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Tuesday 11th May / presented by Jeff Bullen
Researchers from The University of Western Australia have developed a progressive new mining technique in collaboration with The CSIRO, the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Exeter. The new technique, which uses electric fields to extract metals from hard rock ore, could replace the traditional digging method of mining, a method which results in considerable environmental damage and global estimates of 100 gigatonnes of soil waste each year.
Professor Henning Prommer from UWA’s School of Earth Sciences joins
Jeff Bullen on
On the Record to discuss this new technique and what it could mean for mining in the future.
Press Release – University of Western Australia Researchers from The University of Western Australia, Australias national science agency CSIRO, the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Exeter have developed a new mining technique that uses electric fields to extract metals from …
Researchers from The University of Western Australia, Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Exeter have developed a new mining technique that uses electric fields to extract metals from hard rock ore.
The technique could replace the traditional method of digging which results in significant costs to the environment.
Digging methods are currently used in 99 per cent of mining activity, often resulting in significant environmental degradation and huge quantities of solid waste.
The technique
could replace the traditional method of digging which
results in significant costs to the
environment.
Digging methods are currently used in 99
per cent of mining activity, often resulting in significant
environmental degradation and huge quantities of solid
waste.
Global estimates of waste are of the order of
100 gigatonnes per year, significantly larger than any other
form of waste generated by humans.
The new technique
is published in
Science
Advances. It is now being further developed and
refined with support from the Minerals Research Institute of
Western Australia.
Professor Henning Prommer from
UWA’s School of Earth Sciences and CSIRO said the
Press Release – University of Western Australia Researchers from The University of Western Australia, Australias national science agency CSIRO, the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Exeter have developed a new mining technique that uses electric fields to extract metals from …
Researchers from The University of Western Australia, Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Exeter have developed a new mining technique that uses electric fields to extract metals from hard rock ore.
The technique could replace the traditional method of digging which results in significant costs to the environment.
Digging methods are currently used in 99 per cent of mining activity, often resulting in significant environmental degradation and huge quantities of solid waste.