Minerals research institute is now up and running
A new Government-funded research institute aimed at finding ways of using New Zealand minerals has opened on the West Coast.
The Greymouth-based New Zealand Institute for Minerals to Materials Research (INIMMR) will administer $11 million of Government funding for minerals research.
The funding was announced by the then-National government in July 2017. It continues under the Labour-led Government.
The institute began operating on July 1 and has just recruited its new chief executive. It is on the hunt for a chief research officer and four researchers.
The institute aims to reposition the mining sector to convert minerals into higher-value advanced products.
Chief executive Tony Hogg is a West Coaster who has worked in the international research, development and commercialisation field as Energy Controls Group chief executive and general manager of Pipetec.
Hogg said the institute’s first research areas would be into the use of rare earth elements in materials such as magnets and lasers, of tungsten extraction from old gold mining waste material and of creating carbon foams out of coal.
‘‘We’re a research organisation trying to discover ways for the mining industry to move those minerals from their current mining operations up the value chain and find high uses for them.
‘‘Reworking the mine tailings for tungsten. There’s already significant tailings that they’ve done research on and found there’s tungsten available in economic quantities to recover it’s just getting the technology to get the product extracted.’’
The proposed ban on new mines on Conservation land could prove positive for the institute, he said.
‘‘Maybe it’s a great opportunity for NZIMMR to be here right now to look for ways to move current minerals extraction up the value chain.
‘‘If new land is going to be opened up or access is going to be denied then you have to look at what more you can get out of your current mining operations.’’
He anticipated the institute would be self-sustainable by then.
‘‘I’m looking for a commercial outcome for NZIMMR – we want organic income, we want to be paid for research, we want to own IPs, we want royalties – any way we can be self sustaining, that we can be here for the longer run, is better for New Zealand and the West Coast.’’
The institute’s brief – underpinned by desire to create employment and growth – was ‘‘fantastic’’.
‘‘I know that we need industry employment and growth on the West Coast. If you are creating employment opportunities in specialist areas we can talk to the Polytech and say we need experienced technicians or lab techs train people to do that it builds the West Coast knowledge base,’’ he said.
He acknowledged the responsibility of administering taxpayer money.
Dr Claire McGowan is also on the board. Her appointment to Christchurch’s Science Alive raised eyebrows, coming as it did after her private consulting firm collapsed, owing $172,338, in 2016.