Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion has hailed Western Australia as a top destination for research and resources development, following the awarding of prestigious scholarships to a number of overseas students.
Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion has hailed Western Australia as a top destination for research and resources development, following the awarding of prestigious scholarships to a number of overseas students.
Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Marmion has claimed Western Australia as a top destination for research and resources development, following the awarding of prestigious scholarships to a number of overseas students.
Last night, 11 university students in WA were awarded a total of $565,000 in mining-related scholarships.
"With four of the five postgraduate scholarship winners coming to Perth from overseas, there's no doubt WA is a global resources industry research and development centre," Mr Marmion said in a statement.
He said the state-government backed research program, funded through the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia, was evidence of the state's commitment to science.
"Good science means more jobs and a smarter state, and our MRIWA investment has WA well-placed to engage with national and international research," Mr Marmion said.
By 2016, MRIWA will have invested almost $1.3 million in scholarships, while more than $50 million has been invested in by the state and industry towards MRIWA-endorsed research.
Mr Marmion said the research could lead to new deep mining technology and mapping systems for future gold discoveries, as well as increased technology exports.
"This state already produces more than half of the world's mining software, which is a prime example of what I call mining our knowledge economy for future growth," he said.
2015 winners
2015 PhD director's scholarship ($120,000 over three years)
• Evelien Martens (UWA): Feasibility of electrokinetic in-situ leaching.
2015 PhD scholarships ($90,000 each over three years)
• Ashley Uren (UWA): Whole-lithosphere architecture and its controlling influence on basin evolution and mineral systems in the Capricorn Orogeny of WA.
• Stefano Caruso (UWA): Mapping sulphur sources in selected Precambrian terranes of WA to enhance
predictive targeting for gold and base metal mineralisation.
• Cameron Adams (UWA): An investigation of the relationship between positive magnetic anomalies and nickel-sulphide deposits, Kambalda, WA.
• Siwei Chen (Curtin University): The calculation of evolution of rock fracture under the action of multiple field coupling.
2015 Odwyn Jones Award ($5,000)
• Amber Balfour-Cunningham (UWA).
• Yihao Fu (Curtin University).
• Chris Gilbertson (Murdoch University).
• Kate Grogan (Murdoch University).
• Ian Wilkins (Murdoch University).
Best thesis from a 2014 Odwyn Jones Award ($3,000)
• Joshua Vinicombe (Murdoch University).