Welcome to the March09 edition of the CSRP Newsletter. If you wish to have anything included in the newsletter, please email Lisa Laurie at lisa.laurie@csrp.com.au
The staff at CSRP HQ have been working tirelessly over the past few months on preparing the re-bid application. We were much relieved to read the confirmation that our application for CSRP2 was successfully submitted, with a day to spare, on 19 March. The short-list is expected to be announced on 24 April.
The first 2009 meeting of the CSRP Governing Board was held on 12 March in Melbourne. The re-bid was naturally a major topic of discussion, however progress of current projects and planning for the end of CSRP1 (with or without CSRP2) are important considerations for the Board at this time.
Mark Neville and Lisa Laurie attended the Minerals Processing 2009 conference held in Perth on 24-25 March. Attendees were from a broad range of organisations servicing the mining industry, with the majority having backgrounds in gold and involved at the plant processing and operating levels. Dr Rob Morrison from the JKMRC at the University of Queensland gave a presentation on “Emerging energy efficient technologies for the minerals processing industries: highlighting energy reduction”, which prompted questions from the audience about the use of HPGRs and AG/SAG mills in various circuit configurations.
Stevan Green is presenting at the Sustainability through Resource Conservation and Recycling 09 (SRCR 09) conference being held in Cape Town , South Africa on 4-5 April. Other CSRP people presenting are Mr Warren Bruckard from CSIRO and Prof Geoffrey Evans from the University of Newcastle. Stevan will also take the opportunity to meet with researchers at the University of Cape Town.
The next face-to-face meeting of the Technical Advisory Panel Working Group has been scheduled for 30 April at the CSRP HQ office in Perth.
> Visit www.min-eng.com/srcr09/ for more information about the SRCR 09 conference.
Imagine reducing greenhouse gas production while developing a strong construction material designed to insulate against fire.
William Rickard from Curtin University of Technology submitted an application to present his research on "Assessing the suitability of geopolymers for use as a fireproofing material" at the CRC Association's conference in Canberra on 26-28 May.
In recognition of the value placed on postgraduate students educated within the operating environment of a CRC, the CRC Association annually showcases the achievements of outstanding early career research scientists and engineers who contribute substantially to the CRC Program.
Will's application was one of eight chosen and one of the first four – which means he is entitled to speak for 10 minutes with the use of visual aids. The best 10 minute oral presenter is judged by an audience ballot and will receive a monetary award for further personal development.
Congratulations and good luck to Will – we look forward to having a multiple award-winning Education Program!
> Register online or download the registration form (.pdf 113kb).
> Visit www.crca.asn.au/conference/ for more information.
A reminder that Project Leaders are required to complete a project report for the 3 month period from 01 January 2009 to 31 March 2009. This is essentially a formal update on any activities that have been carried out in relation to the project during this time.
The templates were emailed on 24 March and are due by Friday 10 April.
> Email the Communications Officer, Lisa Laurie, for more information.
During the week of 17-20 March, Murdoch University and CSRP hosted the Sustainable Mineral Processing and Environmental Management in the Minerals Industry course in Perth. Some two dozen undergraduate extractive metallurgy and postgraduate CSRP students listened to lectures, analysed case studies, and involved themselves in breakout sessions that wrestled with the environmental and community concerns the minerals industry faces in challenging economic times.
Erik Stanton-Clements, the Sustainability Advisor for Parsons Brinckerhoff, gave the keynote address entitled "Sustainability and the minerals industry: Creating enduring assets". Jim Avraamides outlined the work of CSRP in his talk "Overview of Sustainable Resource Processing: Some practical examples".
The first day was rounded out with several Western Australian government representatives from the Department of Mines and Petroleum (Andrew Bartleet and Demelza Dravnieks), the Department of Environment and Conservation (Terry Lewis) and the Department of Water (John Roberts), who covered state-specific issues related to the minerals industry.
Two other CSRP researchers, Albena Bossilkov (Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production, Curtin University of Technology) and Glen Corder (Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland), delivered the bulk of the course through both lectures and case studies.
The course was organised by CSRP Education Manager, Dan Churach. This was the second time this course has been offered in Western Australia and it is hoped that a Queensland version of the course will soon be organised.
> Download the program (.pdf 81kb)
Dan Churach presented three lectures entitled "An overview of the mineral resource industry in Australia" to the WA Science and Engineering Summer School on 19-21 January at Murdoch University.
Dan Churach and Nick Welham (University of Ballarat ) have written a chapter in the newest WA high school chemistry manual. The chapter is titled "Metallurgist needed – copper leaching plant" and is in the Exploring Chemistry Stage 2 chemistry manual published by the Science Teachers Association of WA (STAWA). Recognition of CSRP as a special contributor is on page two of the book.
> Email the Education Manager, Dan Churach, for more information.
On behalf of the University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute, the AusIMM and CSRP, we invite you to participate in the 2009 SDIMI Conference on Queensland's Gold Coast in July.
This is the first time that this conference has been held outside of Europe and presents a unique opportunity for Australian and international researchers and industry practitioners to engage in dialogue about the future of the minerals industry and its contribution to society.
The technical program on Day 3, Wednesday 8 July will include the CSRP/SDIMI “Sustainability Assessment Forum”. The objective of the forum is to present real life case studies on implementing sustainability initiatives, discuss the learnings from these and elicit potential methods for putting sustainability initiatives into practice. The forum will be lead by a panel of expert sustainability practitioners from industry and research.
> Download the registration brochure (.pdf 1.1Mb).
> Visit the conference website http://www.ausimm.com.au/sdimi2009/ for more information.
If you are aware of any upcoming events that would be of interest to other CSRP members, please email the details to Lisa Laurie. Listed below are some of the upcoming events and a complete list can be found in the Events section of the website.
It would be wonderful to keep our publications lists up to date. If you have anything that has been published as part of CSRP (including conference presentations), please send Lisa Laurie a copy of the paper and the reference for the publication. Listed below are publications received this month and a complete list can be found on the Publications section of the website.
> Email Lisa Laurie to obtain the most recent Request to Publish form, Standard Acknowledgement form or CSRP logo.
Publications
Media