An Australian-first project has lured scientists to Perth from across the globe to work with resources companies on restoring huge tracts of WA land left barren after mining is done.
The $6.7 million new centre at Curtin University is led by botanist Kingsley Dixon, former director of science at Kings Park and 2016 WA Scientist of the Year.
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11 million tonne blast at Jimblebar mine
It's broken WA iron ore record for the largest open cut mine blast - an 11 million tonne blast with over 6,410 electronic detonators across 51 hectares of ground. Vision: BHP Billiton Western Australia
He said while Australia had strict approvals processes and mine regulation, the end of a mine's life was far less scrutinised.
"A report by the Australia Institute in March showed Australia had 60,000 abandoned mines where the miner has walked away because it's too hard to patch the hole, put back the veg," he said.
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"Now a federal inquiry happening into how we got this so wrong.
"And in this state the scale of the problem is colossal. There are few other mining activities in the world on this scale."
One company mining iron ore in the Pilbara had a footprint of 1200 square kilometres to be rehabilitated – the equivalent of a one-kilometre strip beside Great Northern Highway from Perth to Newman, Professor Dixon said.
While some of the abandoned pits were 'legacy' holes, predating regulation, many existed because companies struggled to understand even basic technology to repair a damaged landscape - despite a desire to be good environmental stewards.
The Perth centre has been recruiting for some time and will now commence full operations with a team of 18 PhD students, four senior and eight collaborating scientists.
They have come to Curtin from all over the country and the world, including Germany, the United States, Sri Lanka, China and Brazil.
"We have brought in the best available brains on the planet – recruited some simply extraordinary young minds," Professor Dixon said.
"This is the first centre of its type and the only one of its size in the world – [the only ones that come close] are a couple of organisations in the south west of the US."
The team will research real-world "little success stories – with emphasis on the 'little'", looking for common threads to create a 'toolkit' for mining companies.
But the science was not simple, Professor Dison explained - it was not like gardening, and not like agriculture.
Western Australia was one of the earth's oldest landscapes, home to its richest and most biodiverse ecologies.
It was also the driest inhabited continent.
Unlike in farming, in which just about all seeds planted would grow into crops, in this context only two or three plants might result from every 100 seeds.
And native seeds were becoming increasingly expensive and rare, needing to be collected from the wild.
One of the centre's key programs will be its "smart seed" program, to try to get outcomes closer to agriculture's, with the potential to release new WA-patented technology.
Another is "restoration ecophysiology", a set of instruments that can map the health of plantings to predict a plant's trajectory and chances of long-term survival in a rehabilitated landscape.
Another is technology specifically managing rare species, to ensure mining cannot send a species extinct.
There is also a fauna component.
PhD candidate Sophie Cross is using goannas as a 'bioindicator' of how well a site can support key apex predators - that is, they can only survive if the plant community is providing effective habitat for their prey.
The ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration is coordinating research between Curtin University, the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority and The University of Western Australia.
It is funded by the Australian Research Council to the tune of $4.9 million, with $961,000 primary support from Curtin University.
It is supported by industry partners including Sinosteel Midwest Corporation, BHP Billiton, Hanson Construction Materials, Karara Mining, Cliffs Natural Resources, Mineral Resources, and the Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia.
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