Opening of co-operative research centre at Curtin University

More than $2 million was to be poured into mineral research in the coming months as scientists in Western Australia step up the hunt for more efficient methods of processing.

Deputy Premier Ian Taylor said today the success of the work was critical to the country remaining internationally competitive in the processing of a whole range of minerals including alumina, gold and rare earths.

"It is all too easy to assume that the processing methods we use today will serve us well forever - but a significant technological advance could be decisive in winning or losing an export market," Mr Taylor said.

The Deputy Premier was opening the new A J Parker Co-operative Research Centre at Curtin University.

A team of scientists would be working on a series of projects to develop new processing methods.  The centre was a co-operative venture between Curtin and Murdoch universities, the CSIRO's Division of Mineral Products, the State Government's Chemistry Centre, and the Australian Mineral Industry Research Association.

"Even a small improvement in the speed at which minerals are extracted from the ore, or an increase in the quantity of material extracted during the processing, could make a considerable difference to the competitiveness of the mining industry," Mr Taylor said.

The new A J Parker Centre - named after the distinguished founding professor of Murdoch University's chemistry department, the late Jim Parker - would be researching new hydrometallurgical extraction methods.

(Hydrometallurgy is the method by which metals are extracted from ore using chemical solutions heated to temperatures no higher than 200 deg C.  The other method is pyrometallurgy or smelting.)

Mr Taylor said the new centre had been established in partnership with Federal and State organisations as well as private companies working together under the Commonwealth's Co-operative Research Centre program.

As well as attracting Federal grants which would increase to $1.7 million a year, the centre would also receive an immediate grant of $215,000 from the State Government primarily to assist in the purchase of an atomic force microscope/scanning tunnelling microscope, one of the most powerful of its kind in the world.

Western Mining Corporation, the Tiwest Joint Venture and Alcoa Australia were also contributing to the research.

Mr Taylor said the A J Parker Centre was one of five co-operative research centres which had been approved by the Federal Government and which were either wholly or partially based in WA.

Over the next three years the State Government would be contributing $1.7 million to the five centres, of which $561,000 would go to the A J Parker Centre.

Mr Taylor said it was likely that the State Government would be increasing its general contribution to research.

The decision would be taken later this year when the Federal Government decided whether to support Western Australian proposals for an additional 10 centres.