Minister for Education Dan Tehan will announce a new $35 million Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence to develop ways to make mineral processing more environmentally sustainable and do much to secure the future availability of the metals we depend on for modern living.
Member for Robertson, Lucy Wicks, will make the announcement at the University of Newcastle’s Newcastle Institute for Energy & Resources (NIER).
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals will be based at University of Newcastle and will work towards achieving zero-emission mining by doubling energy and water productivity, and reducing the loss of high value metals during processing by up to 90 per cent.
Media are invited to attend the announcement, interview Ms Wicks and University staff, as well as receive a tour of the NIER laboratories, during which they will see a demonstration of copper flotation processes and recovery of metals in mineral processing.