1. UQ Resources Forum
University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute Professor Neville Plint Director

2. Responsible Resource Development
Our Vision is to:
Create Change for
Responsible Resource Development
Sustainable Stakeholder Return
Balancing resource development with environmental and social impacts
What would this look like? It depends! How do we move from extractive industry to trusted development partner?

3. Our mission is to develop people work on big challenges
Platinum
Our mission is to
develop people
work on big challenges
co-create solutions
People
Partnerships
Challenges

4. Institute Structured around:
People, Production, Environment
Research depth in discipline
Multi-disciplinary research programs

5. The Digital Mine… unlocking the value of digital technologies through translating data to knowledge
Less than 10% of mining companies developed a comprehensive digital strategy
90+
Linking Several Digital Platforms
Company
Realising the value of digital technology
DIGITAL STRATEGY
FOCUS
Data to knowledge
Joint cognitive systems
Collaboration labs
Digital technologies
Tools and method for analysing digital data, Intelligent sensors, Dynamic, integrated models
Decision making tools, Process diagnosis tools, Effective human interface
Intra-disciplinary collaboration, linking digital platforms, Integrated data management
Automation, Virtualization, Systems of business, Integrated risk analysis
RESEARCH
Sustainable Minerals Institute
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
School of Chemical Engineering
School of IT and Electrical Engineering
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
UQ Business School
LINKAGES

6. Complex Orebodies… accessing the mines of the future
SUPPLY OF THE FUTURE
Better, fairer social relationship
Reduced environmental and social footprint
Technical Innovation
Made accessible by
FOCUS
Social Footprints and Data
Low Footprint Processing
Variability and Flexibility
Energy
and Efficiency
Social data methodology and insight
Holistic evaluation – surface and sub-surface
Procedural fairness
Alternative processing
Water efficiency
Waste minimisation
Deleterious elements
Ore Deposit Knowledge
Continuous sensing
Performance prediction
Flexible processing
Holistic evaluation
Novel comminution and separation
Particle size optimisation
Transformative processing
RESEARCH
Sustainable Minerals Institute
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
School of Chemical Engineering
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Social Science
Institute for Social Science Research
UQ Business School
Research Computing Centre
LINKAGES

7. Mining Life Cycle… transforming perspectives on waste across the life of the mine
How can the mining industry create new economic value, target reduced footprints and significantly diminish liability from mining waste?
TRANSFORM WASTE
FOCUS
Local, regional & global societal dimensions
Spatial & temporal geo-environmental impacts
Geo-metallurgy to unlock additional value
Mining’s contribution to circular economy
Understanding the relationship between mining waste and resettlement
‘Designer tailings’ incorporating socio-environmental factors into tailings strategies
Applying circular economy principles in mining regions
RESEARCH
Integrated approaches to managing mining legacies
Innovative business methods to create value from waste
Sustainable Minerals Institute
School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering
School of Chemical Engineering
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Institute for Social Science Research
School of Chemistry & Molecular Biology
UQ Business School
School of Civil Engineering
LINKAGES

8. Mineral governance and organisation… integrated approaches towards sustainable development
How do we unlock mining’s contribution to sustainable development, throughout the mine life-cycle, and across the stakeholder spectrum?
Factoring SD into policy frameworks in government and industry
Effective approaches to multi-stakeholder governance
Designing organisations to better enable responsible decision-making
FOCUS
Understanding and accounting for resource value across the life of a mine
Implementing game-changing multi-stakeholder governance processes.
Designing organisations to manage knowledge across the lifecycle
RESEARCH
Accounting for positive development outcomes across the life of a mine.
Integrated and multi-disciplinary policy and governance frameworks for mine closure.
Participatory water monitoring at the catchment and regional level.
Organising within companies and across the stakeholder spectrum.
Beyond government to governance and collaborative approaches.
A focus on value creation – sustainable and equitable outcomes.
Sustainable Minerals Institute
Political Science
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Law
Social Science
Institute for Social Science Research
UQ Business School
UQ International Development
LINKAGES

9. Research breadth in integrated programs
Productivity
Growth
Risk
Productivity
Growth
Business Risk
Risk

10. Leading Research - QS Ranking
Institution
Country 1
Colorado School of Mines
United States of America 2
Curtin University
Australia 3
University of Queensland 4
Pennsylvania State Uni 5
Uni. of New South Wales 6
McGill University
Canada 7
Queens University 8
Uni. British Columbia 9
Frieberg Uni
Germany 10
Universitate De Chile
Chile 11
University of Western Australia

11. Leading Research - Shanghai Ranking
Institution
Country 1
University of Science and Technology Beijing
China 2
The University of Queensland
Australia 3
Central South University China 4
China University of Geosciences (Beijing) 5
China University of Mining and Technology (Xuzhou) China 6
Kyushu University
Japan 7
University of Cape Town
South Africa 8
University of California
United States of America 9
The Imperial College
United Kingdom 10
The University of New South Wales 11
McGill University
Canada

12. Some Interesting Conversations
Manage Expectations
Understand Expectations
Marketing
Product
Primary Production
Recycling- “Green”
Big
Small
Batch
Continuous.