Market incentives and business readiness

The transition to a net-zero carbon economy not only requires the development of new technologies but will also hinge on challenging and re-defining existing structures and strategies in our productive industries. The integration of circular economy principles into the mining and mineral processing sector can potentially minimise mine waste while simultaneously creating new valuable by-products. This has the two-fold benefit of reducing the costs and environmental impacts associated with mine waste storage and management, while also producing an additional saleable product from the operation. One of the most impactful projects undertaken within this theme been with the Global Centre for Mineral Security and their Responsible Sourcing of Sand and Silicates project.

Improving Circularity in Queensland’s new economy minerals

Our enormous demand for sand is generating acute sustainability issues worldwide, yet at the same time the metal mining industry crushes—and discards—billions of tonnes of the same minerals as waste. A circular economy solution is possible, but only if we fundamentally change our perspective about mining. This project has significantly contributed to leveraging additional funding (including from the Queensland Department of Resources) to advance various initiatives through research outcomes, student support, and international collaboration. Notable contributions include submitting a series of grant applications to build the capability of a circular economy in mining function in Queensland and build a global alliance for mine waste reduction through ore-sand production.

Related publications:

Project lead: Juliana Segura-Salazar, j.segurasalazar@uq.edu.au

Global activities of Australian companies in critical minerals

This report is designed to provide a foundation for the work of the Resourcing Decarbonisation Strategic Program of the Sustainable Minerals Institute. It examines the footprint of Australian companies involved in critical minerals supply chains around the world and in Australian states. It also assesses activities of foreign companies in Australia. It then identifies factors of success of these companies and parameters of the value to Australia of their activities.

The report also examines Australian leadership in critical minerals supply chains, comparing and contrasting the approaches of other leading nations, notably Canada. The Australian minerals industry is a global enterprise, with exploration, mining, processing and METS operations in all inhabited continents. Australia is at once a leading destination for mining investment and, through its companies, a leading investor in other nations. In all minerals, Australia is second only to Canada in both respects. In critical minerals, however, Australia leads Canada both as an investment destination and source of investment.

Oroject lead: Ian Satchwell, i.satchwell@uq.edu.au

Circular economics of climate induced innovation in mining regions

Amid rising mineral demand for the renewable energy transition and a long-term decline in average metal ore grades, volumes of mine waste are expected to increase significantly. This paper presents an economic model to assess the private economic benefits of extracting large-volume by-products to reduce mine waste. Using the case of ore-sand, a type of manufactured sand that can be produced as a by-product of metalliferous mining, this paper quantifies profitability across various adoption scenarios. The dynamic economic model is calibrated to a representative large-scale iron ore operation covering 30 years of operation and uses Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the different adoption scenarios. Simulations indicate significant economic incentives for ore-sand adoption though with substantial heterogeneity across factors such as the costs of waste management and rehabilitation costs, recovery rates, processing efficiency, and output prices. The findings highlight that, while ore-sand profitability is subject to important uncertainty in costs and final demand, cost savings in tailings waste management and mine rehabilitation from the primary operation provide robust economic incentives for adoption.

Project lead: Steven Micklethwaite, s.micklethwaite@uq.edu.au and Juan Soto, juan.soto@uq.edu.au

Coalition for responsible sands and silicates

Sand and silicates are the most extracted solid materials on Earth, essential to everything from housing and roads to electronics and solar panels. These materials—including aggregates, clays, industrial sands, natural stones, and high-purity quartz— are foundational yet often treated as low-risk and remain largely invisible to us. Despite their central role in the global economy, they remain largely absent from the responsible sourcing frameworks that govern other mineral flows. 

The Coalition for Responsible Sand and Silicates brings together stakeholders in sand and silicate supply chains, civil society and academic actors to advance responsible sourcing and production of sand and silicates. We are building a multi-stakeholder coalition and curating an open innovation process to advance due diligence methods tailored to the unique risks and realities of sand and silicates. 

Related publications

Project lead: Professor Daniel Franks, d.franks@uq.edu.au

Critical metals data infrastructure

This project is taking the design and construction of essential database infrastructure for one purpose and making them available for new “relational databases” that will underpin national-level delivery of pre-competitive critical metal and critical mineral data, to the research community, government, minerals industry and general public.

Project lead: Steven Micklethwaite s.micklethwaite@uq.edu.au