Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100582
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$390,000.00
Summary
Unlocking Rare Earth Elements from the Earth Crust. This project will explore the mechanisms controlling the mobility of Rare Earth Elements (REE) in natural and engineered hydrothermal systems. The project will generate essential geochemical and thermodynamic data of important REE host minerals, and thereby significantly improve our capacity to quantify the behaviour of REE during complex ore-forming and hydrometallurgical processes. The anticipated outcomes include: facilitate discovery of new ....Unlocking Rare Earth Elements from the Earth Crust. This project will explore the mechanisms controlling the mobility of Rare Earth Elements (REE) in natural and engineered hydrothermal systems. The project will generate essential geochemical and thermodynamic data of important REE host minerals, and thereby significantly improve our capacity to quantify the behaviour of REE during complex ore-forming and hydrometallurgical processes. The anticipated outcomes include: facilitate discovery of new REE deposits by improving understanding of their formation; and facilitate optimisation and development of innovative techniques for REE ore processing. This knowledge and expertise will help Australia to become a world leader in supplying REE for the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.Read moreRead less
From Synchrotron Characterisation of Single Fluid Inclusions to Archaean Geodynamics: An Integrated Study of Fluid-Rock Interaction in the Primitive Crust. In the primitive Earth, a wide range of phenomena including the initiation of biological activity and the formation of ore deposits were related to the mobilisation of mineralised fluids through the crust. In the Archaean craton of the Pilbara (WA), we have identified, within its tectonic framework, a crustal-scale plumbing system that channe ....From Synchrotron Characterisation of Single Fluid Inclusions to Archaean Geodynamics: An Integrated Study of Fluid-Rock Interaction in the Primitive Crust. In the primitive Earth, a wide range of phenomena including the initiation of biological activity and the formation of ore deposits were related to the mobilisation of mineralised fluids through the crust. In the Archaean craton of the Pilbara (WA), we have identified, within its tectonic framework, a crustal-scale plumbing system that channelled large volumes of mineralised hydrothermal solutions. Our objective is to understand the development of this plumbing system in relation to Archaean crustal geodynamics using a combination of structural geology, metamorphic petrology, geochronology, geochemistry, and the analysis of single-fluid inclusion using synchrotron and other X-ray sources.Read moreRead less
Realising Australia’s rare earth resource potential. This project aims to reveal the potential for undiscovered economic deposits of rare earth elements within the Australian continent. Future supply of these elements underpins societies transition to clean energy and embrace of high-tech applications. The project expects to greatly enhance our knowledge of Australia’s endowment of rare earth element resources using an array of traditional and innovative geological research methods. Expected out ....Realising Australia’s rare earth resource potential. This project aims to reveal the potential for undiscovered economic deposits of rare earth elements within the Australian continent. Future supply of these elements underpins societies transition to clean energy and embrace of high-tech applications. The project expects to greatly enhance our knowledge of Australia’s endowment of rare earth element resources using an array of traditional and innovative geological research methods. Expected outcomes of this project include a greater understanding of how, where and when rare earth element orebodies form in the Earth's crust. This should provide significant benefits to exploring for––and discovering––new orebodies that are required to secure global critical metal supplies. Read moreRead less
Fluid chemistry and critical mineral enrichment in salty metamorphic belts. Several geological regions in Australia are worth billions of dollars to our economy in their contained copper-goldcobalt and uranium-rare earth element mineral deposits. These regions will continue to be important to Australia as the world transitions to a renewable energy economy because they can provide some of the most critical metals needed for that transition: Cu, Co, rare earth elements. This project aims to provi ....Fluid chemistry and critical mineral enrichment in salty metamorphic belts. Several geological regions in Australia are worth billions of dollars to our economy in their contained copper-goldcobalt and uranium-rare earth element mineral deposits. These regions will continue to be important to Australia as the world transitions to a renewable energy economy because they can provide some of the most critical metals needed for that transition: Cu, Co, rare earth elements. This project aims to provide a fundamental quatitative understanding of the geological processes that form these deposits. We will conduct experiments to generate quantitative models of the metamorphic and structural processes that control the liberation and migration of highly saline fluids, which are ideal for transporting a large range of metals.Read moreRead less
Rare Earth Metal Separation by Polymer Inclusion Membranes. The project aims to develop a novel hydrometallurgical method for the separation of the rare earth metals dysprosium and terbium from mixed rare earth metal solutions using polymer inclusion membranes with a crosslinked or non-crosslinked polymer backbone. These metals are crucial for the manufacturing of advanced technology products. The membrane-based method is expected to offer significant advantages over the currently used solvent e ....Rare Earth Metal Separation by Polymer Inclusion Membranes. The project aims to develop a novel hydrometallurgical method for the separation of the rare earth metals dysprosium and terbium from mixed rare earth metal solutions using polymer inclusion membranes with a crosslinked or non-crosslinked polymer backbone. These metals are crucial for the manufacturing of advanced technology products. The membrane-based method is expected to offer significant advantages over the currently used solvent extraction methods by eliminating the use of solvents and conducting the separation as a continuous process where the extraction and back-extraction steps take place simultaneously. These advantages are expected to make the separation process more cost-effective and drastically reduce its environmental impact.Read moreRead less
Bio-recovery of rare earth elements from Australian soils and mine tailings. This project aims to discover how microbes dissolve weathering-resistant phosphate minerals that contain valuable rare earth elements used widely in modern technology. This discovery would create new knowledge in the interdisciplinary fields of biogeochemistry and biohydrometallurgy, using an innovative combination of techniques in metagenomics, microbiology and mineralogy. Expected research outcomes include new, more ....Bio-recovery of rare earth elements from Australian soils and mine tailings. This project aims to discover how microbes dissolve weathering-resistant phosphate minerals that contain valuable rare earth elements used widely in modern technology. This discovery would create new knowledge in the interdisciplinary fields of biogeochemistry and biohydrometallurgy, using an innovative combination of techniques in metagenomics, microbiology and mineralogy. Expected research outcomes include new, more economic and environmentally sustainable biotechnologies for recovering rare earth elements and increasing phosphorus availability in Australian mineral deposits and soils. These outcomes should benefit the mining and agricultural sectors, by decreasing Australia's dependency on overseas REE supply and the use of fertilizers.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882493
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$700,000.00
Summary
High-accuracy spectroscopy under extreme conditions: combining novel synchrotron and laboratory-based spectroscopy. This project aims at maintaining the leading position of Australia in nationally important fields such as ore and environmental geology, ore processing and metallurgy, nano- and bio-technology. This project aims to establish an integrated set of state-of-the-art, often unique and revolutionary new tools, taking in particular advantage of local innovation in instrumentation and spec ....High-accuracy spectroscopy under extreme conditions: combining novel synchrotron and laboratory-based spectroscopy. This project aims at maintaining the leading position of Australia in nationally important fields such as ore and environmental geology, ore processing and metallurgy, nano- and bio-technology. This project aims to establish an integrated set of state-of-the-art, often unique and revolutionary new tools, taking in particular advantage of local innovation in instrumentation and spectroscopy theory, of the investment in major facilities (Australian Synchrotron). By improving cross-disciplinary links among research groups interested in in-situ spectroscopy (Earth Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Biochemistry, Biomedicine, Engineering), this application will results in major scientific and industrial advances.Read moreRead less
Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. This project aims to develop a new generation of aerospace aluminium alloys containing scandium. Over 30 million tonnes of high performance aluminium alloys are produced annually. Early investigations showed many beneficial effects of scandium on alloy behaviour, but research was abandoned due to scandium’s high cost. Australia has the largest de ....Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. Development of novel high performance aluminium alloys containing scandium. This project aims to develop a new generation of aerospace aluminium alloys containing scandium. Over 30 million tonnes of high performance aluminium alloys are produced annually. Early investigations showed many beneficial effects of scandium on alloy behaviour, but research was abandoned due to scandium’s high cost. Australia has the largest deposit of scandium in the world, and Australian sustainable extraction technology will markedly lower the price. This project believes that now is an ideal time to capitalise scandium’s beneficial effects and be at the forefront of this new alloy development strategy. Anticipated outcomes are the creation of a new market with economic and sustainable opportunities for the Australian mining sector.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100087
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$500,000.00
Summary
Enabling future technology by building light element analysis capability: a light element optimised ultra-high resolution electron microprobe. The capability to characterise the chemistry of materials at very small scales is critical for geologists, metallurgists and materials scientists. The new instrument is world-leading technology that will enable analysis of light element-rich materials at extremely high resolution (< 50 nanometers) with very low detection limits.