20 July 1998

A textbook on environmental issues in mining by the University of Queensland's Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation (CMLR) director Dr David Mulligan is about to go into a second print run less than two years after its launch.

The book, Environmental Management in the Australian Minerals and Energy Industries - Principles and Practices, was commissioned by the Australian Minerals and Energy Environment Foundation and its production was subsidised by both industry and government.

The book has become one of the set texts for universities around Australia and according to Dr Mulligan "is probably on the shelves of most environmental minesite personnel" as well as having a strong overseas acceptance.

Dr Mulligan joined the University of Queensland in 1990 to work with CMLR's former director Professor Clive Bell who now heads the Australian Centre for Mining Environmental Research based at Pinjarra Hills.

The CMLR was formalised in 1993 and now involves 11 departments across four faculties with 18 full-time research staff and more than 20 postgraduate research students working on industry-funded mine rehabilitation projects.

Dr Mulligan was appointed director last year and is keen to promote the partnership between the environmental scientists and the engineering disciplines.

"It is very much a two-way street and I think within it we can have some real wins," he said.

Dr Mulligan said community expectations reflected in government legislation was one way pressure was being placed on the mining industry to address environmental concerns.

"But the industry itself imposes quite a lot of pressure. It is a competitive industry for leases and if a company has a proven record in effective environmental management then it has a better chance of going forward," he said.

"There is an evolution going on. At corporate level there is a lot of commitment but the real impacts will be made at site level. Mines are obviously production driven and the high cost of rehabilitation can eat into profits. In the past when commodity prices have fallen, spending on environmental issues were the first to drop off the list but fortunately that's not happening anymore.

"The culture has changed and much of that is due to an increased awareness of the issues by site management."

Dr Mulligan said a move towards flexible delivery of postgraduate coursework degrees through the Sir James Foots Institute of Mineral Resources was "the future" of training for the industry.

"The Centre is already well-known throughout the mining industry for producing quality outcomes and very well-trained postgraduate research students," he said.

"Many environmental professionals in the mining industry in Australia have been through this University."

Dr Mulligan said the new courses through the Institute would provide a comprehensive coverage of the latest developments and current "best practice" for dealing with environmental and rehabilitation issues across the industry and will target both recent graduates and mining professionals, as well as the international market from which a lot of interest has been shown.

He said that while a number of related courses were offered throughout Australia, UQ's were "best poised" to be accepted by industry because of the Centre's very strong track record in research and the quality and relevance of the course content and style of presentation.

For information contact Dr Mulligan (telephone 3365 2954).