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Research consortium to spend A$14.6m on South Australian copper

18th September 2017

By: Esmarie Iannucci

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia

     

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PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The South Australian government will spend A$4-million over the next four years on a research consortium, led by the University of Adelaide, to develop advanced technologies to boost copper production and to develop a globally competitive mining technology services sector.

The University of Adelaide will invest A$4.46-million in the consortium, with the remainder of the A$14.6-million funding coming from a range of mining and research partners.

The consortium forms part of the state government’s Copper Strategy, which aims to triple South Australia’s copper production to one-million tonnes a year by 2030.

In 2014/2015, copper and copper concentrates exports from South Australia were valued at over A$2-billion making it South Australia’s single largest export item in value.

“There is a large untapped copper resource in the state with total value of known copper resources (with gold as a by-product) at over A$800-billion,” said Professor Stephen Grano, director of the University of Adelaide’s Institute for Mineral and Energy Resources, who will be director of the new consortium.

“There is a significant potential to increase the rate of commercial exploitation of these resources which would have major beneficial economic impacts for the state. However, there are also significant capital and operating cost hurdles to overcome, due in large part to the geological complexity of the resource.

“The research consortium will develop advanced technology to tailor the mining and processing options to specific characteristics of the mineral ore in real-time – an approach known as lean processing.

“We will be able to look at copper mining across the whole value chain from the resource in the ground, right through mining and processing, enabling the whole system to be optimised rather than optimising isolated parts.”

Grano pointed out that South Australian copper ores were complex with many different minerals that were finely interwoven, adding that processing required high levels of energy, water and capital.

The aim of the consortium was to address these challenges and opportunities in more sustainable mining, minimising environmental impacts, and to commercialise technological outcomes for global market opportunities.

The consortium includes among others BHP, Oz Minerals, the Australian Information Industries Association IoT Cluster for Mining and Energy Resources, Boart Longyear, METS Ignited Industry Growth Centre, Mine Vision Systems, Rockwell Automation, South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy, Sandvik, Scantech, South Australian Mining Industry Participation Office and Thermo Fisher Scientific Australia.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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