A world-first research centre to be based in Newcastle will play a key role in the development and commercialisation of greener mining technologies.
The growing demand for metals needed for products such as smartphones, wind power technology and electric vehicles is challenged by the costs and complexity of extraction as well as the environmental impacts of mining operations.
The Australian Research Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals (COEMinerals), to be opened on Thursday, will be devoted to making the minerals industry more sustainable.
"COEMinerals is aimed at developing new technologies, and commercialising these through industry partners, to increase metal recovery while reducing costs and the environmental footprint, largely through lowering energy and water usage, which are the two big mining-related environmental impacts," centre director Professor Kevin Galvin said.
Smart phones, solar panels, wind turbines and battery storage technologies and electric vehicles all require a complex mix of metals including cobalt, nickel and lithium.
In addition, minerals and metals are also a key component of some medical therapies.
Copper is found in MRI scanners, titanium is used for surgical equipment because of its resistance to bacteria and silver is present in some antibiotics.
It is estimated that in 20 years the annual demand for copper from electric vehicles will start to exceed the current rate of global production.
The consumption of copper over the next 20 years is expected to exceed the total copper amount of copper consumed throughout human history.
"With a projected global population of nine billion by 2050, and insatiable appetite for smartphones, which contain more than 60 different metals, and a growing appetite for electric vehicles, mining simply isn't going away," Professor Galvin said.
Mining also contributes over $230 billion annually to the economy and employs 10 per cent of the nation's workforce, so it's not going anywhere. But it can be made more sustainable."
COEMinerals will help Australia's mining industry double energy and water productivity by 2030 as part of the drive towards a zero-emission mining industry;
It also aims to reduce the loss of high value metals during minerals processing by 90 per cent resulting in a significant energy saving.
The member nodes of the COEMinerals Centre include the universities of Newcastle, Melbourne, South Australia, Queensland, NSW, and Deakin, Curtin and Monash.
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