Many of today’s mining industry leaders have been involved with Amira Global projects. This week we have a Q&A with Teresa McGrath, Manager, Curtin Gold Technology Group, Curtin University, Australia.  

What is your role in the next project in the Amira Global Gold Processing Technology project series, P420H?

As in (the current project) P420G, I will be the project manager. I will also participate in most all project activities in the Transfer and Enhance & Create themes. I just can’t keep my nose out of P420 business and try to be involved in everything!

What was the topic of your PhD?

I did my PhD during P420D and E, as the last PhD student of the AJ Parker Cooperative Research Centre. The topic, “A study of the behaviour of free gold in flash flotation and gravity recovery” was actually a project initiated by the late Andre Laplante. Many people wouldn’t have known that in addition to being well recognised for his work with modern day gravity circuits he did a PhD in flotation so this was a project he had begun to conceptualise with his colleagues (my mentors) several years before his death…nearly a decade before I came along. 

How did your PhD contribute to the project?

The PhD outcomes helped to support the concept that gravity circuits and flash flotation would work in collaboration and not as direct competitors for the same particles when operating in parallel in the circulating load of the milling circuit.  I mean “what was the direct benefit?”, I think that would be hard to quantify, but indirectly this project (and P420 more broadly) supported my obsession with gold and I continue to contribute to the P420 project today. I think I am the only P420 PhD student who kept working for the group and didn’t ever leave.  

How is your PhD contributing to the mining sector?

I’m not certain that it did! Sure, it contributed some knowledge about the nature of the gold particles being recovered by the two types of devices but more importantly, I am a product of the P420 project, which trains metallurgists with gold specific processing knowledge for application in the industry.

Did you enjoy working within the Amira Project as you studied? Has did it contribute to your studies?

I loved it! About 2 months in I told the (then) manager, Bill Staunton, that I wanted his job…and I eventually got it! I love the connection this research project has given me to industry. I describe it as sitting on the fence between industry and academia and acting as the gate keeper to help things pass in both direction. It is an absolutely fantastic place to be.

“The industry partners and researchers who I am fortunate enough to spend my time with are just as intriguing so I wake up everyday looking forward to the future with this dynamic and entertaining bunch”

Teresa McGrath

Which university did you study with?

At Curtin University, in the Western Australian School of Mines, Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering. I did an MS at Montana Tech of the University of Montana which was a great foundation for my research career.

Is your PhD available to the public?

Yep, sure is but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have trouble sleeping! Click here.

Other comments?

Gold as an atom, element and metal, really interests me. That interest covers geology, mineralogy, mining, processing, history and applications/uses. The industry partners and researchers who I am fortunate enough to spend my time with are just as intriguing so I wake up everyday looking forward to the future with this dynamic and entertaining bunch.