The Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre’s ‘Mine to Mill’ team was among the prize winners at an AusIMM event held in Brisbane during August 2002.

AusIMM Year 2002 president Mr Ian Goddard said the JKMRC’s award recognised the successful implementation of the Mine to Mill integration technique to significantly increase the productivity and cost-effectiveness of open pit mining and comminution operations. Mr Goddard said the JKMRC team displayed leadership promoting and facilitating the adoption of the operating technique, technical excellence in the enabling technologies, and professionalism in the development and technology transfer at operations who now benefit from this technique.

The winners of the AusIMM Mineral Industry Operating Technique Award (2001) show off their trophy at a presentation held in Brisbane during August 2002. From left are research team members Andrew Scott, Don McKee, Steve Morrell and Sarma Kanchibotla

Ian Goddard presented the AusIMM Mineral Industry Operating Technique Award to the AMIRA P483 ‘Mine to Mill’ project team of Professor Don McKee, Dr Steve Morrell, Andrew Scott, Dr Walter Valery and Dr Sarma Kanchibotla.

Don McKee, who now leads UQ’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, said it was a team award, which the researchers were collectively delighted to receive: “The AusIMM award is really about a group of R & D people being able to connect with the industry, to come up with some ideas, develop them, put them into practice and for the industry to benefit from them.”

Professor McKee said the ‘mine to mill’ idea originally came from the JKMRC’s founding director Professor Alban Lynch.

“In his proposal to MIM to fund the establishment of the JKMRC back in the late1960s Professor Lynch made mention of a potential research project which would link what was going on in the mine with what was going on in the mill and concentrator.”

The Mine to Mill project officially commenced many years later. The award acknowledges the project’s contribution to the minerals sector from 1994 to 2001.

Contact:
JKMRC Communications Coordinator
Mr David Goeldner
Ph +61 7 3365 5848
d.goeldner@uq.edu.au

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