Minerals for our Future
ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals
COEMinerals is making mineral recovery more efficient, more effective and less wasteful
COEMinerals is discovering and inventing science-based, more-efficient ways to recover minerals
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals (COEMinerals) is creating new and inventive new ways to separate minerals and metals — including rare earth minerals (REM), and critical or strategic minerals — using less water, less energy and with less waste.
The Centre aims to transform the field of mineral processing by developing world-leading innovation and capability in mineral separation techniques.
- The Centre’s Mission is to develop deep scientific knowledge that enables the establishment of new, transformational technologies in minerals beneficiation, to deliver a sustainable future for Australia’s minerals industry
- The Centre’s Vision is to double energy and water productivity in the mining sector by 2030, maintaining the drive towards the ‘zero-emission mine’ and reduce losses of high value metals during processing by 90%
- The Centre’s Strategy is to work in partnership with the minerals industry, Mining & Equipment Technology Services (METS), the community and other stakeholders to provide advice, thought leadership, research, education, people and transformational innovations
The Centre aims to transform the minerals sector by:
- Reducing energy and water use during minerals processing (beneficiation): Our stretch goal is to double energy and water productivity in the mining sector by 2030, maintaining the drive towards the ‘zero- emission mine’
- Increasing mineral recovery during minerals processing: Our stretch goal is to reduce loss of high value metals during minerals processing by 90%, increasing the concentration of recovered products used in metals refining
- Training a New Generation: Our goal is to deliver exceptional educational experiences that enable, up-skill and empower a new generation of research, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and minerals sector leaders. The Centre creates exceptional educational experiences that enable, upskill and empower a new generation of research, STEM and minerals sector leaders.
Centre Director Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin (UON) shared:
“We continue to address and adapt our work to ensure we are meeting contemporary challenges, and so our members are future-work ready whether their career path takes them into academic or industry roles.”
Some context: Many minerals and metals are in high demand, but some are becoming harder to recover
Despite minerals being a finite resource many are in high demand in modern society for many purposes, including medical devices and for use in new technologies to support the clean energy and ‘net-zero’ transition.
COEMinerals is improving the early processing (‘beneficiation’) stage of mineral processing, where minerals are separated from the ore that surrounds them after crushing has occurred, which is a crucial step in delivering minerals and metals to society.
Historically this separation process has been highly energy consuming and wasteful, and many techniques used today are inefficient, between 50 – 100 years old and no longer fit for purpose. The ‘waste’ created, which often includes mineral particles, is stored in ‘tailings dams’.
COEMinerals’ research strengths address challenging problems. We are developing transformational technologies and new approaches in support of a competitive and environmentally sustainable future for Australia and its minerals sector
- The Centre is creating new possibilities for transformational change to the global mineral processing industry and beyond, especially through world leading capability in applying peptides and Reversible Addition−Fragmentation Chain-Transfer (RAFT) polymers to critical and strategic minerals.
- Our team is delivering world-first innovation in the application of polymer chemistry and peptides in minerals processing: “The extraordinary level of (peptide) selectivity opens the door to novel forms of processing, essential for delivering cost-effective performance at the million tonne per annum level needed by the industry. High selectivity means high mineral upgrades and therefore much smaller cost effective and environmentally acceptable downstream processing,” Centre Director Laureate Professor Kevin Galvin said.
- The Centre is also creating bio-inspired ingredients to one-day replace other chemicals used in mineral processing (for emulsions or as surfactants, reagents, collectors, frothers, flocculants). Chemicals are added to solutions containing ore and mineral particles to selectively enable some particles to attach to each other and/or to bubbles, to help them float or sink, and/or remain in a stable ‘froth’ for collection as part of mineral processing ‘flotation’ methods. Many traditional methods of froth flotation consume high volumes of one-off use chemicals. By the end of 2027, it’s estimated the global market for collectors used in mineral processing would reach US$100 billion (Source: Data Intelo Mining Collectors Market Research Report, 2023; p 112.
- Several of the Centre’s mineral resource separation technologies are undergoing multi-million-dollar full-scale trials, while others are now delivering industry impact to facilitate decarbonisation.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence funding scheme.
The Centre’s team comprises researchers representing nine Australian universities including, the University of Newcastle, its administrative base. Other universities include: Curtin University (Curtin), Deakin University (Deakin), Monash University (Monash), The University of Adelaide (UoA), The University of Melbourne (UOM), The University of New South Wales (UNSW), The University of Queensland (UQ) and The University of South Australian (UniSA).
The Centre works closely with partners, industry and other experts from around the world.
Learn more about us here.
Our Research
Our research aims to:
Reduce Energy and Water Use (increase energy & water efficiency) during mineral processing
Increase Mineral Recovery / Reduce loss of metals during mineral processing
Train a new generation of research and sector leaders
Our Team
COEMinerals taps into the skills and expertise of some of Australia, and the world’s, most eminent scientists representing diverse scientific disciplines.
COEMinerals members are developing technologies, inventing world-first scientific techniques and enabling new capabilities for minerals recovery during minerals processing (beneficiation).
Members collaborate closely with academic, industry, community and sustainability experts.
The Centre has multiple committees that help guide our focus and activity.
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Want to be part of our research team or learn more about our work?
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