Patrick Walta, Managing Director, New Century Resources shared lessons from New Century on the topic of ‘economic rehabilitation’. Taking a novel approach and employing an alternative method to recover minerals, New Century Resources transformed Century Zinc mine in Queensland for closure into a viable business with operating costs at one tenth the cost of running a conventional mine. In doing so, the new company has been progressively rehabilitating the site. A key insight from the New Century experience is the importance of being novel and agile to look at closure from a different angle and develop innovative ways to approach rehabilitation and transition.
The Operations Solutions program’s seven foundational project leaders each gave presentations highlighting scope, team and key outcomes from their respective projects. Each project has produced new findings that will help shape and refine future research work in this program in CRC TiME.
Workshop 5 on ‘Implementing technology for positive impact’ reviewed the prototype of an integrated causal model for Closure Planning. This session highlighted the commitment from our partners and value of CRC TiME as independent facilitator for innovation.
Workshop 6 on ‘Innovating supply chains’ aimed to unpack the key characteristics of a successful and sustainable supply chain for mine closure and beyond. It commenced with short presentations by Vivek Srinivasan, Associate Director, CSIRO Futures, and Ian Dover, METS Ignited Australia Limited, on ‘CSIRO METS Roadmap’ and ‘Insights into Commercialising Australian Mining Technology’ respectively. These presentations provided an excellent basis for stimulating discussion in the workshop and uncovering perceptive comments that will help with creating sustainable supply chains. Results from a poll aligned with CRC TiME’s goal over the next three years to comprehensively map the supply chain for closure.
The 2021 CRC TiME AGM had a quorum of members and all resolutions were passed. A comprehensive overview of the 15 month reporting period was provided by CRC TiME CEO, Dr Guy Boggs. Highlights from the Annual Report and Annual Financial Statements were presented.
The final session for the Forum was a great discussion around things CRC TiME could do to better engage with stakeholders, build trust across partner organisations and become more impactful.