Mine Waste Innovation- Where to Next?
Associate Professor - Anita Parbhakar-Fox - Mine Waste Innovation- Where to Next?
Dear members, We're pleased to welcome Anita in a joint ASEG-AIG-PESA talk at the Transcontinental who's going to discuss a passion of hers, Mine-Waste.
Come along to catch up with other geoscientists in the space you haven't seen for a while - it's free for Members of either of the three societies.
Abstract:
As our global community pushes towards net-zero emissions, another global issue is emerging.
How do we manage the growing quantity of mine waste, currently in the order of billions of tonnes per annum. These materials, including tailings, waste rock, metallurgical residues, even mine impacted waters, present our governments and industry with long-term liabilities which must be well managed to minimise environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks long into the future.
Across other industries, the take-make-dispose approach is being abandoned by embedding circularity into the business-as-usual activities. Empowered by the current technological revolution, the Mining Sector is presented with new opportunities supported by machine learning and artificial intelligence, introducing circular economy principles across the entire life-of-mine to reduce mining footprints and unlock future value like never before.
This talk will explore the status-quo of mine waste characterisation including the information we are capturing and how it’s currently used. It will then introduce new opportunities to expand our knowledge base, better leveraging off the geological data and improved integration of emerging and new technologies across the life-of-mine improving ESG outcomes for the sector.
Biography:
Anita is a globally recognised leader in mine waste characterisation and geometallurgy with a strong focus on tailings. Currently, she is the Technical and Innovation Lead at KCB and an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute. Anita holds an MSci (Hons) in Environmental Geology from Imperial College London and a PhD in Environmental Geochemistry from CODES, University of Tasmania. In 2021, she founded UQ’s MIWATCH group, advancing mine-waste characterisation to improve planning, management, and remediation, and served as Deputy Director of the ARC “Critical Resources for the Future” ITTC. Her last role was at BHP in the Resource Centre of Excellence as the Principal Global Characterisation. Her research includes mine waste chraracterisation across the life-of-mine and recovery of critical metals from waste, with numerous publications in leading journals. A 2023 “Superstar of STEM” and WIM100 2024 honoree, Anita is a passionate STEM advocate committed to sustainable mining and mentoring future leaders.
