The Mining of People Power

Work on the coalface of open-cut mining

Dealing with the world outside the mine is becoming a priority for The University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute in its second year of operation.

While the University of Queensland's Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) is already producing leading-edge research with many direct and practical applications in the minerals industry, two centres under the SMI umbrella - the Minerals Industry Safety and Health Centre (MISHC) and the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) - are firmly focused on broader people issues.

The CSRM is concerned with two projects about what happens with the workforce and community. Led by Professor David Brereton, the Centre is joining forces with the School of Geography, Planning and Architecture, the School of Social Sciences and the School of Social Work and Social Policy, looking at workforce turnover in remote operations and social profiling of mining communities.

"It is part of a new focus where we are working across a number of academic fields to look at how the industry can manage sustainable development not just environmentally and economically, but also socially," Professor Brereton said.

"It is now recognised, especially in the larger companies, that social performance is as important as economic and environmental performance."

Another unique aspect of research coming out of the MISHC deal with risk and safety in mining.

Led by Professor Jim Joy, the Centre is promoting a whole-of-industry approach to safety in mining fields.

Projects being pursued include forming an industry wide voluntary initiative where information will be shared in areas of risk and safety for the benefit of the industry as a whole.

Professor Joy said work was also being conducted in developing a database for hazard management to make it easier for companies to reduce risk.

The Centre is also breaking new ground by using virtual reality technology in reconstructing accidents.

The SMI, headed by Professor Don McKee, provides a wide range of expertise for the national and international minerals industry.

Apart from the social and safety aspects from the MISHC and the CSRM, technical challenges in geology, mining and minerals engineering are the province of the Julius Kruttschnitt Minerals Research Centre, the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre, the Division of Earth Sciences and the Division of Mining and Minerals Process Engineering, while environmental research is conducted by the Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation.

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