mining innovation
When it comes to identifying rocks in mineral exploration and mining projects, the human eye remains the industry’s most widely used tool, despite its limitations, but for Dr Michelle Tappert, co-founder of Hyperspectral Intelligence Inc.
Dr Sandra Occhipinti, research director in minerals at Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, is leading a team of more than 100 scientists focused on one of the most complex challenges in modern exploration: how to accelerate mineral discovery in covered terrains while simultaneously improving geometallurgical insight across the mining value chain.
At the sharp end of metallurgical decision-making, where feasibility meets financial risk, one recurring theme echoes loudest: if you don’t know your orebody, you don’t know your project.
GV Price, senior staff consultant with KCB Australia, has spent a career helping mines grapple with the nuances of geotechnical standards.
As mineral exploration enters an era defined by data complexity and digital transformation, one of the biggest hurdles geoscientists face is not a lack of information, but too much of it.
As the mining industry edges closer to a tipping point on tailings management, a panel of global experts at the 2025 Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings Conference in Brisbane issued a clear message: discipline in operations, humility in design, and a more adaptive mindset will be critical to preventing the next tailings disaster.
In the drive to improve energy efficiency, recovery, and metallurgical precision, a global engineering company has released a quiet disruptor: a machine-learning-enabled sensor that’s helping mining operations monitor and optimise grind size with new levels of accuracy.
From deserts to drill pads, remote exploration teams increasingly need to make informed, high-impact decisions without waiting weeks for lab results.
For decades, mine planning has leaned heavily on deterministic models - tools that simplify the earth into a single version of the truth.
When mining engineer Eddy Zhang took the stage at the 2025 AusIMM Underground Operators Conference in Adelaide, he was candid about the task at hand: “Today I’ll be presenting learnings from reorientating the Ernest Henry sublevel cave.
