Annual Report 2006/07
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Annual Report 2006/07 Centre of Excellence Funding Agreement Centre of Exploration Targeting and The Government of Western Australia Submitted: November 2007 The Centre of Exploration Targeting is a partnership between The University of Western Australia, the Government of Western Australia, Curtin University of Technology and the Minerals Exploration Industry Table of Contents 1.0 DIRECTORS REPORT 4 2.0 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE 5 2.1 Staff 5 2.2 Students 6 2.3 Advisory Committees 8 3.0 PROJECT PIPELINE 11 4.0 RESEARCH ACTIVITIES 12 5.0 MSc Program 12 5.1 Masters of Science in Ore Deposit Geology and Evaluation (MSc) Program 12 5.2 Courses Delivered in 2006/07 12 5.3 Enrolments 12 5.4 MSc Income and Expenditure 2006/07 12 6.0 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 12 6.1 KPI Commentary 12 6.2 Technologies for Exploration / Risk & Value Assessment in Exploration (Objective 1) 12 6.3 Advancing the Science of Exploration Targeting (Objective 2) 12 6.4 Postgraduates for the Exploration Industry (Objective 3) 12 6.5 A Sustainable Centre for Research and Education (Objective 4) 12 7.0 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 12 7.1 Operating Statement 12 7.2 Notes Supporting the Financial Statement 2006/07 12 7.3 In-Kind Support from Host Universities 12 7.4 Invoice Reconciliation 12 8.0 APPENDICE 12 8.1 Awards 12 8.2 Academic Salary Scales – effective as of 5 March 2007 12 8.3 Corporate Members 2006/07 12 8.4 Corporate Sponsors 12 8.5 Publications 12 8.6 Conferences Publications / Abstracts 12 8.7 Short Courses 12 8.8 Invited Keynote Addresses 12 8.9 Official Visitors 12 8.10 Other 12 CET Annual Report 2006/07 Page 2 of 56 List of Tables TABLE # TITLE 1 PhD and MSc Students 2 CET Project Listing 2006/07 3 Enrolments in the MSc units for 2006/07 4 New Enrolments in the MSc program for calendar years 2003 to 2007 5 MSc Income and Expenditure 2006/07 6 Key Performance Indicator Assessment 7 Corporate Membership 2006/07 8 CET End of Year Presentations 9 Financial Operating Statement 2006/07 10 COE Funds Expenditure Financial Year 2006/07 11 Staff eligible for CoE funding, but funded from other sources 12 LSL Provisions 13 In Kind Support from Host Universities Financial Year 2006/07 14 CoE Funding Invoice Reconciliation CET Annual Report 2006/07 Page 3 of 56 1.0 DIRECTORS REPORT This second year of the CET’s operation, and the first year of operation with a full compliment of research staff, has been one of significant growth. The focus has been on developing industry engagement with CET and designing research projects that address both high-level scientific issues facing the exploration industry in the long term and delivery of value in an industry timeframe. This effort has resulted in a number of highlights, some of which include: Development of a strong Corporate Membership at near record numbers that has been extremely proactive in engaging with CET researchers; formation of an uranium mineral systems research group to respond to increasing demand for expertise in the geology of this commodity; formation of one of the world’s largest nickel research teams; development of a strong project pipeline to carry CET forward into the 2007-2008 year and beyond; receipt of a ‘highly commended’ award in the Australian Mining Prospect Awards Explorer of the Year category for our novel approach to research design and engagement of industry; and award of the largest ARC linkage grant in geosciences to study the tectonostratigraphic controls on nickel sulphide deposits in the Yilgarn. The award of the large ARC linkage grant ($660K over 3 years as part of a >$2M project) is a type example of how research can be designed to add value quickly to partner companies, yet still undertake fundamental research to resolve scientific issues. The project was built from the mine and prospect scale upwards to progressively add value to the partners’ mining and exploration strategies throughout the life of the project. It is important to note that these grants are awarded on a competitive basis with a large weighting on the capability of the research team and scientific merit of the project, showing that CET is growing its academic credibility at the same time as forming stronger applied research links with industry. The CET and the industry in general, is facing a critical talent shortage. In order to resource the many projects coming on line, CET has adopted an approach of international recruitment of research fellows on behalf of industry, alongside the traditional PhD and Honours project development, where the research fellows are embedded in both CET and focussed on the partner company’s issues. In addition, we are developing projects where industry partners have their staff embedded for various periods of time into CET to undertake focussed research projects. The model of research fellow recruitment has been exceptionally popular with Corporate Members, and will lead to a large expansion of CET research staff in the 2007-2008 financial year. Training and technology transfer continues to be a focus of CET as well. Not only have we delivered quality courses, both at CET and on site within Australia for the Australian industry, but have offered a range of courses on every continent bar Antarctica in the past financial year. CET staff also continues to be in high demand as keynote and invited speakers at international high profile conferences, and is publishing in a range of international journals aimed at a mix of academic and industry audiences. All of these research efforts are overseen by the CET Board and External Advisory Group, chaired by Drs. Jim Ross and Jon Hronsky, respectively. These groups continually vet the governance, scientific directions and delivery of outputs of CET research programs on behalf of the Corporate Members, and we are extremely thankful for their very valuable inputs over the past year. In summary, the CET is moving from strength to strength, exceeding KPI’s established at the commencement of the centre. We continue to explore ways in which it can more effectively partner with industry to improve exploration success, and to have industry value research as an integral part of its business model. Looking forward, we anticipate an accelerated rate of growth in research team and research portfolio over the next year. We will continue to develop technology transfer methods to Corporate Members and to the general industry. Additional focus will be on sustainability of CET, looking to ways of maintaining a stable research team past the duration of the State Centre of Excellence funding. With the continued strong support from the minerals industry, the University of Western Australia and Curtin University of Technology, we are confident that CET will continue to serve the industry well into the future. Professor T. Campbell McCuaig Director Centre for Exploration Targeting CET Annual Report 2006/07 Page 4 of 56 2.0 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE 2.1 Staff Head of School School of Earth and Geographical Sciences (SEGS) Director Research Staff In- Research Staff Research Staff General Staff Kind from SEGS Funded by CoE NOT Funded by CoE & Other * SEGS: School of Earth & Geographical Sciences * CoE: Centre of Excellence Research Staff Funded by COE Prof T Campbell McCuaig Director Dr Wolfgang Maier Senior Research Fellow Dr John Miller Senior Research Fellow Dr Craig Hart Senior Research Fellow Dr Eun-Jung Holden Research Fellow Dr Noreen Vielreicher Research Fellow Dr Klaus Gessner Senior Lecturer Dr Oliver Kreuzer Research Fellow Dr Pietro Guj Associate Professor Research Staff NOT Funded by COE Dr Jochen Kolb Research Fellow Dr Bryan Krapez Principal Research Fellow Dr Alok Porwal Research Fellow Research Staff In-Kind from SEGS Dr Steffen Hagemann A/Professor / Deputy Director Prof Mark Barley Senior Lecturer Dr Frank Bierlein Senior Research Fellow Prof Michael Dentith Professor Dr Neal McNaughton Senior Lecturer Dr Marco Fiorentini Research Associate Dr Ian Fletcher Senior Research Fellow Dr Peter Neumayr Senior Research Fellow Dr Klaus Petersen Research Fellow General Staff & Other Mr Heath Nelson Business Manger Mrs Norae Fisher Administrative Officer Ms Cindi Mispagel Research Assistant Mrs Vanessa Markwitz Graduate Research Assistant Dr Warick Brown MSc Co-ordinator Emeritus/Honorary / Adjunct Research Fellows Prof David Groves Emeritus Professor Dr Orestos Santos Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Charter Mathison Snr Honorary Research Fellow Dr Leigh Bettenay Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Stephen Barnes Adjunct Research Fellow Dr Steve Garwin Adjunct Research Fellow CET Annual Report 2006/07 Page 5 of 56 2.2 Students Table 1: PhD and MSc (research) Students Name Course Started Supervisor Status Thesis Title Funding The origin of Western Australian banded iron formations and their 1 Des Lascelles PhD 23.06.98 Mark Barley Submitted No Scholarship associated high grade iron ore deposits. GSWA, CET, UWA, The tectonic evolution and genesis of gold in the Granites-Tanami 2 Leon Bagas PhD 27.03.06 Frank Bierlein, Warick Brown Enrolled Tanami Gold NL, Orogen of Western Australia MERIWA The volcanological, structural and metamorphic history of the Flying 3 Jane Collins PhD 17.03.06 Steffen Hagemann, Cam McCuaig Enrolled Fox Deposit, Forrestania Greenstone Belt, Southern Cross Domain, UPA Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia. Cathryn Geochemistry and evolution of the HFSE-enriched igneous rocks of 4 PhD 24.03.03 Mark Barley, Dr Kevin F. Cassidy Enrolled pmd*CRC Dickins the Gindalbie Domain, Eastern Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia The New Celebration Gold Deposit: P-T-X Fluid