The global mining industry will benefit from a A$3-million extension to a minerals research laboratory based at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), Australia, that officially opened in August.

Australia-based gold producer Newcrest Mining provided A$2.5-million for the new development at the established Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits (Codes), with the balance coming from the UTAS and the Australian Research Council.

“This is a major extension to the existing laser analytical facil- ity, which is already considered to be one of the best in the world,” says UTAS vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen, noting that Codes is a global leader in the application of laser ablation analysis to sulfide ores and mineral exploration targeting.

“There are very few facilities as well equipped as the Newcrest Laser Analytical Facility to undertake this type of highly advanced and technological research,” he adds.

Codes director Bruce Gemmell says the new facility represents “a major vote of confidence” in Codes by Newcrest.

Gemmell adds that more than 30 companies are currently using technology developed by Codes, adding that “these include mining companies operating in the great Witwatersrand basin in South Africa, the Canadian Yukon, Peru and here in Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia”

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Apart from Newcrest, companies supporting and benefiting from Codes research include mining major BHP Billiton, Brazil-based Rio Tinto, Hong Kong-listed MMG, Australia-based gold producer Bendigo Mining, copper miner Sandfire Resources, JSE-listed AngloGold Ashanti, US-based gold major Newmont, TSX-listed Barrick Gold, Canada-based diversified miner Teck Resources, iron-ore major Vale, gold miner Gold Fields, US-based miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Anglo American.

The laser analytical facility manager Ross Large adds that the extension has the potential to build on a number of Codes-led breakthroughs that are helping to answer major fundamental questions in earth science.

“For example, a Codes team is using a laser technique to track and trace element concentrations of gold, nickel, copper, arsenic and other metals in the oceans that have built-up over the past three-billion years.

A significant breakthrough has also been made in developing a new theory about four of the major mass extinction events on earth over the past 500-million years,” Large adds.

Codes
Codes was formed in 1989 on the UTAS’s Sandy Bay/Hobart campus. The Codes has grown substantially over the years and is now widely regarded as a global leader in ore deposit research. It is home to 40 qualified research scientists and nearly 90 postgraduate students, further cementing its position as the largest university-based team of ore deposit researchers in the world. It currently has 46 major research projects in 29 countries.