Business South August 2020

30 | Volume 29 | Issue 4 businesssouth Dennis Minehan M: 027 778 0023 P: 03 753 3206 E: sales@minehanagencies.co.nz W: www.minehanagencies.co.nz 91MainRd, Hari Hari, SouthWestland Manufactured right here on the West Coast Specialist Manufacturers & Suppliers to Industry Chemicals • Cleaning • Safety Equipment • Aerosols Lubricants • Spill Kits • Degreasers • Flocculants Proud to support Birch eld Coal Mines r t rt ir l l i PROUD TO SUPPORT BIRCHFIELD COAL MINES 4 Kaiata Park Drive, Kaiata, Greymouth Phone: (03) 768 3405 Email: transwestfreighters@xtra.co.nz BULK HAULAGE & STOCK CARTAGE FREIGHTERS 2011 LTD New era for research Materials Lab research scientist Dr Nancy Garrity at work in the new NZIMMR lab. Nick Gormack MINING - WEST COAST » Birchfield Coal Mines/NZIMMR A new era for New Zealand minerals research is set to get underway on the West Coast with the opening of two new laboratories in the next few months. The new facilities ,a minerals research laboratory and a minerals to materials research laboratory is the first part of an ambitious programme being run by the New Zealand Institute for Minerals to Materials Research (NZIMMR) which aims to deliver high-end science and research to the mining sector. Based in Greymouth, NZIMMR,was established two years ago as one of four Regional Research Institutes with an initial $11 million of seed funding from the Government. Sited at Spring Creek, under newly appointed CEO Mike Meehan, the lab facilities will allow the building of in-house capability at the NZIMMR. NZIMMR Board Chair Raelyn Lourie says it is ex- citing to finally become operational, after two years of behind the scenes activity, desk top research and early field work. “It’s very exciting for us to finally get to this point – it’s taken a lot of work by a lot of people but I’m confident it will make a real difference to the mining industry as a whole and the mining community on the coast.” Raelyn says the NZIMMR aims to drive a “step change” in the value of New Zealand’s mineral re- sources, which currently generate $3b a year, with $400m from the West Coast of the South Island. “NZIMMR has the potential to substantially increase the prosperity of the West Coast region and New Zealand, through moving the focus of activities from mining and export of raw minerals to manu- facturing and export of added value minerals from those raw minerals. “It is a long-term game, with all the uncertainties that research entails in seeking to promote eco- nomic outcomes, but we’re confident it will make a big difference.” Initial projects at the Institute will include enhancing gold recoveries from Westcoast mineral sands tungsten recovery, advanced carbon ma- terials from coal, recovery of rare earth elements (REEs), and repurposing pounamu carving residue into second generation materials. Raelyn says having NZIMMR based in Greymouth with the new labs at Birchfield Coal’s Spring Creek mine, is a reflection of the importance the mining sector has on the West Coast where minerals in- terests include alluvial and beach gold mining, coal mines, pounamu and mineral sands exploration. “We are proud to be part of the West Coast com- munity and are very privileged to be here. Part of our brief is to engage with our industry partners, and we are keen to involve the community in our business. We want to employ Coasters and increase GDP on the coast.” A core pillar of the NZIMMR program is developing strategic relationships with others in the industry, including research, mine operators, mineral manufacturers, and Tai Poutini /West Coast iwi. As well as developing partnerships with larger participants in the New Zealand minerals industry NZIMMR is also aiming to work with smaller opera- tors to help unlock the potential of their mining operations. Under the principle of “mine once and recover all”. “We are not looking at increasing mining activity but increasing productivity, by enabling mining operations to recover more of what is present. She believes the new minerals lab will be a game changer for the industry. “No other commercial minerals processing lab operates in New Zealand that can do what we will be able to do here. Currently companies typically send samples offshore to Australia to be processed and analysed which is not feasible for smaller operators and expensive for bigger ones. “ She says gold bypass in West Coast mineral sand operations has long been a recognised issue., and while significant advances have been made it is still an issue in some deposit types. NZIMMR will be investigating various technolo- gies to increase gold recovery rates and are pretty confident that current recoveries for these prob- lematic areas can be improved on, although it may involve a significant change in mindset. “Our potential contribution includes the ethical sourcing of clean-tech minerals, e.g. REEs for use in wind turbines and electric vehicles, and to increase the security of minerals supply for New Zealand, in accordance with good practice in social perfor- mance and sustainability.” “NZIMMR has been well received by the industry here. We’ve met with lots of people and they’ve been very supportive of what we are doing.”