The Mineral Futures Collaboration Cluster is a partnership between CSIRO’s Minerals Down Under Flagship and five university-based research institutions. This is an exciting expansion of social research. The University of Queensland is the lead institution for the Cluster and Professor David Brereton, Director of the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining within UQ’s Sustainable Minerals Institute, is the Cluster Leader.

The work of the Cluster feeds into the Mineral Futures Initiative within the Minerals Down Under Flagship, which is researching two questions of key importance for Australia:

• How can we make the best decisions about investment into new technologies for a sustainable minerals business in Australia? For instance, what innovation gives the most effective economic, environmental and social returns and how can we optimise resources such as land, water and energy?
• How does Australia wisely re-invest its mining royalties to ensure long-term sustainability of resource-rich regional Australia? For instance, how does society grant a social licence to operate and what are the consequential social dilemmas facing government in the mining sector?

Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, welcomes this collaboration on the future sustainability of the Australian minerals industry. He said: “The minerals sector has shaped – and continues to shape – Australia’s economy, our environment, and the lives of people all over the country. It is therefore a pleasure to welcome the Minerals Futures Collaboration Cluster, which unites five universities with CSIRO’s Minerals Down Under National Research Flagship in a common purpose.”

The Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland will lead a three-year collaboration on the future sustainability of our minerals industry with the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney; the Research Centre for Stronger Communities at Curtin University of Technology; Central Queensland University; and the Australian National University.

These universities will join CSIRO in examining scenarios for the minerals industry and what they may mean for society, against a background of globalisation, climate change and rapidly evolving community expectations. The cluster’s research will help us determine how we can get the maximum benefit from Australia’s rich minerals endowment. This is a vital question not just for this country, but for the world.