The launch of the new Anglo American Centre for Sustainable Comminution at The University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia, is set to make a real difference in developing and maintaining sustainable competence in comminution, whilst simultaneously furthering collaboration in this field globally.
Comminution is a process in which solid materials are reduced in size through crushing,
grinding and other processes. This process is an important operation in mineral processing and other fields.
However, comminution is an energy intensive process and consumes up to 60 per cent of a
mine’s power supply and up to 11 per cent of the world’s energy.
Improved technologies in this area will increase the amount of energy available for other uses across the globe.
The Centre, launched at UQ’s Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC), will
positively affect the transfer of knowledge and technology to operations and projects in the
design, commissioning and optimisation of production.
Conducting core research projects that investigate novel ways of liberation in order to meet the requirements of future mining technologies will be a focus of the Centre, for which Anglo
American has committed $AU10m over five years.
Anglo American is funding five centres of excellence as a Global Comminution Collaborative
(GCC) to be managed and run from JKMRC.
These centres are located at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) at The
University of Queensland (UQ), at University of Cape Town in South Africa, at Chalmers
University of Technology in Sweden, at Hacettepe University in Turkey, and at the Laboratory
of Mineral Technology, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
They are the only academic centres of excellence in comminution that currently exist globally,
with each possessing its own particular area of expertise.
The core research projects, which will focus on issues common to the industry, are structured to be spread across the five centres of excellence of the GCC, appropriate to their specific expertise.
“Comminution is integral to mineral processing, however the number of senior researchers in
this area is deminishing,” said Centre Director Professor Malcolm Powell.
“In addition to providing solutions for the challenges facing the industry today, the Anglo
American Centre for Sustainable Comminution will have an important role in educating the next generation of researchers in this area.”
A unique aspect of the collaboration is that the students at each of the universities will be co-supervised by two to three supervisors from the different universities, while the post graduate
degrees will be joint degrees.
"Typically, a university would only provide a single supervisor, while there would be no possibility of a joint degree.
Anglo American Head of Geosciences, Process and Sustainable Development: Technology
Development, Jeremy Mann, said that the centre will help fill a shortfall in communition
knowledge.
”’We are in a vulnerable situation, as there is a lack of sustainable expertise to conduct the
design and operational reviews required in one of the key, most capital intensive, processing
areas of mining operations.
“The establishment of the Centre and the collaboration that drives it will therefore definitively
bolster the development in comminution and benefit both industry and academia, by advancing research in key areas, while developing a pipeline of expertise and talent.
"Resultantly, this will be of great benefit to the mining industry globally.”
Media: For further information, please contact:
South Africa
Hulisani Rasivhaga, Media Relations
Tel: +27 (0)11 638 4401
The University of Queensland
Anna Bednarek
Tel: +61 (0)7 3346 4240
Email: a.bednarek@uq.edu.au
Notes to editors:
About Anglo American:
Anglo American is one of the world’s largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Anglo American’s portfolio of mining businesses spans bulk commodities – iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal; base metals – copper and nickel; and precious metals and minerals – in which it is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds. Anglo American is committed to the highest
standards of safety and responsibility across all its businesses and geographies and to making
a sustainable difference in the development of the communities around its operations. The
company’s mining operations, extensive pipeline of growth projects and exploration activities
span southern Africa, South America, Australia, North America, Asia and Europe.
www.angloamerican.com
About The University of Queensland
The Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre was established in 1970 with the objective of
developing practical technical solutions for large-scale mining and minerals industry challenges. It is the oldest of the seven research Centres within the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI). smi.uq.edu.au
The Institute has approximately 350 staff and students who conduct research, education and
consultancy across all facets of mining from exploration to site rehabilitation. SMI is one of eight research institutes within The University of Queensland, which is one of Australia’s premier learning and research institutions. Measured through a combination of three key global university rankings — The Times Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong and QS World University — UQ is currently ranked in the top 100 of all universities worldwide.
