Critical Minerals: Australian University Science Issue 8

How university science is evolving new methods of mineral discovery, p3 Science graduates forging energy futures, p5 Issue 8, Sept 2022

CR ITICA L M IN ER A LS How university science is improving access to reliable and resilient supplies of critical minerals

Developing new industries Training the future workforce | Leading in innovation

Uni R&D that’s revolutionising mine waste treatment, p6

Jess Walsh’s ARC linkage project utilises data to vastly speed up critical mineral analyses.

Science supporting a critical transition

Decarbonisation relies on the deep science capability present across our universities and the ability to train the next generation to enable one of the world’s biggest industrial shifts — towards net zero.

This issue of Australian University Science could not be more prescient. The most recent World Economic Forum Global Risks Report found that respondents ranked “climate action failure” as the number one threat with the most likely severe impact on the world in the next decade. In this context, industry sectors in countries not focussed on decarbonisation will face increasing costs of carbon and significant difficulties trading in global markets. As the world gears up to meet net zero commitments, metals and mining companies are positioning to drive this massive technological transition.

Critical minerals are at the heart of decarbonisation and electrification as we harness renewable energy, fuel-cellbased electric vehicles and scale green hydrogen production.

These changes will drive significantly increased demand for raw materials such as copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, tellurium, neodymium and others. Most of the tellurium used in solar panels is collected from electrolytic copper refining, and while copper demand may increase, its mine supply may not expand at the same rate to meet this demand.

In this context, the world and Australia face both opportunities and challenges. As summarised in Australia’s 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy, we have some of the world’s largest recoverable resources of critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium, vanadium and Rare Earth Elements. As also highlighted in the Strategy, Australia’s real asset is that of the scientific and technological know-how built over decades in fields spanning extractive metallurgy, analytical, macromolecular, materials and physical chemistry, materials engineering, geology and geochemistry digitisation — to name just a few.

It is the value chain created by long-standing collaborations

“AUSTRALIA’S REMARKABLE UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS ARE DELIVERING THE INNOVATION AND THE TRANSLATION VALUE CHAIN NECESSARY TO UNDERPIN THE SUPPLY CHAINS OF THE FUTURE.” forged between energy, mining and manufacturing companies with Australia’s remarkable university scientists that have delivered the innovation and translation outcomes that drive our supply chains and are key to meeting the challenges of the future.

Australia is well positioned as a trusted global leader to overcome the challenges of a global energy, industrial and economic transition and to reduce the risks highlighted by those respondents to the Global Risk Report. Now is the time to back the best of Australian science and to support the next generation of scientists coming through our university system, who carry the weight of the planet’s future with them.

Professor Caroline McMillen AO Chief Scientist for South Australia

AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY SCIENCE

Exploring the achievements of university science in building Australia’s sovereign capability Australia’s strong science research and training is integral to driving new economies. Universities have a critical role as partners in establishing innovation and technological change in industry. As science delivers new insights and tools, new industries are emerging, and people with science skills will be

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essential to these new industries. Australian University Science magazine highlights these stories, showcasing exceptional science teams and Australian science graduates working in industry. To provide feedback or suggestions, subscribe or order additional copies, visit acds.edu.au/AustUniScience.

Cover Image: Brenton Edwards. Published 27 Aug 2022

by Refraction Media on behalf of the Australian Council of Deans of Science. Designed by Jon Wolfgang Miller.

Printed in Australia by IVE. ISSN: 2652-2403. © 2022 Australian Council of Deans of Science, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any manner or form without written permission. If you would like to reproduce anything from this issue, email info@refractionmedia.com.au.

topic

THE RISE OF CRITICAL MINERALS Critical minerals are essential for tech we use today and for the green economy.

Accessing these elements is thanks to innovation in Earth science research.

The Australian Critical Minerals Research Centre is part of a drive towards sovereign capability in critical minerals. L-R: Diana Zivak, Fun Meeuws, Carl Spandler, Jarred Lloyd, Jess Walsh.

The critical minerals boom is driven by a transition to green energy and appetite for tech such as smartphones. Australia is well positioned to play a leading role in finding and extracting them.

“For decades, university scientists have studied rare minerals in rocks to understand ancient geological processes,” explains John Mavrogenes, professor of economic geology at Australian National University (ANU).

“Now these minerals are critical ingredients in the technologies we increasingly rely on in phones, batteries, electric vehicles, wind turbines and more.

Looking forward, demand for critical minerals is only going to go up,” he says.

The term ‘critical minerals’ is used to describe naturally occurring elements that are essential for modern technologies, economies and national security, and for which supply-chain vulnerability exists. Well-known examples include silicon (used in solar panels), lithium (for batteries) and cobalt (used in magnets). Geoscience Australia (GA) lists 45 minerals as critical in the Australian context, including 15 metals called the Rare Earth Elements (REEs).

Despite their name, REEs are not actually that rare in the Earth’s crust.

However, to date they have been relatively hard to access, as they don’t typically occur in deposits rich enough to support traditional mining approaches.

Better understanding of REE deposits – such as how they formed and why they occur in particular locations – will improve commercial opportunities and ensure reliable sovereign sources.

Acheiving this requires a complex interplay between university science and mining.

“The best exploration companies think very much like geologists at universities, and they fund people within universities to work on certain problems,” Mavrogenes explains. But the exchange goes beyond a ‘pay and find’ mentality.

Fundamental university science is driving a discovery process that will completely change the way we search for these critical minerals into the future.

his expertise in isotope geochemistry.

He undertook his PhD at ANU in the late 1970s and was director at ANU’s Research School of Earth Sciences from 2001–06.

“In the 1960s–80s, ANU was the global leader in isotope science — that’s where the methods were being developed most aggressively,” Harrison says. “Now, those techniques university scientists started more than 40 years ago have absolutely blossomed into the capabilities for critical minerals exploration we have in universities and geological industries today.”

A lab technique known as mass spectrometry is particularly vital for critical minerals research. It can identify forms of elements known as isotopes, which have subtly distinct masses due to differing numbers of neutrons.

Measuring the relative abundance of isotopes gives scientists clues about how minerals formed millions of years ago.

“At ANU in the 1970s, we developed a mineral dating technique based on measuring two isotopes of argon, which is still widely used across the globe,” Harrison says.

In the early days, spectrometry was used to date the geological evolution

WORLD-LEADING ISOTOPE SCIENCE

University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Distinguished Professor Mark Harrison is renowned worldwide for

“TECHNIQUES UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS STARTED MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO HAVE BLOSSOMED INTO THE CAPABILITIES FOR CRITICAL MINERALS EXPLORATION WE HAVE TODAY.”

Professor Mark Harrison

AUG 2022

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topic Carl Spandler, director of the Australian Critical Minerals Research Centre (ACMRC) at the University of Adelaide.

ACMRC was formed in 2021 to build expertise and knowledge around discovery of critical minerals.

It’s part of a larger movement building critical minerals capacity in Australia.

The government’s 2020 Modern Manufacturing Strategy includes critical minerals processing as one of its national manufacturing priorities.

“Critical mineral discovery, separation and extraction – all of this requires the right techniques and an educated workforce,” Mavrogenes says. “There’s really important research still to be done on the rocks that carry critical minerals in Australia.”

Critical minerals researcher Jarred Lloyd loading rock samples into the laser ablation chamber for isotopic analysis.

MINERALISATION OF REE S of the Earth. The world-first SHRIMP (Sensitive High-Resolution Ion Micro Probe) for spectrometry was created at ANU, revolutionising dating of minerals by removing the need for scientists to chemically process rocks and minerals before analysis.

“SHRIMP offered a way around all the tedious chemistry we’d had to do up to that point,” says Harrison.

SHRIMP and more advanced isotope and dating technologies soon became established at other universities, but remained largely the domain of academia due to the persistence of some lengthy procedures and reliance on separate techniques for different elements.

TRACING REE S AT THE SOURCE Dr Diana Zivak at ACMRC is conducting geochemical studies on a unique group of geological formations called phosphorites.

“They come from the Georgina Basin in Queensland, and are really high in REEs,” Zivak says.

She measures the relative ratios of isotopes of two REEs — samarium and neodymium — in the Georgina Basin phosphorite, and compares these with the ratios of the same isotopes in adjacent rocks.

“Comparing the ratios helps us understand how REEs have ended up in the phosphorite, and whether they came from a local source or due to a different process entirely. This information could help mining companies avoid wasting exploration dollars looking for REEs in locations that are not prospective.”

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ANALYSING A WHOLE MINERAL AT ONCE

In recent years, however, isotope science has become more commercially viable, thanks to important improvements in mass spectrometry.

A common approach is laser ablation ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry), in which samples are scraped off with a laser; the resulting individual elements are converted into ions (charged particles) and then analysed in one step.

“This lets us perform accurate isotope analyses from one sample in just a couple of minutes, fundamentally changing the way minerals exploration can be done,” says Associate Professor

ACMRC postdoctoral researcher Dr Jessica Walsh is studying REEs in an ARC Linkage Project. Working with ANU scientists, state geological surveys, GA and Northern Minerals Ltd, Walsh aims to understand how mineralisation of REEs takes place, focusing primarily on geological formations in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

ARC Linkage Projects are designed to bring skills, knowledge and ideas from the university sector across to industry.

Walsh brings mineral samples to the University of Adelaide labs and applies laser ablation ICP-MS to quantify REEs and measure isotopes of uranium and lead, so she can assess the age of the formations. “It’s incredibly fast – you can get a phenomenal amount of geochemical data really quickly,” she says. Exploration companies will use the data to help them understand the geology of their exploration sites, and to better target prospective areas to drill test for ore discoveries. – Sarah Keenihan

profiles

TALKING POINT

Dr Melanie Finch hopes to accelerate Australia’s green energy transition.

As a child, Finch was fascinated by the macroscopic questions of geoscience: “how mountains were made, what made volcanoes erupt”.

Her PhD at Monash University focussed on shear zones: “‘conveyor belts’ that can stack rocks kilometres thick”. As crystals shift and deform, water seeps through, dissolving then depositing critical minerals. Shear zones, Finch says, are “water superhighways and can move quantities of fluid a couple of hundred times the volume of Sydney Harbour”.

But the process is poorly understood; and Australia’s substantial critical mineral deposits have hitherto been uncovered largely by chance.

“If we can figure out how these critical mineral deposits form in shear zones, we can find more of them, making the switch to green energy technology quicker and cheaper,” says Finch.

At James Cook University, she’s part of the Economic Geology Research Unit, working closely with mining companies to better understand ore deposits and aid companies in their current exploration efforts. “Research we are doing today could impact the discovery of critical mineral deposits within the next five to 10 years.”

Finch says we have the technology to produce enough green energy for the domestic and export markets.

“The next step is to build the infrastructure. This investment will have to come from industry, but it can be incentivised by the government.

“Now is the time for visionary leadership. The pay-off will be huge for Australian jobs, the economy and for our planet.” — Alison Ratcliffe

Allison Britt unlocked the synergy of her science and communication skills at university.

You could say that, in the 1990s, Allison was a step ahead of her time. She took an interest in the confluence of geoscience and environmentalism at a moment when the possibility that the two could, or indeed should, coexist was a bit of a novelty.

“I studied at ANU under some of Australia’s leading geologists,” she says.

“The program was academically rigorous, and the thought at the time was that ANU geology students would have a solid grounding in all the major science subjects that could then be applied to whatever career path they chose.

“That kind of thinking and the scientific thought processes — these just get passed down the generations.”

As she was leaving, ANU established the School of Resource and Environmental Management, making Britt’s area of interest the crest of an environmental land management wave we’re still surfing today.

“As I was leaving university, jobs were just becoming available in the mining industry for environmental management,” she recalls. “Some of my university colleagues went into that career path. We were right on the cusp of that shift.”

Britt herself joined the CSIRO, where she worked as a science communicator changing public conception of the mining industry as environmentally irresponsible and destructive. That revelation was not received so warmly by some of the old blokes in industry, she says, but her managers at the CSIRO supported her and that understanding has driven the rest of her career.

She spent several years overseas, and returned to Australia in 2008, when she joined the government body Geoscience Australia.

“My most satisfying job is helping to ensure that Australia understands its own national minerals inventory,” she says.

“It is now my great privilege as the director of mineral resources, advice and promotion to be helping lead Australia’s critical minerals program.”

– Rachael Bolton

MELANIE FINCH

ALLISON BRITT

THE BIG PICTURE

Bachelor of Science, Monash University

Human factors scientist, DSTO

PhD, Monash University

Lecturer, JCU, President, Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences

Bachelor of Science, ANU

Research Scientist, CSIRO

Commodity Specialist, Geoscience Australia

Director of Mineral Resources, Advice and Promotion, Geoscience Australia

SEP 2022

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spotlight

WASTE NOT WANT NOT Supplying the world with critical minerals is going to require innovation in re-mining old deposits.

As the world focuses on critical minerals supply, Australian university scientists are working with industry to ‘re-mine’ deposits previously passed over as difficult or expensive to extract. Mining these deposits ethically and sustainably will open the pathway to a sovereign supply of minerals, and potentially a mine-to-factory process that could transform our manufacturing capability.

It’s a tricky path to manoeuvre, however, one that requires investment at all stages, as well as collaboration between science and industry.

Dr Andrew Tong is a metallurgist and executive manager at Cobalt Blue, which aims to be one of the world’s largest ethical suppliers of cobalt, a critical mineral used in batteries. A University of Sydney science graduate with a PhD in chemistry, Tong holds several patents in mineral extraction methods that separate precious metals from pyrite and simultaneously create a stable, elemental sulphur that can be used in farming.

He says collaboration among the university sector, research

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institutions, government and private enterprise has never been more important if we want to build a viable renewable tech and battery industry.

“We work with University of NSW and ANSTO through a Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) project. We also work with Curtin University and QUT as part of the Future Batteries Industry CRC. “My own personal background includes a PhD at the University of Sydney. So, most of my industry career has had some links back to a university at some point. They’re a great source of graduates, training and facilities.”

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING BLUE

New processes to extract minerals from waste sites are highly patentable. There are several examples of these patents being licensed and/or commercialised, such as a recent agreement between Curtin University and the international mining company Draslovka (see p8).

Researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) have come up with a method for extracting cobalt from the acidic mine tailings left over at the Old Tailings Dam at Savage River, Tasmania.

The process involves using bacteria to separate cobalt from the pyrite that was discarded when the open cut mine was originally exploited for its iron ore.

Dr Laura Jackson is part of the team at UQ that came up with the extraction method. She explains that as a native Tasmanian,

this kind of rehabilitation work is close to her heart.

The team was trying to work out how to clean up the old site when investigations discovered a high concentration of cobalt in the tailings.

“That led to a set of studies as to how much cobalt, and how you could extract it,” she says. The team is working towards patenting the process.

This kind of rehabilitation or remediation is often referred to as ‘re-mining’. It serves a dual purpose.

Firstly, it removes and/or stabilises the sulphur commonly left over in waste products that poisons surrounding groundwater. Secondly, it opens up new, ethical sources of minerals — from cobalt to tungsten and high-purity alumina.

GOING CRITICAL

Critical mineral extraction and advanced manufacturing have been big-ticket items on the agendas of successive federal governments in recent years and university science is front-and-centre of these efforts at innovation. For example, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Enabling EcoEfficient Beneficiation of Minerals, based at the University of Newcastle, boasts 16 participating partner unis, including eight in Australia, and four industry partners.

Presently, most of the world’s critical minerals processing happens

DIFFERENT MINING ENVIRONMENTS MEAN INNOVATION IN THIS SECTOR IS NECESSARY AND HIGHLY COLLABORATIVE.

in China. Increasing our critical mineral extraction and processing capacity is both an economic opportunity and an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) opportunity.

In pursuit of those goals, Tong says Australia has an advantage in the quality of its university research and partnerships.

He says situational and compositional differences between mine locations can have a big influence on the type of process you might need to find or invent to exploit specific resources of mine sites. For that reason, innovation in this sector is both necessary and highly collaborative.

This position is echoed by Allison Britt, director of mineral resources advice and promotion for Geoscience Australia (see p5).

GA is part of the National Critical Minerals R&D Centre with the CSIRO and ANSTO. It is performing a stocktake of critical minerals research in Australia across all sectors — commercial, government and university research.

“We want to work out who’s doing what, who has done what…and where our capability gaps are, because there’s further opportunity there to concentrate our efforts,” Britt explains.

“One of the critical minerals activities that’s close to my heart is the national mine waste assessment, which Goescience Australia is doing in collaboration with UQ, RMIT and the geological surveys of Queensland and NSW.” These programs highlight the importance of university research in every step of the re-mining process, from mapping to investigating mine waste sites for possible sources of valuable metals, and developing new technologies to extract those minerals.

ENSURING ETHICAL SUPPLY CHAINS

On a global scale, the demand for environmentally responsible and ethical human labour practices has never been higher. This is a trend that affects all production and manufacturing industries and mining is no exception.

Companies will need to ensure the raw materials needed for modern tech are being sourced in a manner that is sustainable and avoids inhumane working conditions. Recent changes to the EU’s battery standards also mean that more battery components will have to come from renewable and recycled sources — which is a challenge, as the demand for new batteries is expected to outstrip the retirement of old batteries.

These regulatory changes present an opportunity for Australian university science and industry partners. As a country with some of the most stringent standards for occupational health and safety and the environment, Australia is a safe place for companies to source their raw materials, from an ESG standpoint. By providing green sources for critical minerals, research partnerships play a vital role in filling the recycling gap.

— Rachael Bolton

outcomes

UNIVERSITY SCIENCE & INDUSTRY PARTNERS IN CRITICAL MINERALS TECH: HIGH-PERFORMANCE ALLOYS AND BATTERIES MINERAL: COBALT PARTNERSHIP: UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND + COBALT BLUE Cobalt is a critical mineral often associated with its bright blue colour. It has historically been used in relatively small quantities to produce lightweight but durable alloys like those used in aircraft. It’s a potential boom mineral, with uses in satellite and space travel projects, and in high-performance batteries where rapid charge and discharge is key — think top-end car batteries.

Cobalt Blue and the University of Queensland are working together to investigate and rehabilitate old copper mines where the tailings contain cobalt.

TECH: CIRCUITS AND COOLING FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICES MINERAL: TUNGSTEN PARTNERSHIP: UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND + EQ RESOURCES Tungsten is a rare mineral used to make alloys that are extremely durable against both heat and wear. Tungsten alloys are some of the hardest metals around, almost as hard as diamond, making them good for things such as heavy cutting blades, armaments and aeronautics. But tungsten is also used in many electronic components, for filaments, electrodes and heat sinks.

In January 2022, EQ Resources received a co-investment from the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre to re-mine waste product at the Mt Carbine tungsten mine site, supported by the Sustainable Minerals Institute at UQ.

MINERAL: TUNGSTEN PARTNERSHIP: UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA + GROUP 6 METALS

Tungsten is also a critical part of much modern circuitry as a heat sink: essentially a piece of metal that sits inside your phone, laptop or other electronic device that transfers heat away from the processor so that the delicate circuitry stays cool and doesn’t overheat or melt. China is currently the dominant global producer for 8

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tungsten, which brings with it some environmental and social governance concerns. Australia has tungsten deposits in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and along the eastern seaboard, presenting an opportunity for Australia to step up its tungsten production and deliver a more ethically produced metal in this space. The partnership between the University of Tasmania and Group 6 is built around research into ecologically sustainable production of tungsten at King Island.

energy needs for the world,” says QUT Vice-Chancellor Prof Margaret Sheil.

TECH: ELECTRICAL CONDUCTION MINERAL: GOLD PARTNERSHIP: CURTIN UNIVERSITY + DRASLOVKA

TECH: BATTERIES MINERAL: ALUMINA, MAGNESIUM, VANADIUM More than just a luxury metal used PARTNERSHIP: QUT + LAVA BLUE in jewellery, gold, while not a critical

High Purity Alumina is a product used in the energy-efficient lights of today — LEDs — as well as for separators for lithium-ion batteries. QUT Associate Professor Sara Couperthwaite’s research alongside industry partner Lava Blue has shown this valuable mineral — as well as critical minerals magnesium and vanadium — can be found in kaolin clay.

In April 2022, the collaborative project received $12 million in funding to scaleup operations at Redlands Research Park in south-east Brisbane.

“This investment is helping Queensland become not just a mining state but a high-tech developer of the future

mineral, is a key element in many electronic devices important to the renewable energy economy. Its high conductivity makes electroplating in gold an important part of circuit boards. Curtin University scientists have developed technology that uses amino acids such as glycine to leach gold and other minerals from ore, including waste tailings. The method removes the need to use cyanide in the extraction of gold, making it a much more environmentally friendly process. The Curtin Uni-developed technology was commercialised when Czech multinational chemical supplier Draslovka purchased it in May this year.