Perth researchers who have achieved major advances in minerals processing and the treatment of saline grazing lands have won awards at the annual conference of the Cooperative Research Centres Association.
Perth researchers who have achieved major advances in minerals processing and the treatment of saline grazing lands have won awards at the annual conference of the Cooperative Research Centres Association.
Three CRCs were presented with awards at the conference, held in Perth last week.
The Parker CRC for Integrated Hydrometallurgy Solutions has attracted backing from Australia’s major minerals companies to support its research on the processing of mineral ores.
Its award was based on advances in large-scale processes for separating liquids and solids.
The research was focused on gravity thickeners, which are used widely throughout the minerals industry to separate tens of millions of tonnes of fine solids from process water.
Parker Centre researcher John Farrow said gravity thickeners were used in coal, iron ore, alumina, gold, base metals and mineral sands production, as well as in water treatment and paper manufacturing.
Advances in gravity thickeners used to extract ores from slurry solutions had delivered benefits of at least $295 million from 1995 to 2003, he said.
“Our research has also helped achieve considerable environmental benefits through better utilisation of valuable water resources,” Mr Farrow said.
The advances were based on mathematical models that allowed the researchers to visualise the flow behaviour within gravity thickeners.
The Parker Centre was established in 1992 to coordinate hydrometallurgical research undertaken at CSIRO, Curtin University and Murdoch University, and has attracted support from about 20 mining companies.
The CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity has demonstrated that saltbush can be a valuable food source for livestock while also drawing down watertables to prevent salinity.
CRC Salinity chief executive Kevin Goss said many people had considered saltbush to be a hardy plant that could survive on saline ground but is of little value to farmers.
The key was to combine saltbush with supplementary feeds.
Mr Goss said about 40 per cent of Australia’s woolgrowers had land affected by salinity, with this area continuing to increase as a long-term consequence of land clearing.
About 2,000 farmers across Australia were involved in the CRC’s on-farm research project and Mr Goss said about 1,200 farmers had changed their land management practices because of their involvement in the project.
A third award winner at the conference was the CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies, which has developed a system to accelerate the uptake of technology and boost the profitability of small to mid-sized farming businesses.
Four of Australia’s 56 CRCs are based in Perth, while 15 CRCs have research nodes in WA.
