Geoscientists have been asked to come up with solutions to a looming resource supply scarcity which is forecast in line with the transition to a low emissions economy.

They include ‘remining’ waste from tailings dams.

The big questions will be fielded at the inaugural Australian Mine Waste Symposium over 6 and 7 February held at the University of Queensland’s (UQ) Global Change Institute. 

Related: Register here – Australian Mine Waste Symposium 2024

Mine waste materials were potentially vast repositories of critical metals said symposium co-chair and head of Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH), Associate Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox.

iQ Industry Queensland is a proud supporter of the Australian Mine Waste Symposium

The MIWATCH team, at the UQ-based Sustainable Minerals Institute, has been working with Geoscience Australia and surveys in five states and territories said Professor Parbhakar-Fox.

“Mine waste metals could be overlooked in this context when it comes to the energy transition” she said. “Unlocking the value contained in mine waste can only be realised based on robust chemical-mineralogical characterisation.” 

“Designing out waste from the start is the key to long-term industry change when it comes to waste management and is increasingly possible with new technologies emerging for characterisation and processing.”

Accessing the resource was part of the equation. There also needs to be a policy framework around the development of new processes which encourages both commercial investment and community development.

Four themes of the symposium

In line with that the symposium will address four themes including valorisation to sequestration, mining and reprocessing pathways, barriers to success and the future landscape.

The challenges were not lost on Professor Parbhakar-Fox.

“We want to look at what the opportunities are to actually choose the best technologies to efficiently recover that critical metal of interest,” she said. 

“We also want to think about what policies need to change to enable that; for businesses to grow and make benefit of actually reprocessing mine waste. 

“We see a lot of progress being made in other disciplines in terms of waste valorisation. So, what can we learn from other sectors and what they’re doing? 

“We wanted to very much have a theme that was focused on future ideas to see if there’s any cross fertilization that we can bring into the mining sector.”

The Sustainable Minerals Institute has a clutch of research centres reflecting the new mining paradigms. They include geology and minerals research, land rehabilitation, social responsibility, water and health and safety, among others.

The symposium was supported by SMI and the Geological Survey of Queensland said Professor Parbhakar-Fox. 

“Ultimately, we’d like a white paper that captures all the thoughts and the main themes that come out over the two days and use that as a roadmap for the future in terms of more research. 

“When we think about policy design and development and how that needs to change. By bringing these people all together in the room, can we help kickstart some of that conversation beyond Queensland? 

“The Queensland government have taken a lot of leadership in this space already … It’d be nice to see that undertaken across Australia. So, I think it’s going to be a great two days.”