How can we move tailings reprocessing from opportunity to mine-scale impact, while creating environmental, social and economic value?
Answering this requires collaboration across disciplines, organisations and sectors, bringing together diverse perspectives, technologies and experience. The Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation Research Group (MIWATCH) is pleased to contribute to these shared efforts through its expertise in multi-scale characterisation of critical minerals across diverse mine waste types, working alongside others to support more sustainable mine waste reprocessing and environmental management.
Mine wastes are complex and heterogeneous materials, and understanding how metals occur, how they are hosted within minerals, and whether they can be recovered or mobilised is fundamental to assessing their future potential. MIWATCH research spans bulk geochemistry and mineralogy through to advanced micro- and nanoscale characterisation, connecting fundamental mineral behaviour with practical recovery and environmental questions.
Characterisation and the interpretation of its results are fundamental to assessing the viability of tailings reprocessing, while forming one interconnected component of the broader challenge.
Moving towards mine-scale reprocessing requires integration across the full system, from characterisation and resource potential to remining, reprocessing and the management of secondary residues. The potential value can also extend beyond metal recovery, including opportunities to reduce environmental liabilities, improve water quality, support rehabilitation and closure, repurpose residual materials, and contribute to a more sustainable critical mineral supply.
Achieving these outcomes depends on bringing together researchers, mining companies, technology providers, consultants, government and other stakeholders, each contributing different perspectives, technologies and practical experience. These interactions can help identify current barriers, clarify research and technology gaps, and develop more realistic pathways towards mine-scale implementation.
For MIWATCH, this engagement is an important part of translating research into impact. Over the coming months, the team will continue contributing to discussions around mine waste, tailings reprocessing and critical minerals through conferences, workshops, industry engagement and collaborative research activities in Australia and internationally.
These activities provide opportunities not only to share MIWATCH research, but also to learn from others, strengthen connections across the sector, and identify where research can make the greatest contribution to future mine waste transformation.
Here are some of the activities where you can connect with the MIWATCH team over the coming months:
- Critical Minerals Conference, Brisbane, 21–23 September – Steve will be presenting results on critical and strategic minerals, including indium, antimony, tungsten, bismuth and tin, as potential resources from mine waste in Queensland. Elin will be showcasing a poster on her research into metal–organic frameworks produced from acid mine drainage, while Lexi will present a poster on her PhD research into the high-temperature transformation of cobalt-rich pyrite to pyrrhotite. See more info here: Critical Minerals Conference 2026
- University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, 22–23 September – I will be connecting with researchers in energy transition geoscience through the Global Partnership, thanks to Renjie Zhou.
- Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, U.S., 24–25 September – I will be chairing a panel session at the World Bank workshop, “Unlocking Critical Minerals from Mine Waste and Tailings,” and attending the Critical Minerals Symposium. See more info here: Payne Institute Critical Minerals Symposium - September 24-25, 2026 (Day 1) / Colorado School of Mines: Calendar
- International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium (IBS) 2026, Orléans, France, 28–30 September – Eric will be presenting results on the bioleaching of copper and zinc from mine waste, comparing indigenous microbial communities with a non-indigenous inoculum.
- ANSTO, Melbourne, October–November – Synchrotron experiments led by Steve, Elin, Eric and I, with support from Thomas Ray Jones. The team will use synchrotron beamlines to better understand the recovery potential and environmental behaviour of indium, gold, cobalt and copper hosted in complex mine wastes.
- ARC CCRF Annual Workshop, Adelaide, 10–13 November – Collins, Michael, Lexi and I will be taking part, with great opportunities to cross-pollinate ideas with researchers and PhD students from the University of Adelaide, Australian National University and the University of Western Australia, and explore how our research contributes across the critical minerals value chain. A great space to connect and share cutting-edge research across the Centre!
- MEI Process Mineralogy ’26, Cape Town, South Africa, 16–18 November – Steve will be presenting how a multiscale characterisation approach can reveal critical mineral potential in mine wastes, as well as co-chairing a technical session.
- UQ Tailings Innovation Summit, Brisbane, 17–20 November – MIWATCH will join Fraser Alexander, Regeneration and NVRO for a collaborative and engaging roundtable discussion on tailings reprocessing on Friday, 20 November. Don’t miss it! Register here; Register | UQ Tailings Innovation Summit, Brisbane 2026
- MEI Critical Minerals ’26, Cape Town, South Africa, 19–20 November – Lexi will be presenting her PhD research on the high-temperature transformation of pyrite and pyrrhotite for cobalt extraction.
Exciting news too: we have a new student joining the team! Welcome, Alexandra Macdonald (supervised by Elin Jennings). We’re looking forward to seeing her exciting Honours project develop.
If you want to know more about us, please find out more about MIWATCH here: https://smi.uq.edu.au/brc/research/mine-waste-transformation-through-characterisation
Or meet the MIWATCH team and students, and explore our background and expertise:
