Engineering & Mining Journal

SEP 2012

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AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY CSIRO Helps Mining Industry Work More Efficiently After a number of traditional global R&D; leaders 'dropped the ball'—due to funding cuts, industry disinterest or complacency—Australia saw an opportunity, seized the initiative and became a world leader in mining-technology innovation By John Miller, Australian Editor With the introduction of a carbon tax in Australia and growing awareness of the need for more environmentally friendly explo- ration and mining practices, now more than ever the country's mining industry needs to work smarter and more efficiently to ensure its future viability. Australia's Common- wealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) is at the forefront of developing a range of technologies that can assist the industry improve its competitive- ness and environmental performance. The CSIRO's Minerals Down Under Flagship works across the minerals value chain to deliver science and technology solutions that will help grow Australia's resource base, increase the productivity of the minerals industry and reduce its envi- ronmental footprint, both in Australia and globally. The flagship's director, Jonathan Law, said CSIRO is working with industry partners to develop technologies that assist the industry and also deliver positive flow- on effects into other challenging areas such as soil salinity, water quality and waste utilization. Jonathan Law said the work of CSIRO is very important to Australia's mining indus- try in two ways: • It takes a long-term view of the mining in- dustry in Australia so it looks at the chal- lenges in 10 or 15 years rather than the short-term challenges of today. It has the freedom because of the government in- vestment and its resources to take the long-term view and work on technologies that will be important but that can't be de- livered in a two- or three-year timeframe. • It has a very strong engagement with in- dustry on a day-to-day basis, working on the operations and issues faced daily. About 50% of the revenue comes from in- dustry and CSIRO works closely with this sector, which makes sure it is aligned with what the current challenges are. The mining industry is global and CSIRO's work is also important at a global level. "Many of those we work with in Australia's CSIRO focuses on developing methods and technologies that hold promise for the mining industry's four major areas: exploration, mining, processing and metals production. 100 E&MJ; • SEPTEMBER 2012 Australia are global miners looking to deploy technologies around the world. Because many of the challenges the indus- try faces are shared globally and not par- ticularly conducive to economic competi- tiveness, many countries are happy to work with Australia to develop solutions that are generally good for the industry," Law said. "There's a whole range of factors like productivity, energy and water factors that have the potential to drive the industry out of business, and people are generally happy to share technologies in that space. Being connected globally is very important for us in terms of making sure we work with the best companies and organizations around the world. Having said that, we always try to make sure we deliver benefits for Australia. A lot of our technologies are based on Australia-specific challenges in which case we are happy to lead." CSIRO has brought together a portfolio of activities in the Minerals Down Under Flagship, he said. "About 10 years ago the organization took a look at itself and asked the question: Are we really working on the most important big picture things for Australia? There was a view that we were probably working on too many things in too many diverse areas and that we didn't have a long-term strategy for real impact in some of the big national challenges, and this resulted in the National Research Flagship program led by CSIRO. "Five years ago the Minerals Down Under Flagship was formed in recognition that the minerals industry was important to Australia but in the longer term faced some serious challenges. We integrated capabilities across the organization to focus on the full value chain of the mining industry in four key areas: exploration, mining, mineral pro- cessing and metal production. Most impor- tantly we wanted to focus on sustainabili- ty—how do we cope with low grades and more complex ores in terms of the implica- tions for water and energy, and how do we www.e-mj.com

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