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CRC Program

 

2009 Student-Industry-CRC Symposium

 2009 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Fairbridge Village was the venue for the 4th Student-Industry-CRC Symposium from 8-13 February 2009. Fairbridge is just north of Pinjarra , Western Australia, about 100 kilometres south of Perth. Once again, students presented their research, toured local industries, participated in workshops and discussions as well as enjoying social events. Students represented 10 universities and two CRCs.

Some two dozen postgraduate students attended the Symposium. As several of the mining and energy sector CRCs have disbanded since the last Symposium, only CSRP and the Parker Centre for Integrated Hydrometallurgy Solutions were represented, along with some independent students. That did not seem to damper the enthusiasm of the two dozen postgraduate students who participated though. The level of student presentations was high and the industry tours and workshops offered provided a great deal of depth to the event. The usual round of social activities rounded out the week.

Most students arrived throughout the day Sunday and a coach was chartered to transport out-of-state participants from Perth airport to Pinjarra. CSRP students Robert Cocks and Graeme Thompson met travellers at the airport and made sure everyone expecting to catch the bus was in the right place and the right time and thanks to them, there were no problems getting people to Fairbridge Village.

Quick Links

Program of Events
Industry Tours
Student Presentations and Awards
Social Events
Student Participants
Additional Photographs

 
Program of Events

> View the Program Booklet

Monday morning Dr Dan Churach, the Education Manager of CSRP, started things off with a round of introductions. About half the students had a head start in that they had participated in the 2007 symposium held in Victoria. During introductions it was discovered that of the participants present, at least one student originally came to Australia from all six inhabited continents.

After tea, Dr Jim Avraamides (who holds duel roles with both CSRP and Parker Centre) gave a talk entitled "A Perspective on Sustainability in the Minerals Industry". Jim's talk gave a broad overview of issues facing the mineral processing sector today and looked at areas CSRP researchers are tackling.

Dr Jim Avraamides presenting "A Perspective on Sustainability in the Minerals Industry"

Two workshops were also held for students. Dr Janine Lay of CSRP and the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland presented "Communication: Your secret weapon". Janine led an open discussion with the participants exploring the necessity of being able to communicate the work they were doing to potential end users and employers. Enough group work was built into the workshop to allow students to practise ideas in a supportive setting.

Dr Glen Corder of CSRP and the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, also at the University of Queensland, led another session entitled "SUSOP® – Getting Sustainability into Practice". The SUSOP® concept has been developed by the CSRP to fulfil the need to integrate sustainable development (SD) ideals into extractive and processing industries and to promote the uptake in technologies which progressively eliminate waste and emissions in the mineral cycle.
Dr Janine Lay presenting "Communication: Your Secret Weapon" Dr Glen Corder presenting "SUSOP® – Getting Sustainability into Practice"

Friday morning the symposium ended with an industry roundtable discussion titled "Starting a Booming Career in the Middle of an Economic Bust". The industry participants were:

The roundtable session evolved into an open discussion on careers in the industry and ways young researchers could distinguish themselves amongst others. The consensus of industry representatives was that gaining a strong background in sustainability issues facing the industry was an excellent way to enhance careers.

The remainder of the program was rounded out with industry tours and student presentations.

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Industry Tours

Monday afternoon, students travelled by coach to the CSBP chemical plant headquarters in Kwinana. After a light lunch there, Mr Chris Oughton of the Kwinana Industry Council gave students a brief overview of how the Kwinana Industry Council came to be and how their collaborative efforts have provided for positive outcomes in Australia’s most densely occupied industrial park. Albena Bossilkov, a CSRP research fellow at the Centre for Cleaner Production at Curtin University of Technology, presented a talk on a series of Kwinana synergies projects.

The presentations were followed by a tour of the CSBP plant before travelling over to the HIsmelt iron plant. HIsmelt is currently in caretaker mode, which resulted in a particularly good tour that allowed visitors to be guided through the entire plant, including the control room and right up to the reaction vessel.

Symposium attendees at Alcoa Symposium attendees at the HIsmelt iron plant

Thursday morning, Symposium attendees were treated to a second half-day of touring with visits to a processing plant and mine site tour thanks to Evan Jamieson of Alcoa. The day started off with a drive through of the Pinjarra Refinery where Dr Jamieson was aboard the coach to answer questions along with Alcoa Education Officer Suzanne Nancarrow.

From the processing plant students travelled to Alcoa’s Huntley mine site where Ms Nancarrow partnered with escort drive Emma Haggett to take the visitors through one of the largest bauxite mines in Australia. The big shovels, big trucks and big crushers were a first for some of the students as the visit followed the mining process from beginning to end. The tour wrapped up in one of the rehabilitation areas were students walked into the newly established endemic jarrah forest.

Belinda Sorrell, Programs Officer at the Scitech CSIRO Science Education Centre in Perth, finished the Symposium with a presentation entitled "Payback to Community". She briefly described the Scientists in Schools Program which is aimed at giving school students firsthand experiences getting to know "real" scientists.

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Student Presentations and Awards

As has been the case in each of the previous symposia, all participants were requires to present their research in a 15-minute PowerPoint with a 5-minute question and answer follow-up during Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Once again the guidelines were given in advance instructing the young researchers to aim their talks at an audience who were techno-savvy, but one that did not have an in depth background to the intricacies of their research.

In a sense, the Student-Industry-CRC Symposium guidelines are very much in line with those of the “Student Showcase” awards run by the CRC Association each year. The presentations were judged on 1) technical content, 2) structure, 3) personal style and 4) presentation skills. This year’s judges were Dr Jim Avraamides, Dr Nick Welham and Dr Dan Churach. Awards were presented at the Thursday night Awards Dinner.

Award Winners

First Place (1 x $1000)

William Rickard, Curtin University of Technology
"Assessing the suitability of geopolymeric materials for high temperature industrial applications"
Second Place (2 x $500)

Carlia Cooper, University of Technology Sydney
"An integral futures strategy for linking the Australian minerals industry to a sustainable future"

Daniel Tuazon, University of Queensland
"A structured approach for incorporating sustainable development principles into the decision-making processes at mineral processing operations"
Third Place (2 x $250)

Graeme Thompson, Murdoch University
"Enhanced cobalt recovery in the Caron process"

Ross Williams, Curtin University of Technology
"Improving the understanding of silicate inorganic polymers"

Robert Cocks, Murdoch University
"Assessment models in sustainable water sourcing, use and reuse for Newmont gold mine operations (Aust/NZ)"

Additional Awards

First Presentation in English (1 x $100)

Narantuya Batmunkh, Curtin University of Technology
"Selecting optimum cement contents for stabilising alternative materials for using as a base course material"

Most Improved Student Presentation (1 x $100)

Ailar Hajimohammadi, University of Melbourne
"Utilising one-part mixes for analysing and manipulating the structure of geopolymers"

Special Awards

Best and Worst Musical Presentation

For the second consecutive symposia the "Best and Worst Musical Presentation" (two wooden spoons again) were given to Graeme Thompson, Murdoch University and CSRP. This year his two personally composed songs that had all the dogs in Pinjarra and the WA Southwest howling.

Love in the Room Award

The "Love in the Room Award" (a Valentine's Day heart) was presented to Alberto Melgoza complimenting his presentation of gender issues within the mineral resource sector.

Optimist Award

The "Optimist Award" was given to Steve Mohr whose projects of "peak coal in his lifetime" won him a smiley face and promise of a more substantial prize in CSRP 6!
Carlia Cooper presenting "An integral futures strategy for linking the Australian minerals industry to a sustainable future" Winners(L to R): Robert Cocks, Carlia Cooper, Graeme Thompson, William Rickard, Ross Williams and Daniel Tuazon

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Social Events
The Fairbridge Village venue allowed for participants to enjoy the Western Australian bush in a leisurely way. Early morning and late afternoon bush walks had students reporting lots of kangaroos, parrots and other bush life. The swimming pool was used by a good portion of people attending the symposium and several groups of people hacked away on the Fairbridge miniature gold course. Sundowners were held each night and the fourth Quiz Night was held on Tuesday with Quiz Master Lisa Laurie (CSRP Communications Officer) and her able assistant Tara Pittaway (CSRP Executive Assistant) somehow maintaining order long enough to get through all seven rounds. This year’s winning team inexplicably named the "Gasacs" included Graeme, Alberto, Steve, Ailar and Carlia. Amazingly enough, the staff team ("Dan’s Deros") led through the entire evening until being unceremoniously disqualified during the last round.

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Student Participants
Student Degree Area CRC University Topic of Research
Ballantyne, Grant PhD Metallurgical Engineering CSRP University of Queensland Coarse minerals processing using dielectrophoresis
Batmunkh, Narantuya PhD Civil Engineering CSRP Curtin University of Technology Selecting optimum cement contents for stabilising alternative materials for using as a base course material
Bernal, Susan PhD Materials Science and Engineering Independent Universidad del Valle (Columbia) MK carbonation of high performance alternative concretes based on alkali-activated GBFS/MK
Botman, Paul PhD Chemical Engineering CSRP University of Queensland Evaluation of eucalyptus foliar oils as flotation reagents
Chan, Ronald BEng Chemical Engineering / Chemistry CSRP University of Melbourne, CSIRO/CSRP Vacation Project Measurement of the contact angle of minerals surfaces at the gas/solid/aqueous interface
Chowdhury, Ashfaque PhD Computational Fluid Mechanics CSRP Central Queensland University Modelling and analysis of the processes of dead-burned magnesia production to improve energy efficiency and environmental sustainability
Cocks, Robert PhD Environmental Science CSRP Murdoch University Assessment models in sustainable water sourcing, use and reuse for Newmont gold mine operations (Aust/NZ)
Cooper, Carlia PhD Minerals and Sustainable Futures CSRP University of Technology Sydney An integral futures strategy for linking the Australian minerals industry to a sustainable future
Dyer, Laurence PhD Inorganic Chemistry Parker Centre Curtin University of Technology Co-precipitation of iron and silicon from acidic hydrometallurgical solutions
Hajimohammadi, Ailar PhD Geopolymers CSRP University of Melbourne Utilising one-part mixes for analysing and manipulating the structure of geopolymers
Helm, Michelle PhD Extractive Metallurgy Parker Centre Murdoch University Understanding the behaviour of preg-robbing carbonaceous gold ores
McNeilly, Ian PhD Electrochemical Corrosion CSRP Central Queensland University A unique rotating parallel disc device (PDD) for studying corrosion under intense flow conditions
Melgoza, Alberto PhD Management CSRP University of Queensland Prejudice and experience of aggression in the resources industry: A qualitative study of the role of gender, emotion and climate
Mohr, Steve PhD Chemical Engineering CSRP University of Newcastle Modelling fossil fuel production to 2100
Muslim, Abrar PhD Chemical Engineering Parker Centre Curtin University of Technology Modelling on the adsorption of thiosulfate, polythionates and gold onto resin
Pugaev, Dmitry PhD Hydrometallurgy Parker Centre Murdoch University The mechanism of passivation and dissolution of base metals sulphide minerals
Rickard, William PhD Materials Science CSRP Curtin University of Technology Assessing the suitability of geopolymeric materials for high temperature industrial applications
Thompson, Graeme PhD Extractive Metallurgy CSRP Murdoch University Enhanced cobalt recovery in the Caron process
Tuazon, Daniel PhD Engineering Sustainability CSRP University of Queensland A structured approach for incorporating sustainable development principles into the decision-making processes at mineral processing operations
White, Claire PhD Geopolymers, Multiscale Modelling CSRP University of Melbourne Multiscale modelling of geopolymer
Williams, Ross PhD Materials Science CSRP Curtin University of Technology Improving the understanding of silicate inorganic polymers
Wu, Fei PhD Applied Chemistry Parker Centre Curtin University of Technology Aluminous goethite in the Bayer process
Zeng, Li PhD Solvent Extraction Parker Centre Central South University (Changsha, China) The separation and recovery of molybdenum and vanadium from spent hydrodesulphurisation catalysts using solvent extraction

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