Researchers have unveiled four world-leading mining technologies ready for industry trials.
Developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Integrated Operations for Complex Resources (IOCR), the technologies have advanced beyond research validation and are now seeking industry partners for pilot deployment and commercial collaboration.
The innovations span key areas of mining operations, including rapid orebody knowledge updating using integrated sensor data, AI-driven mine-to-mill optimisation, cave draw-point operations and fragmentation sensing systems, and real-time protein-based gold biosensor technology.
Together, these technologies aim to enhance operational decision-making, improve productivity, and reduce uncertainty in increasingly complex mining environments.
Professor Peter Dowd, Director of the Training Centre and Professor of Mining Engineering at Adelaide University, emphasised the readiness of the projects for real-world application.
“These are not early-stage concepts,” Professor Dowd said.
“They have been developed to solve real operational challenges and are ready to be deployed in partnership with industry.”
He added that collaboration with industry partners is now critical to ensure successful technology transfer into operational settings.
“The capability exists, the validation is complete, and we are seeking forward-looking partners prepared to trial and deploy these technologies in operational environments,” Professor Dowd said.
“To remain successful, the resources sector must be prepared to assess and deploy new technologies.
“The companies that engage now will not only strengthen their own operations; they will help shape the future competitiveness of our industry.”
Since its establishment in 2021, the IOCR Training Centre has delivered 16 PhD projects and three postdoctoral programs focused on automated, integrated, and optimised mining systems powered by advanced sensors, data analytics, and artificial intelligence.
Researchers involved in the projects are now transitioning from academic development to active industry engagement.
“We are excited to trial our technology and further illustrate its value to our industry partners,” said Pouya Nobahar.
“Existing platforms take two days to compute one million scenarios. Using our AI-driven mine-to-mill optimisation system, this is reduced to 10 minutes.”
Dr Akhil Kumar highlighted the environmental and operational advantages of the biosensor technology.
“Our protein-based biosensor technology provides environmentally friendly, real-time detection of gold presence and concentration,” Dr Kumar said.
“Our system is a quicker, more efficient alternative to existing expensive, time-consuming X-ray and off-site lab methods.
“Our core value proposition enables miners to save significant resources by avoiding the processing non-gold-bearing ore.”
Ahmadreza Khodayari pointed to major efficiency gains enabled by simulation advances.
“Simulation time for linking particle size to material flow has been dramatically reduced from 2.5 months to one week by pioneering the use of physics engines for mining simulations,” said Khodayari.
“Optimising particle size is expected to increase energy efficiency in crushers by 20 to 25 per cent, offering substantial financial benefits.”
Dr Sultan Abulkhair noted the growing integration between previously independent research streams.
“Our original PhD research projects were developed independently of one another, but we are now exploring integrating projects with crossover to deliver a system with maximum impact,” Dr Abulkhair said.
“Our technology focuses on updating resource knowledge and models instantly to utilise the full value of smart sensing tools, addressing a significant gap in the mining industry.”
Professor Bill Skinner said the centre’s structure has accelerated the pathway from innovation to deployment.
“By aligning research directly with operational realities, we have helped to significantly [shorten] the path from innovation to application,” Professor Skinner said.
With four technologies now ready for immediate engagement, additional innovations from the centre’s pipeline are expected to progress toward commercialisation in the near future.
Mining companies, METS organisations and technology partners interested in pilot programs or collaborative trials are encouraged to contact the Training Centre.
