Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100058
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$560,000.00
Summary
Three dimensionally compressed and monitored Hopkinson bar . 3D compressed and monitored Hopkinson bar: The 3D compressed and monitored Hopkinson bar allows determination of the dynamic mechanical properties and fracturing behaviour of materials under such confinement. Understanding material behaviour under dynamic loading is essential in dealing with many engineering problems as excavation, fragmentation, earthquake, blasting, and structure design. In geotechnical and structure projects, materi ....Three dimensionally compressed and monitored Hopkinson bar . 3D compressed and monitored Hopkinson bar: The 3D compressed and monitored Hopkinson bar allows determination of the dynamic mechanical properties and fracturing behaviour of materials under such confinement. Understanding material behaviour under dynamic loading is essential in dealing with many engineering problems as excavation, fragmentation, earthquake, blasting, and structure design. In geotechnical and structure projects, materials are often subjected to existing confining stresses. The full-field optical techniques, with an ultra-high speed and resolution camera in the system, aims to assist the quantitative measurement of deformation fields including small strain induced in brittle material's failure and identification of constitutive parameters.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE160100206
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$800,000.00
Summary
National Rock, Concrete and Advanced Composite Testing Capability. National rock, concrete and advanced composite testing capability:
The aim of the project is to develop a national hybrid biaxial/true triaxial load testing facility to serve the needs of geotechnical, structural, mining and materials researchers and engineers for sophisticated testing. It would address the need for leading edge testing and analysis of the deformation and strength of rock, concrete, and thin plates comprising me ....National Rock, Concrete and Advanced Composite Testing Capability. National rock, concrete and advanced composite testing capability:
The aim of the project is to develop a national hybrid biaxial/true triaxial load testing facility to serve the needs of geotechnical, structural, mining and materials researchers and engineers for sophisticated testing. It would address the need for leading edge testing and analysis of the deformation and strength of rock, concrete, and thin plates comprising metals, composites and polymers, under a wide range of loading conditions. The facility would accommodate cubic specimens up to 300 millimetres and be able to apply 10 megapascals of stress in up to three orthogonal directions. State-of-the-art monitoring equipment is designed to assess the degree of damage caused by testing, simulating damage induced by blasting, cutting, static loading and/or impact.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100011
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$700,000.00
Summary
The national geotechnical centrifuge facility. A new geotechnical centrifuge will enable the modelling of complex offshore and onshore structures. The new facility will support many geotechnical fields, associated with the economical and geographical development of Australia, and ensure that Australia will maintain its leadership within the international physical modelling community.
Nature's mechanisms for leaching and remobilising metals. This project aims to understand the chemical and physical processes that govern reactive transport and metal scavenging in rocky environments. Much of Australia's mineral wealth is the result of the interaction of warm fluids with rocks deep in the Earth over geological timescales. The formation of ore deposits is governed by the physical chemistry of mineral dissolution and crystallisation, and by fluid flow through porous rocks and frac ....Nature's mechanisms for leaching and remobilising metals. This project aims to understand the chemical and physical processes that govern reactive transport and metal scavenging in rocky environments. Much of Australia's mineral wealth is the result of the interaction of warm fluids with rocks deep in the Earth over geological timescales. The formation of ore deposits is governed by the physical chemistry of mineral dissolution and crystallisation, and by fluid flow through porous rocks and fractures. This project integrates innovation in geology, chemistry, and mineral engineering, and will deliver mineral-scale reaction models that will increase efficiency of in-situ mining and leaching technologies. Knowledge generated can be applied to improve mineral exploration, mining, and processing, contributing to unlocking billions of dollars’ worth of resources tied up in low grade, mineralogically complex ores.Read moreRead less
INTEGRATED PASSIVE AND ACTIVE CONTROL OF HUMMING NOISE FROM KCGM’S HAUL TRUCKS. This project aims to resolve an environmental noise issue caused by the humming noise of Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines haul trucks in the areas of Kalgoorlie, Boulder, and Williamstown. This solution utilises integrated passive and active control systems to attenuate the frequency components of humming noise from a truck’s exhaust and engine. A novel aspect of this technique is the use of passive micro-perforate ....INTEGRATED PASSIVE AND ACTIVE CONTROL OF HUMMING NOISE FROM KCGM’S HAUL TRUCKS. This project aims to resolve an environmental noise issue caused by the humming noise of Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines haul trucks in the areas of Kalgoorlie, Boulder, and Williamstown. This solution utilises integrated passive and active control systems to attenuate the frequency components of humming noise from a truck’s exhaust and engine. A novel aspect of this technique is the use of passive micro-perforated structures to provide the necessary sound absorption capability and to alter the sound propagation and radiation properties of the truck exhaust and engine, and increase the effectiveness of active control.Read moreRead less
Reverse engineering nature: metal extraction through mineral replacement. This project aims to find new methods of copper recovery from low grade copper ores, which are currently uneconomic to mine. In nature, at the top of ore deposits and just below the water-table, is a region known as the supergene zone. Here mild oxidizing reactions take place causing primary ore minerals such as chalcopyrite to be replaced by more copper-rich, less refractory minerals. These processes are driven by disso ....Reverse engineering nature: metal extraction through mineral replacement. This project aims to find new methods of copper recovery from low grade copper ores, which are currently uneconomic to mine. In nature, at the top of ore deposits and just below the water-table, is a region known as the supergene zone. Here mild oxidizing reactions take place causing primary ore minerals such as chalcopyrite to be replaced by more copper-rich, less refractory minerals. These processes are driven by dissolution re-precipitation reactions (CDR reactions) and in many CDR reactions, the reaction mechanism, rather than intensive properties such as pressure and temperature, control the nature of the products and the overall reaction process. This project will explore the mechanism and controls on these reactions to see if they can be utilized in the mining industry to economically extract copper from low grade ores.
Read moreRead less
Groundwater flow age distributions: Understanding open pit mine hydrology. This project aims to improve the estimation of the age of groundwater. Understanding groundwater age is critical for sustainable management and environmental tracers are increasingly used for this purpose. However, groundwater samples are inevitably mixtures of water of different ages. Since for most tracers the relationship between tracer concentration and age is not linear, different tracers can produce different mean a ....Groundwater flow age distributions: Understanding open pit mine hydrology. This project aims to improve the estimation of the age of groundwater. Understanding groundwater age is critical for sustainable management and environmental tracers are increasingly used for this purpose. However, groundwater samples are inevitably mixtures of water of different ages. Since for most tracers the relationship between tracer concentration and age is not linear, different tracers can produce different mean ages for the sample. This project aims to determine whether it is possible to determine moments of the groundwater age distributions from measurements made with different environmental tracers. The project also aims to examine whether the degree of heterogeneity within the aquifer can be determined from the disparity between ages obtained with different tracers. This project aims to tackle the largest problem with using groundwater chemistry to estimate water age – that mixing processes in the subsurface are never known. Solving this problem will allow much more accurate estimates of groundwater velocity and aquifer recharge rates. The groundwater industry contributes an estimated $6.8 billion per annum to the Australian economy, and this project will contribute to the sustainable management of the groundwater resource.Read moreRead less
Mechanisms for Pyrite Oxidation Control in Acid Mine Drainage. The annual costs of acid rock drainage (ARD) management at operating sites in Australia are $120M p.a.; over 15 years, a total cost of $1.8 billion for the whole industry. There are limitations to the ability of existing systems to cope with high capacity ARD, to the long-term effectiveness of these systems and high potential costs/liability of remediation. The value of the project outcomes to industry and government will be in reduc ....Mechanisms for Pyrite Oxidation Control in Acid Mine Drainage. The annual costs of acid rock drainage (ARD) management at operating sites in Australia are $120M p.a.; over 15 years, a total cost of $1.8 billion for the whole industry. There are limitations to the ability of existing systems to cope with high capacity ARD, to the long-term effectiveness of these systems and high potential costs/liability of remediation. The value of the project outcomes to industry and government will be in reduction of ARD release, well-understood long-term outcomes, reduced cost of treatments and improved control. The scale of these savings is in the tens of $M p.a. but also in potential improvements in environment (acid and toxic metals in streams), health and social quality of life in mining areas and towns.Read moreRead less
Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. This project aims to develop a new generation of aerospace aluminium alloys containing scandium. Over 30 million tonnes of high performance aluminium alloys are produced annually. Early investigations showed many beneficial effects of scandium on alloy behaviour, but research was abandoned due to scandium’s high cost. Australia has the largest de ....Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. This project aims to develop a new generation of aerospace aluminium alloys containing scandium. Over 30 million tonnes of high performance aluminium alloys are produced annually. Early investigations showed many beneficial effects of scandium on alloy behaviour, but research was abandoned due to scandium’s high cost. Australia has the largest deposit of scandium in the world, and Australian sustainable extraction technology will markedly lower the price. This project believes that now is an ideal time to capitalise scandium’s beneficial effects and be at the forefront of this new alloy development strategy. Anticipated outcomes are the creation of a new market with economic and sustainable opportunities for the Australian mining sector.Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Research Hubs - Grant ID: IH130200033
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,526,617.00
Summary
ARC Research Hub for Australian Copper-Uranium. ARC Research Hub for Australian Copper-Uranium. This Research Hub aims to develop, test and commercialise new, safe and cost-effective methods to separate radionuclides from copper concentrates derived from copper/uranium ores. The Research Hub will focus on harnessing the expertise and facilities of Australia's key 'resource' companies and universities to enable Australia to position itself as a world leader in copper production and associated tec ....ARC Research Hub for Australian Copper-Uranium. ARC Research Hub for Australian Copper-Uranium. This Research Hub aims to develop, test and commercialise new, safe and cost-effective methods to separate radionuclides from copper concentrates derived from copper/uranium ores. The Research Hub will focus on harnessing the expertise and facilities of Australia's key 'resource' companies and universities to enable Australia to position itself as a world leader in copper production and associated technology.Read moreRead less