A mining generational standout

Honours student Lina Toben turned the myths about her generation on their head when she said that to improve the environment, you need to be a part of the mining industry. The 22-year-old is attending an intense two-day Australian Mine Waste Symposium at the University of Queensland. Among issues the symposium is addressing is how to re-use mine waste and how to cope with the exponential volumes of waste which will be generated by the zero-carbon economy. It’s that leap from where we are to where we need to be. Ms Toben is doing her thesis on opportunities for reprocessing mine waste on an operation in South Australia. Related: Waste stream to become part of the mainstream She said as an undergraduate, she was motivated by environmental concerns to do geology. “When I was in high school, I was really motivated to be in the environmental space, so really interested in climate change, figuring how to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. I was really interested in paleoclimatology. “I really love the natural world, just learning about the earth, learning how we can harness its resources, but also how we can create circular loops. I want to take the resources and be able to reuse them.” There were a lot of myths about mining that permeated her generation, she said. “There are lots of companies that, for instance, I would never work with because I just don't believe in their ethos and what they're trying to say they're doing," Ms Toben said. “But I think that there's so many people in the geology industry that are really, really passionate about using the earth, but also giving back to the earth and that's what I really want to be a part of. “The biggest thing for me was I was initially dissuaded from geology because I thought it was all mining. “We were plundering the earth, not doing anything good for it, but we need critical minerals as a society, no one can say that they don't need critical minerals because they're using them every day. “So, the minerals that I am interested in and involved with are those that are critical.” She was equal parts heartened and daunted by the prospect of mining and mine waste being ratcheted up to meet net zero carbon targets, Ms Toben said. “I was definitely more daunted and this conference or even the first session has been so encouraging. It's interesting. I don't ever think that we can stop mining. I just don't think it's possible. “So it's like I'm heartened and I'm daunted at the same time because there's so much waste and you heard one of the speakers ... that we need 300 or so more mines just to meet the demands for batteries, which is just one product that we need. “It's a tough decision and it's a tough job to be in, I guess, because you want to do something for the planet, but at the same time, the only way we can't have an impact on the planet is if we didn't exist.” The symposium at UQ’s Climate Change Institute winds up today (February 7).

A mining generational standout

Industry Queensland

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