Recent Hunter Region Branch Events
The following successful Hunter Region Branch events were held over recent months.
26 August: Tech Talk – Armidale
September: New Leaders Summit & National Mining Games - Brisbane
16-18 October: Our representatives attended AusIMM Congress – Perth
23 October: 11th Annual Jameson Distinguished Lecture – Newcastle
23 November: Branch committee annual planning day
11th Annual Jameson Distinguished Lecture event recap
The Hunter Region Branch again held the annual Jameson Distinguished Lecture, in honour of Emeritus Professor Graeme Jameson to highlight innovations in mineral processing. The event was held on Wednesday, 23 October 2024 at Newcastle Cruising Yacht Club. AusIMM members and guests enjoyed food and drinks before and after the lecture overlooking the marina in Newcastle Harbour.
This year’s lecture was delivered by Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin from University of Newcastle. Prof. Galvin is Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals.
Prof. Galvin emphasised that research produces knowledge. With the global transition to a low carbon economy, and rising expectations for corporate responsibility through ESG, Kevin Galvin thinks it is time we recast survival in terms of lowest cost producer of concentrate status. The production of concentrate must be fit for purpose, maximising the grade-recovery curve. We must recognise the need to align the grade with the next stage of processing, the opportunity, and the market, which is increasingly “green”. Some may argue this is not new. What is new, is the myriad of new critical and strategic minerals, complex challenges, and the emergence of global interest in the extreme, such as producing almost pure iron ore.
If Australia seeks to occupy a sustainable position in downstream processing, to achieve “A Future Made in Australia”, its lowest cost status must continue. Sadly, we have already seen the demise of nickel, one of the key battery metals, and rising pressure on lithium.
The University of Newcastle is leading the global effort in developing and commercialising new, game changing, technology in mineral beneficiation. This fact is not widely known and is very much a credit to the leadership and inspiration of Graeme Jameson, upon whose name this lecture is bestowed. Indeed, Newcastle is the lead institution in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals, involving nine Australian universities, industry partners, and overseas institutions.
We were pleased to acknowledge the attendance of the following at the lecture:
- Emeritus Professor Graeme Jameson
- Alan Broadfoot – Director, Newcastle Institute for Energy & Resources
- Michelle Lawson – AusIMM Board Member
Prof. Galvin emphasised that if we are to reduce the cost of producing concentrates, we must eliminate poor classification, overgrinding, and recirculating load in plants. Advocating single stage processing, a detailed description was given of the research advances made on the Reflux Classifier System.
Prof. Galvin outlined other remarkable breakthroughs from the Centre, for example, Professor Chun-Xia Zhao’s work at the University of Adelaide in cracking the DNA code for every mineral and metal in the periodic table by repurposing phage display technology into minerals processing. Novel peptides with extraordinary selectivity for metals have been identified, meaning we now need to reinvent mineral processing. Thus, the scene is set for a New Paradigm for Minerals Processing – The Future is Innovation.
Our thanks go to Prof. Galvin, and also to committee member Tim Baitch for organising and hosting this year’s lecture.
Armidale tech talk event recap
On Tuesday 26th of August 32 people attended our annual Armidale Tech Talk at the Rydges Hotel in Armidale. Mitch Tarrant from Lode Resources gave a good presentation on the Webbs Consols Zinc-Lead-Silver deposit in the New England Fold Belt, south of Emmaville. The presentation was well received and included a display of drill core.
