Travis Murphy has over 20 years experience in metalliferous geology; incorporating exploration, mining and research functions. Experience has been attained in a variety of deposit styles and commodities including: Au, Cu-Au, Cu, Zn-Pb-Ag, Ni, Sn-W, and Fe.
Travis has proven experience in designing and executing exploration programmes and co-ordinating exploration teams to achieve safe, efficient, and successful outcomes. Having previously held positions as Principal Geologist with Newcrest Ltd, Exploration Manager with Tamar Gold and Bass Metals Ltd, Senior Geologist with Venture Minerals Ltd and BHP Billiton; he is skilled at advanced evaluation of Au and base metal deposits including geological databases, geological modelling and controls on mineralisation, feasibility studies; and has production experience through roles in underground gold mines in the Kalgoorlie and Kambalda districts of WA, with WMC Ltd and North Ltd/DeltaGold Ltd.
Travis attained his PhD from James Cook University in 2004 through which he analysed the structural and stratigraphic controls on the George Fisher Zn-Pb-Ag deposit in the Mt Isa district, sponsored by MIM/Xstrata Zinc.
Travis has worked on the following research projects at the W.H. Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre (UQ):
• Geology and Mass Mining (GMM) from May 2013 to Dec. 2014, as Consultant and then Industry Fellow; and
• Deep Mining Queensland (DMQ) from Feb. 2015 to present, as Senior Research Fellow (CI of the DMQ project).
Area of Research Interest:
Promoting and optimising extended use of geoscientific data in all aspects of metalliferous resource management, from exploration and delineation through to mining and mineral processing.
- Mining-informed exploration. Enhancing the exploration effort by keeping the end-goal in mind. This requires exploring with knowledge of the specific information required for future decision making around mining and processing options.
- Putting the Geology back into Mine Geology. Understanding controls on mineralization and the deformation history is not an academic exercise, it facilitates optimisation of mining and processing schedules and methods.
- Application of geophysical methods in mine-geology, to complement diamond-drilling in delineating structure, lithological and alteration domains, and mineralisation (dependant on style of deposit).
- Probabilistic modelling of geological features: capturing uncertainty/ambiguity in the data models passed to customers in the mining value chain. • Extracting additional value from hyperspectral core scanning data – textural classification, combined with other parameters; as a proxy for geotechnical, processing, and environmental value-determining measures.
- Utilising XrayCT technology to better inform the detailed 3D geometry, and surface characteristics, of minerals of value for the purposes of improving recovery. Can domains of a mineral resource be defined with like mineral geometry, for optimising mineral processing practices? How does the shape of the minerals of value change through the comminution process?