A new research hub based at the University of Tasmania is set to revolutionise mining and exploration practices, delivering significant benefits to the Australian economy and regional and rural communities.
The hub is named Transforming the Mining Value Chain (TMVC) and forms part of the Australian Research Council’s Industrial Transformation Research Program.
TMVC Director Professor David Cooke said the hub would lead to significant improvements in discoveries, efficiencies, output and profitability in the Australian mining sector.
The TMVC hub will be of great benefit to the minerals industry through advanced mineral characterisation methods, and innovative technologies for their implementation... the ability to apply these processes much earlier in the mining value chain will enhance decision making and maximise new discoveries, productivity and profitability at Australian mine sites.
The work will examine a wide array of activities from exploration, discovery, ore deposit characterisation, and environmental assessment, through to mining, ore processing and waste disposal. The main objective is to improve efficiencies within this value chain, focussing on areas that will have a marked impact on increasing the value of Australia’s mineral resources.
One of the innovations to be developed within TMVC will be new geological tools that will enable mining companies to predict the locations of ore bodies with far greater efficiency.
Industrial Transformation Research Hubs
The Transforming the Mining Value Chain hub is the third Industrial Transformation Research Hub within the University of Tasmania, following hubs focusing on rock lobster production and food innovation using sensing technology:
- The ARC Research Hub for Commercial Development of Rock
Lobster Culture Systems is capitalising on more than 15 years of research at
the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies’ Taroona facility into the mass
production of lobster seed stock.
- The Pathways to Market: Food Production, Provenance
and Choice research hub will demonstrate how new knowledge on food
production and consumption generated through novel sensing technologies and
advanced modelling techniques can be implemented in smart applications.
Interested in conducting your own research? Apply now to become a research student.