Circular economy specialist Coreo is advancing a raft of State-funded projects that are taking a ‘big picture’ view of making good use of mine site waste.
This includes extracting maximum value from coal tailings, finding ways to recycle general materials left by day-to-day mining operations, and the potential to draw value from used tungsten carbide drill bits.
Coreo circular specialist Cameron Kaufman said the work came on the back of an initiative the group completed with BMA and the Resources Centre of Excellence.
“Essentially we conducted a material flow analysis of a BMA metallurgical site and then conducted a similar material flow analysis of Queensland,” she said.
“So, the idea was, is there anything that’s coming out of a mine site that can displace any materials that are harmful that are being imported into Queensland?
“And then, vice versa, is there anything coming out at a regional level that could go into a mine site and displace some of the harmful stuff that they’re currently procuring or have risks in security of supply for, like topsoil?”
That project led to a long list of 44 opportunities that were prioritised and presented to various investors, Ms Kaufman said
The State Government was backing three projects to the tune of more than $1 million, she said.
One of those projects is looking at full value realisation from coal tailings.
Coreo had been talking to groups including mine operators who had characterisation data from tailings samplings, universities with research in the field, and mineral recovery specialist Cobalt Blue, Ms Kaufman said.