Research overview and recent examples

The Centre’s ​‘Research Themes’

The Centre’s Research Projects are directly aligned to delivery of the Centre’s Objectives:

Centre Objective 1: Early gangue (waste) rejection, achieved through technology advances in coarse particle beneficiation, to minimise energy and water consumption

• Research Theme 1: Early Gangue Rejection: Removal of waste ore at coarse particle sizes to pre-concentrate the ore, and hence reduce energy consumption in grinding hard rock and water losses to tailings 
• Research supporting Theme 1 is focused on the recovery of minerals at coarse particle sizes, while rejecting liberated and near-barren gangue particle

Centre Objective 2: Fast, efficient beneficiation to minimise losses of high value metals, achieved through technology advances in fine particle beneficiation, to maximise resource recovery and product grade

• Research Theme 2: Fine Particle Separation: More efficient processing of fine particles to maximise resource recovery and concentrate the product to reduce emissions during downstream processing
• Research supporting Theme 2 is associated with developing rapid and efficient beneficiation technologies aimed at minimising the loss of high-value minerals, achieved through advancements in fine particle beneficiation to optimise resource recovery and product grade

Centre Objective 3: Real time removal of solids from tailings, and rejection of water from solids, achieved through the introduction of novel hydrophobic interactions, and technology advances in dewatering (eliminating tailings dams)

• Research Theme 3: Solid-Liquid Separation: More effective solid-liquid separation to recover more water and ultimately eliminate tailings dams
• Research supporting Theme 3 aims to improve the efficiency of solid-liquid separations in order to recycle more water during the process, reduce the amount of water and solids going to tailings waste, and to make those tailings safe to store by dry stacking, ultimately to eliminate the need for tailings dams

Research Review Committee 

This committee consists of Research Theme Leaders who ensure the individual Research Programs (as outlined below) not only deliver on achieving excellence in advancing their core science but remain committed to delivering on the thematic core research objectives. They also review the effectiveness of the cross-program collaboration in achieving the core research (thematic) objectives, including the Centre’s translation to industry. 

• Professor Chris Aldrich, Centre Chief Investigator (Curtin)
• Associate Professor Kym Runge, Centre Chief Investigator (UQ)
• Dr Eirini Goudeli, Centre Chief Investigator (UOM)

Our research approach

• “Working closely with the minerals sector, equipment manufacturers and others in the community helps us identify big problems that we then strive to solve with scientific research, new techniques and new technology. It’s a practical and impact-orientated approach which can scale,” Centre Director Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin (UON)
• “Everyone is engaged in the mindset of development,” Centre Chief Investigator and Monash Node Leader Professor San H. Thang, AC (Monash)
• “Multidisciplinary collaboration is at the heart of the research we do within the COEMinerals and it is the foundation for scientific advancement and technology innovation. The advancements in the fundamental knowledge can be translated into practical applications through our strong connections with the minerals industry. The access to state-of-the art research facilities and technology available across the COE nodes further facilitate the high-quality research we do. As we build our research capacity, we are developing the next generation of leaders towards a sustainable future in the minerals industry,” Chief Investigator, Dr Susana Brito e Abreu (UQ)
• “A prominent and positive feature of Centre research is its interdisciplinary nature, which involves close collaboration between different nodes of the Centre and includes the exchange of research material (such as equipment, reagents and ores) as well as staff and students from several Centre nodes working on complementary aspects of various research problems. The Centre serves as a rich ecosystem for the development of a spectrum of science-based advances, ranging from fundamental research through to relatively mature technology development on the technology readiness level (TRL) scale towards commercialisation. Research is driven in no small measure by collaboration between the different nodes, which has resulted in significant project progress during 2023 which includes developments, not only in high TRL technologies, but also on the fundamental end of the spectrum,” Centre Chief Investigator, Curtin Node Leader and Research Review Committee member, Professor Chris Aldrich (Curtin)
  
• “Internode collaboration brings people with different but complementary skills and talents together to reach a better end. Our research directly contributes to the recovery of minerals that will shape future technology,” Centre Chief Investigator, Associate Professor Seher Ata (UNSW
• “COEMinerals is a vibrant research community determined to accelerate the realisation of the ​‘zero-emission mine’. We bring together expertise in the design of microbial-expressed peptide sequences, with the world’s pre-eminent polymer and physical chemists, and draw on more than 200 years of engineering capability to conceive, develop and implement ground-breaking innovation and technological solutions to impact transformative change in the global minerals industry. In doing so, we develop new scientific knowledge and empower the next generation of sector leaders,” Centre Chief Investigator, Professor Grant Webber (UON)

Please refer to Annual Reports for Research Review Committee comments, along with detailed research Program, Theme and project details and objectives. 

Our Programs