery. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 454 131521, 131521. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131521
Fitch, Verity, Parbhakar‐fox, Anita, Crane, Richard and Newsome, Laura (2022). Evolution of sulfidic legacy mine tailings: a review of the Wheal Maid site, UK. Minerals, 12 (7) 848, 1-19. doi: 10.3390/min12070848
Whitworth, Anne J., Forbes, Elizaveta, Verster, Isabella, Jokovic, Vladimir, Awatey, Bellson, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2022). Review on advances in mineral processing technologies suitable for critical metal recovery from mining and processing wastes. Cleaner Engineering and Technology, 7 100451 100451. doi.org/10.1016/j.clet.2022.100451
Conference publications
Chingwaru, Steve Jason and Blannin, Rosie (2026). Recovery of Pyrite and Gold from Historical Tailings Using Multi-Gravity Separation (MGS). Physical Separation 2026, Cape Town, South Africa, 20-22 April 2026. MEI.
Kng, Lexi, Gomes, Allan S., Jackson, Laura, Nascimento, Sibele, Sharma, Dipanshu, Gan, Princess Rochelle, Mejías, Olivia, Blannin, Rosie, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2026). Examining Critical Metals in Australia’s Non-ferrous Slag: Insights from Integrated Characterisation Techniques. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-13596-4_28
Ansah, E. O., Gunathunga, S. U., Yadollahi, A., Mejías, O., Adithyanti, F., Southam, G., Parbhakar-Fox, A., and Harrison, S. T. L. (2026). Fe-S-oxidising microbial consortia for the reprocessing of polymetallic mine waste: A case study from Northern Queensland, Australia, Goldschmidt 2026, Montreal, Canada.
Ansah, E. O., Mishra, A., Adoko, C., Singh, S., Parbhakar-Fox, A., and Micklethwaite, S. (2026). Enhanced Mineral Carbonation for CO₂ Sequestration and Arsenic Immobilization in Legacy Mine Tailings: Insights from Croydon, Australia , Goldschmidt 2026, Montreal, Canada.
Jennings, E., Edraki, M. and Jones, D., 2025. AMD source control for sustainable closure: proceedings of the 11th Australian AMD workshop. ISBN: 978-1-74272-515-4
Ansah, E. O., Black, J. R., and Haese, R. R. (2025). Chloride Leaching of Chalcopyrite: A Study on the Impact of Secondary Mineral Formation on Pore Geometry During Copper Extraction. In International Copper Conference (pp. 899-907). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Ansah, E. O., Black, J. R., and Haese, R. R. (2025). Modelling Copper Leaching in Heap Systems Considering Competing Reaction Mechanisms and Coupled Dissolution with Reprecipitation (CDR) Processes. In International Copper Conference (pp. 895-897). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
Ansah, Eric O., Gunathunga, Samadhi U., Yadollahi, Ali, Curi Rivera, Pamela, Mejías, Olivia, Southam, Gordon, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2025). Selective Bioleaching of Critical and Precious Metals from Northern Queensland Mine Waste Using Indigenous Bacteria. SEG 2025, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 26-29 September 2025.
Chingwaru, Steve Jason, Mejías, Olivia, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, and Blannin, Rosie (2025). Process Mineralogy of Historical Sn Mine Waste: Recovery of W, In, and Sn from the Herberton Mineral Field, Australia. Society of Economic Geology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 26-29 September 2025. Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
Blannin, Rosie, Bhowany, Kam, Curi Rivera, Pamela, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2025). Critical metal endowment and environmental behaviour of the Elverdton tailings, Western Australia. Goldschmidt 2025, Prague, Czechia, 6-11 July 2025.
Blannin, Rosie, Gomes, Allan Silva, Bhowany, Kam, Ng, Lexi K., Jackson, Laura, Mejias, Olivia, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2024). Critical metal signatures of mine wastes produced from Australian volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. International Applied Geochemistry Symposium 30th Edition, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 14-18 October 2024.
Mejías, Olivia, Jackson, Laura, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2024). Indium in mine wastes: geochemistry, mineralogy, and microbiology. SEG 2024 Conference: Sustainable Mineral Exploration and Development, Windhoek, Namibia, 27-30 September 2024.
Freeman, Justin and Mejías, Olivia (2024). MapsMin analysis of fine-grained indium-rich minerals in Baal Gammon waste rock. 16th Australian Microbeam Analysis Society Symposium (AMAS), Brisbane, QLD Australia, 5-9 February 2024.
Blannin, Rosie, Bhowany, Kam, and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2024). Mine waste sampling and characterisation in Western Australia. Australian Mine Waste Symposium, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 6-7 February 2024.
Blannin, Rosie, Frenzel, Max, Tolosana-Delgado, Raimon, and Gutzmer, Jens (2024). 3D geostatistical modelling for estimating the resource potential of tailings storage facilities. Australian Mine Waste Symposium, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 6-7 February 2024.
Blannin, Rosie, Jackson, Laura and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2023). Geostatistical and geometallurgical investigation of Co in the Rocklands tailings deposit, Queensland, Australia. 17th SGA Biennial Meeting 2022 "Mineral Resources in a Changing World", Zurich, Switzerland, 28 August - 1 September 2023.
Bhowany, Kamini, Han, Zhengdong, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Jones, Thomas R., Farias, Pablo G., Whelan, Jo A., Close, Dorothy, Thorne, Jane P. and Fraser, Geoff (2023). Secondary prospectivity of mine waste in the Pine Creek region: The search for critical metals. AGES 2023, Alice Springs, NT Australia, 17-19th April 2023. Alice Springs, NT Australia: Resourcing the Territory.
Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Jackson, Laura, Bhowany, Kamini, Guerin, Kristy, Han, Zhengdong, Blannin, Rosie, Moyo, Annah, Nicholls, Loren and Mejias, Olivia (2023). Exploration for critical metals in Australia’s mine waste to support the energy transition. France: European Association of Geochemistry. doi: 10.7185/gold2023.18999
Saez Salgado, Enrique , Parbhakar-Fox, Anita , Fox, Nathan , Baumgartner, Regina and Valenta, Rick (2022). Determining the geoenvironmental properties of non-ore material at the Quebrada Blanca porphyry Cu-Mo deposit using hyperspectral mineralogy. SEG 2022 Minerals For Our Future, Denver, CO, United States, 27-30 August 2022. Littleton, CO, United States: Society of Economic Geologists.
Jackson, Laura, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita and Degeling, Helen (2022). Determination of rare earth element content in mine waste, Phosphate Hill Mine, NW Queensland. SGA 2022, Online, 28 -31 March 2022.
Nicholls, Loren, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita, Valenta, Rick, Gow, Paul, Degeling, Helen, Lisitsin, Vladimir and Gray, Rosemary (2022). Exploring the potential for critical metal resources in mine waste: Geometallurgical characterisation of cobalt-bearing minerals in tailings at the Capricorn Copper Mine, Northwest Queensland. 16th SGA Biennial Meeting 2022, Rotorua, New Zealand, 28-31 March 2022. SGA.
Mejías, Olivia, Valenzuela, Martín, Townley, Brian, Fox, Nathan, Jackson, Laura and Parbhakar-Fox, Anita (2022). Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis applied to indium-bearing minerals and textures at the Baal Gammon polymetallic deposit, Australia. 16th SGA Biennial Meeting 2022 , Virtual, 28-31 March 2022. Rotorua, New Zealand: Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits.
Nascimento, Sibele, Parbhakar-Fox, Anita and Cracknell, Matthew (2022). Geoenvironmental characterisation of the King River Delta: A combined geophysical, geochemical and mineralogical approach. France: European Association of Geochemistry. doi: 10.46427/gold2022.12134
Contact us
Dr Olivia Mejías González
Group Leader
Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisationo.mejiasgonzalez@uq.edu.au
Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation is a research group within the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre (BRC).
MIWATCH updates
See the latest from the MIWATCH research group on their blog