The emerging discipline of geometallurgy' is not new but is becoming increasingly recognised as a discrete and high-value activity that reflects an ongoing commercial and cultural trend towards more effective mine site integration and optimisation. The AMIRA International P843 GeMIII' project (Geometallurgical Mapping and Mine Modelling) is a major new cross discipline research collaboration designed to provide support for this emerging industry trend._x000D_
The project is currently supported by 18 global mineral companies and involves collaboration between the CODES Centre of Excellence (University of Tasmania), JKMRC and BRC (University of Queensland) and CSIRO Exploration and Mining. These groups represent recognised research excellence in the fields of economic geology, automated core logging, advanced microscopy and process mineralogy, mineral processing, mine planning and resource optimisation._x000D_
The needs and challenges of geometallurgy as an integrated activity will be outlined together with the ongoing contribution and aims of the AMIRA P843 GeMIII' project. The main emphasis is on development of predictive geometallurgical indices for key processing performance parameters that reflect inherent geological variability._x000D_
The ultimate aim is to provide predictive indices of geometallurgical performance that can be confidently embedded into resource models and used for risk-defined mine planning and optimisation.