resourceful Issue 15: Critical metals
Technology meets metal production to disrupt battery and other key metal industries.
Forces for disruption
Advances in new technology are driving forces for change in mining, and the impact is two-fold: changing the way we mine, while propelling significant shifts in the metal market.
Graphite goes green
Market demand for greener commodities has propelled an Australian exploration company to work with CSIRO on a more environmentally-friendly way to produce battery-grade graphite.
The battery charge
Battery metals may be shaping up as a major new Australian industry, as innovation aims to add value and give local companies a competitive advantage on the global stage.
Battery metals: a bubble or the next big thing?
Director of CSIRO's mineral processing research, CHRIS VERNON, writes about the prospects of capturing a long-term opportunity in the battery market, and how Australian industry needs to secure its advantage through processing innovation.
Capturing the best of three commodties
Improvements to a new more energy-efficient vanadium process will enable an Australian resource company to diversify and market three products instead of one, while significantly reducing costs at a proposed new mining development.
Creating value for Australia
Interview with ELIZABETH LEWIS-GRAY, deputy chair of METS Ignited and managing director of leading Australian METS company Gekko Systems, on how Australia can capitalise on its leading METS sector to drive innovation and benefit the nation's resources sector more broadly.
Smart operator
The high-tech vision for the world's first smart mineral processing plant will see integrated data technologies enable automated production.
Securing a key Australian export
Advanced research and development is helping to secure the value of Australia's iron ore exports.
The new mine model
Emerging science that takes the geology of a deposit and combines it with metallurgy and other statistics to provide a predictive model of processing options, can shed light on the economic potential of a resource to inform planning and development.
A green and gold first
The first "green" gold pour using CSIRO's non-toxic gold recovery process has been achieved with a small Australian gold producer, showcasing how innovation could create niche market opportunities for more sustainable commodities.
Power to recycling
Australia could lead the world in the re-use and recycling of lithium-ion batteries, a report finds.
Explore how technology is meeting metal production to disrupt battery and other key metal industries.
Read next: resourceful Issue 14: Innovate, improve, grow