Projects

Invasive weeds are considered to be one of the major threats to the long-term success of post-mine rehabilitation. Therefore, many mine sites closely monitor the presence, abundance, distribution, and spread of weed species in their rehabilitated areas.

The project “Norfolk Island Hydrological Assessment” is a component of the larger “Norfolk Island Environmental Assessment” project led by The University of Newcastle. The Norfolk Island Regional Council (NIRC) has identified the need to undertake an assessment of the Island’s environmental capacity to provide scientific background on land use, hydrology, biodiversity and available technologies for further discussion of long-term population targets.

How do engineered landscapes respond to fire? This project aims to test established rehabilitation by applying fire and measuring the vegetation and land form response in the 2 years following the burn. 

Rehabilitation of mines in the Alligator Rivers Region

The aim of this research was to provide technical support to Geological Mining and Metallurgical Institute (INGEMMET) as they undertook a targeted geochemical investigation at abandoned mines in the Puno region of Peru, a region which lies within the catchment of Lake Titicaca.

Designer Tailings is a science and evidence-based methodology for generating alternate operating options for the desired environmental outcomes.  Through a detailed knowledge of the ore properties and processing conditions, and a mathematical simulation of the processing operations, Designer Tailings can predict the likely nature of the tailings generated, potential environmental liabilities and/or opportunities for reuse, recycling and reprocessing tailings.

There are three approaches to predicting seepage water quality: 1) field monitoring and tracer techniques such as stable isotopes, 2) laboratory column leaching experiments; and 3) geochemical modelling. A column study only shows how a small sample of tailings materials behaves over time.

The release of salts from spoil piles affects surface and groundwater quality particularly the quality of water in final voids. Current hydrogeochemical salt balance models either assume that the total amount of inherent salts in spoils will be released over time or often predict increasing project water salinity into the future based on site monitoring data from electrical conductivity measurements.

Hyperaccumulators are unusual plants that accumulate particular metals or metalloids in their living tissues to levels that may be orders of magnitude greater than is normal for most plants growing on similar soils. Discovering hyperaccumulators and understanding their agronomy could lead to identifying potential species to be utilized in novel phytotechnologies such as phytomining for phytoextraction of valuable metals.