News

Minding the governance gaps in rush for critical minerals

Published on: 16 June 2023

The urgency to provide metals for the energy transition is putting pressure on the legal safeguards and approval processes governing mining, according to University of Queensland (UQ) researchers, and the consequences could compromise sustainable development.
New risk management approach aims to provide managers with a bird’s eye view of their project

Published on: 15 June 2023

Mining managers could soon have a map of their project’s risks at their fingertips as a University of Queensland (UQ) team prepares to present industry with a new risk management approach.
Driving the decarbonisation of iron and steelmaking

Published on: 8 May 2023

Iron and steelmaking account for 8% of the world’s carbon emissions and researchers from The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) are working to develop an alternative to the current smelting process that could rapidly accelerate the energy transition.
Understanding the social complexities of mining in the Lithium Triangle

Published on: 7 May 2023

The ‘lithium triangle’ houses nearly 60% of the world’s lithium resources, and because of its use in clean energy technologies (like EV batteries), the region is experiencing a significant increase in global demand. However, lithium extraction in South America often occurs in ecologically sensitive high-altitude salt flats, often on ancestral Indigenous territories, adjacent to Indigenous or rural communities.
Building social science capability in mining, consultation and consent

Published on: 4 May 2023

Improving the governance of natural resources will be the focus for five new Higher Degree Research students recently recruited by the Sustainable Minerals Institute’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining.
Shining the spotlight on SMI researchers for International Women's Day

Published on: 13 March 2023

In celebration of this year's International Women's Day on March 8, the Sustainable Minerals Institute's social media became a platform for promoting some of the brilliant female researchers working across the Institute's Centres.
New Superstar of STEM championing sustainable solutions to growing mine waste problem

Published on: 8 March 2023

Sharing the environmental and social challenges facing an increasingly metal-hungry society will be a major aim for The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute’s (SMI) Associate Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox as she steps into her new role as a Superstar of STEM.
New online resource examining consultation and consent, and energy transition dynamics in the Arctic

Published on: 20 February 2023

A team from the Sustainable Minerals Institute’s Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining has launched a new teaching and learning resource promoting awareness and understanding of the rapidly changing low-carbon energy transition dynamics across the Arctic.
CODELCO and SMI-ICE-Chile collaborate on a more sustainable future for copper mining

Published on: 16 February 2023

The Sustainable Minerals Institute International Centre of Excellence in Chile (SMI-ICE-Chile) has partnered with the world’s largest copper mining company, CODELCO, to help them achieve six United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In Conversation with Ben Seligmann: a new method of risk analysis

Published on: 14 February 2023

Dr Ben Seligmann is a Research Fellow at SMI's Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre specialising in risk management and hazard identification methods - we sat down with Ben to discuss a new project he has been working on.

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