Sustainable Minerals and Recycling (CHEN90010)

The minerals industry is of utmost importance to the Australian economy. This subject focuses on the liberation, size reduction, size separation and concentration separations in minerals processing. A range of design processes in extractive metallurgy, including hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy will be highlighted. Concepts behind aspects of physico-chemical principles of mineral separation processes to produce metals and ceramic products from ores as well as recycled materials and consumer products will be described. The systems approach to recycling of products, process sustainability and environmental considerations is extremely important in mineral processing and this will be studied in detail.

Indicative content: mineral processing separation concepts; the importance of sustainable mineral processing; the mechanisms used in dewatering mineral tailings; influence of material properties on recyclability; influence of recycling on material purity and properties; development of case studies in recycling products to recover valuable materials.