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  • Caption: Aggregate extracted from this river in Fiji is supplying climate change adaptation projects across the Pacific. Credit: Daniel Franks

    New sources of development minerals in the Pacific could help save Fiji’s rivers

    Published on: 8 August 2025
    Researchers from The University of Queensland have found that as much as 80% of the Pacific region’s sand and aggregate (used to build houses, roads, bridges, and to protect coastlines from the impacts of climate change) come from Fiji – at great cost for some of Fiji’s rivers.
  • UQ researchers make “cool” model of underground mine hazard

    UQ researchers make “cool” model of underground mine hazard

    Published on: 6 August 2025
    Health and safety researchers at The University of Queensland have found that low-temperature rocks in an underground mine could be used to cool the deeper tunnels – potentially saving lives in the future.
  • SMI Director Rick Valenta presenting a graduation plaque

    Celebrating SMI’s next generation of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students

    Published on: 4 August 2025
    The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) recently celebrated the accomplishments of its latest cohort of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students through two major events: the SMI Next Gen HDR Student Conference 2025 and a ceremony for the July 2025 HDR graduates.
  • Globally, around 4 billion tonnes of bauxite waste, known as 'red mud', sits in containment ponds or dams, with more added every year. Credit: Rio Tinto (Used with permission).

    SMI Scientists Secure Over $1m For Red Mud Research

    Published on: 31 July 2025
    Researchers from The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) have received over $1 million in Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Linkage funding to establish the long-term sustainability of the rehabilitation of ecosystems using technosol – a soil-like substance made from process waste.

  • UQ researchers find critical minerals in NSW mine waste

    Published on: 28 July 2025
    Researchers from The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute have found 11 critical and strategic metals, including copper, cobalt, silver and antimony, in the waste of metalliferous and coal mine sites across New South Wales – opening the door to a secondary source of minerals critical to the energy transition.
  • Professor Maureen Hassall, Director of SMI's Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC)

    UQ to upskill miners across Latin America

    Published on: 1 July 2025
    Queensland experts will deliver mine safety and sustainability training across resource-rich regions of Latin America as part of an Australian transnational education program supporting the development of skilled workforces in the critical minerals sector.
  • Uncle Joe Geia (left) performing at the Sustainable Minerals Institute's National Reconciliation Week event.

    Uncle Joe Geia Brings "Truth-Telling Through Music" to The Sustainable Minerals Institute

    Published on: 29 May 2025
    Composer, guitarist, and singer-songwriter Uncle Joe Geia performed a seamless blend of music, history and storytelling as part of a special National Reconciliation Week event at the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland.
  • Nevenka Bulovic Credit: SMI

    Predicting Physical Climate Change Impacts on Queensland's Mining Sector

    Published on: 13 May 2025
    Researchers from The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Mineral Institute (SMI) have used high-resolution climate models to develop a new tool which could help estimate the physical impacts of climate change on mining regions.
  • Sustainable Minerals Institute Research Fellow Dr Nikky LaBranche,

    Ahead of the Curve: Collaborating to Remove a Hidden Dust Risk 

    Published on: 13 May 2025
    Researchers at The University of Queensland and workers at the Meandu mine have demonstrated the power of proactive prevention by working together to identify a potential respiratory health risk at the mine, assessing and controlling the risk instead of waiting for a diagnosis and media headlines before acting.
  • Concrete samples containing ore-sand from Newmont’s Cadia copper-gold operation in NSW, Australia.

    UQ sand mining startup named among top global innovators by World Economic Forum

    Published on: 12 May 2025
    A sustainable mining startup backed by University of Queensland researchers has been recognised among a handful of top global innovators by the World Economic Forum.

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