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On 6 February 2024, UNSW SMaRT Centre Director, Professor Veena, will deliver the opening plenary speech at the Australian Mine Waste Symposium 2024.
Veena will also share her vision for a sustainable future, highlight the importance of creating a circular economy and how using waste as a resource - including various UNSW SMaRT Centre innovations - must be at the centre of innovative decarbonisation efforts.
See event website and registration details
The Australian Mine Waste Symposium is organised by The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, in partnership with the Geological Survey of Queensland (Queensland Government).
Event hosts say:
The symposium will broadly revolve around four main themes:
Valorisation to sequestration
Turning what was once waste into a resource to reduce environmental footprint. In this theme, we explore the characteristics of mine waste and how these determine amenability to a range of alternative uses from critical metal recovery to CO2 fixing.
Mining and reprocessing pathways
What are the best practices to remine and reprocess wastes from the mining industry, and what are the best technologies required to effectively do so, considering energy and water usage, and with minimal footprint?
Barriers to success
With such an up and coming and new field, obstacles need to be overcome to reprocess and reuse mine waste in Australia. From technology to the onshore infrastructure, resources to the policies, what are they and how do we take steps towards improving them?
The future landscape
Integrating valorisation of mine waste in the Australian mining industry DNA is crucial for the country's circular economy principle. What does this future look like and how can each stakeholder contribute to achieving this aim?