Our research
We have a proven track record in attracting funding and delivering results for business.
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Internationally significant grants
Introducing renewable solar thermal power into alumina processing to reduce CO2 emissions and lower the cost of alumina production.
- $15 million project ($4.5 million from ARENA)
- Lead: Centre for Energy Technology, IMER
- 3 industry partners
- 4 research partners
Developing and testing new, cost-effective ways to remove non-target metals from copper concentrates.
- $11.6 million project ($2.5 million from ARC)
- Lead: IMER
- 3 industry partners
- 7 research partners
Developing an online Australian energy storage bank and building a mobile energy storage test facility.
- $3.3 million project ($1.4 million from ARENA)
- Lead: Centre for Energy Technology, IMER
- 6 industry partners
- 3 research partners
Image courtesy of the CSIRO
Transforming Australia into a global leader in concentrated solar thermal and thermal storage technologies.
- $87 million project ($35 million from ARENA)
- Node Lead: Centre for Energy Technology, IMER
- 97 researchers
- 6 research partners
Iron Oxide (FOX) Research Program
Investigating iron oxides to help understand how iron ores are formed and transformed.
- $1.9 million project
- Lead: IMER
- 4 industry partners
- 3 research partners
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Research enabling industry
EnviroCopper
Could minerals be unearthed without active mining?
EnviroCopper is assessing the potential to recover stranded mineral deposits from the ground with minimal invasive mining. By creating a 3D hydrogeological model of the historic Kapunda copper-gold mine area, the team is devising an approach for in-situ recovery (ISR) of copper and gold in an innovative new way.
IMER brings expertise in geomechanical and geological modelling, and geophysical site characterisation to the project. Extensive groundwater environmental modelling is being undertaken to ensure risk management for regulators and the surrounding community.
Social License to Operate is imperative in modern day mining projects and sociologists from CSIRO have reported positive results from their focus groups and interviews on the town's acceptance of a renewed mining industry.
Once demonstrated at Kapunda, the approach could be extended to similar deposits around Australia and the world. Funded under a CRC Project Grant, the team comprises Environmental Copper Recovery, Thor Mining, Terramin Exploration, Mining3, CSIRO and IMER researchers.
First to Investigate Combining Gas and Solar Thermal Combustor Technologies
The Centre for Energy Technology is developing a chemical looping combustion system that can be used in conjunction with solar thermal systems. The Hybrid Solar Receiver Combustor (HSRC) aims to address the challenges of intermittent solar radiation, reduce storage costs for solar thermal power, and increase the economic viability of this sort of technology for baseload power. CET is also the first to investigate a solar vortex reactor to deliver heat to industrial processes from solar radiation.
4D Technology to Image Fluids in Earth's Crust.First to Develop Disruptive 4D Technology to Image Fluids in Earth’s Crust
The monitoring of how fluids such as water and gas move during gas production is usually done using expensive observation wells and microseismic networks. The 4D geophysics technique being developed by the Electrical Earth Imaging Group is changing all that.
Upper Crust Modelling.Imaging the ‘Fingers of God’
Check out this amazing image showing the source rocks for some of the biggest mineral deposits in South Australia. Proudly developed by the Electrical Earth Imaging Group.
First to Show Correlation Between Microorganisms and Presence of Metals
Could nature provide solutions to one of the mining industry's biggest global challenges? Nature Magazine recently covered this amazing story, in which bacteria associated with the presence of gold in mines are being investigated.
First to Track Mineralisation Through Ancient Fluid Flows in SA
The Mawson Geo Centre team in conjunction with the Geological Survey of South Australia and DET CRC are using thermochronometric techniques to test the timing of fluid movement along faults in the Gawler Craton which holds the majority of our mineral deposits. This technique could become a new, cheap and efficient way to target mineralisation and open up new mineral targets across South Australia.
First to Image South Australia’s Lithosphere, On Track for Continent Map
The Australian Lithospheric Architecture Magnetotelluric Project (AusLAMP) is mapping the footprint of world-class mineral deposits and investigating their source using magnetotellurics (MT), which measures electrical resistivity. Electrical resistivity is influenced by heat, fluids and mineral types, so these data gives rise to a 3D map of the Earth’s architecture and geological history. The team has begun surveying the continent on a 55 km grid pattern, with most of South Australia already mapped.
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Award-winning scientists
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