Director's Welcome November 2022
Welcome to the final SMI e-newsletter for 2022, and my first as SMI’s Acting Director.
It has been a challenging and productive year for us here at SMI - we have come through COVID, floods in Queensland, COVID again, an Academic Review, the departure of our Director and through all that, our work is being recognised as never before.
The recent COP27 in Egypt highlighted again the need for climate action both in reducing emissions and in preparing for its effects. In this part of the world, we are very aware of the impact on Pacific Island nations, and it was wonderful to see the Fijian government launch their Blue Concrete Initiative at the Conference.
The Initiative is the result of a partnership between the Fiji Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources, SMI, Technology and Action for Rural Advancement, the Pacific Community-SPC, the ACP-EU Development Minerals Program implemented by United Nations Development Programme, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. It will lay the foundations for the introduction of low carbon cement to Fiji and ensure that key concrete inputs such as aggregate are sourced in a way that is both sustainable and builds resilient local supply chains.
On the other side of the world where demand for lithium continues to grow, SMI’s International Centre of Excellence in Chile recently signed a partner agreement with Volkswagen to better understand the social impacts of mining in the ‘lithium triangle’ of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina which holds nearly 60% of the world’s lithium resources. I was fortunate to be back in Chile recently after three years, and saw first hand the development of mines in the region. We will share more on this project in the coming months.
Working toward a sustainable future is a priority for SMI and our work in this area was recognised recently with two awards at The University of Queensland’s Research Partnerships and Translation Awards.
The Collaborative Consortium for Coarse Particle Processing Research (CPR), led by researchers at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) received the Innovative Partnerships Award, and researchers from the Development Minerals Program whose work underpinned a new United Nations Environment Assembly resolution on ‘Environmental aspects of minerals and metals management’ received the Research Impact Award.
Earlier this month it was the turn of our students to be recognised at the SMI Memorial Awards Day with the presentations of the Ian Morley Prize, the Bill Whiten Memorial Prize and the Dee Bradshaw Travel Scholarship. This event is a great opportunity for our students to take centre stage and showcase their research. I’d like to thank our sponsors, Glencore and JKTech, for their support.
The WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre (BRC) celebrated its 30th anniversary recently with an event at UQ’s new city venue – it was wonderful to see so many familiar faces and learn about the rich history of the Centre, and also an opportunity to hear from Mark Noppé in one of his first official duties as the new Director of the BRC. You can read more about Mark in this newsletter.
Finally, if you would like to learn more about SMI’s research, we are hosting the Complex Orebodies Presentation Day on 29 November. Attendance is online or in person, and the event will feature a number of presentations on research across the mining value chain that were undertaken as part of the Complex orebodies transdisciplinary research program.
As the holiday season approaches, I wish you and your families a happy and safe new year.
Enjoy the newsletter!
