Director's Welcome, December 2024
Dear All,
It is hard to believe we are approaching the end of another year, and it has been a big year of both change and achievement for the SMI.
Starting with change, and as of November, the SMI became part of UQ’s Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology. This is an exciting development as it brings together the two largest resource-related research and teaching groups at UQ.
We are already seeing the rewards of the move through heightened collaboration in research initiatives like the Resource Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer and through closer integration of teaching and training at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional development levels.
For our external partners, our focus on long term research partnerships to address key challenges around future mineral supply remains the same. This change is part of a longer-term strategy to continue to increase UQ’s capability and significance in impactful resource-related research.
Moving to achievement and since our last newsletter in August, one very significant development is the signing and commencement of the Alliance for Critical Minerals and Circular Economy Research with the Queensland government through the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing, and Regional and Rural Development.
This $8m initiative has been mentioned previously, but I am happy to say that the Alliance is now underway and we are beginning work on projects aimed at securing future copper production in the Northwest Mineral Province, finding pyrite resources for sulphuric acid production from mine waste, investigating the social considerations around Queensland’s future critical minerals industry, and exploring enhanced circular economy opportunities for zero waste mining in Queensland.
In early October, Professor Andre van As travelled to Mongolia along with Rio Tinto’s Chief of Commercial and Business Development Bold Bataar to announce the establishment of the “South Gobi Underground Mass Mining Institute” (SGUMMI), an initiative supported by major investment by Rio Tinto that will be led by the SMI’s WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre (BRC).
The Institute will provide training in underground mining using the Oyu Tolgoi mine as a site for the practical focus of the training program. This represents a culmination of three years of effective and successful program development and research in the BRC Deep Mining Geoscience Group led by Professor van As.
We have also signed several other large, multi-year research partnerships with some of our long-term external stakeholders, and we will no doubt be sharing further information on those in later newsletters.
With all these developments, we are looking forward to a strong year in 2025.
Finally, on behalf of the SMI team, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Susan Johnston who leaves the Institute on 24 December. Susan has been an invaluable member of the SMI Senior Leadership Team for 6 years and has made strong contributions to the Institute in several areas. Most notably, she developed an important and highly collaborative research program in High Reliability Organisations, which resulted in the formation of the Leading for High Reliability Centre (LHRC) in collaboration with the UQ School of Psychology and the Andrew N. Liveris Academy for Innovation and Leadership.
Susan leaves the Centre in good hands, with Professor Jolanda Jetten (Head of the School of Psychology) and Professor Claire Côte (Director of the SMI Centre for Water in Minerals Industry) taking the helm, and Susan has indicated she will be available to work on particular projects with SMI moving forward.
As we approach the end of the year, I wish everyone all the best for the holiday season. I hope you have a chance to rest and recharge, and I look forward to being back in touch in 2025.
