The Resources Centre of Excellence (RCOE) was established to sit between industry, research and government to fast-track innovation, training and industry solutions for the Greater Whitsunday region and Queensland. In just five years they have made remarkable progress, and there is plenty more to come.
“The concept of the RCOE was actually thought up a long time ago, way before the facility opened in Mackay,” said RCOE CEO Steven Boxall.
“The whole idea was around having a genuine stake in the ground to showcase the great work that was happening in the resources sector in our region, but also really trying to set our region up for the future whether that be through new resource innovation or capturing aligned future industries.
“We are a common user facility and are here to support a whole range of different initiatives – innovation, safety, training and collaboration. Providing a physical location where people can connect and network and come together to problem-solve and innovate.
“But, most importantly, it’s about providing a facility that sits external to government, industry and education, yet is able to weave all of them together to get the right outcomes for our region.”
Stephen said what also sets RCOE apart is that its doors are open to anyone, from startups all the way up to large corporations.
“We work with everyone. Someone might come to us because they have a good idea and they need somewhere to test or trial it, whether that be physically testing the product or testing their thinking by connecting with industry. Then we go right from that level all the way up to working with Tier 1 resource companies.”
Those collaborations include running major projects such as the pilot program RCOE recently launched with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA).
The “Pit to Port” project is a material flow analysis of all processes of mining – from pit to port – to quantify and understand what waste there is, where it’s located and how much there is, and what opportunities there are for integrating circular principles along the whole value chain. In addition it provides a foundation for the concept to be extended to a regional context.
Another project is Decarbonisation Accelerated which is aimed at supporting businesses and industry on their decarbonisation journeys as well as empowering new opportunities in emerging and decarbonised industries. In total, the RCOE is involved in – either leading or contributing to – 25 different significant projects which cover everything from work skills of the future to the circular economy.
“Most days you’ll see a range of activities underway here at RCOE, from training and innovation trials to collaboration across industry and education. There is such great diversity to how people can be involved.
“We have a lot of RTOs and training organisations that will come and use our underground mining simulator facility to deliver training, but equally there are a lot of companies that have based themselves at the RCOE, using our facilities as their first office or their first step into the region.”
The RCOE also hosts workshops, conferences and has its own fully equipped VR laboratory where VR technology meets cutting-edge safety education for an unparalleled learning experience.
“We have gone from being an empty building in the industrial estate here in Paget to now 25,000 people coming and using our facility each year as well as connecting with over 500 different companies.
“I think that’s probably what I’m most proud of, that we’ve been able to take what was a really great idea, create a strategic plan and then we’ve actually been able to activate that plan to the point of where we are today.”
There are three stages to the strategic plan. Stage 1 has been successfully completed and now they are powering ahead with Stage 2 which is being built alongside the RCOE facility in Mackay.
“Stage 2, our Future Industries Hub, is nearing completion and will be operational by the end of this year.
“The Hub will be a collaborative space to solve industry problems. With technical, digital and immersive capabilities, there will be opportunities for manufacturing businesses to seize opportunities to supply high value goods and services into global supply chains and export markets.
“It will be home to our Future Industries FlexiLab Pilot Processing Plant, a critical mineral pilot processing plant which will be the first of its kind in Australia. The FlexiLab will be a commercial common-user facility, helping to transition and support the emerging new economy minerals sector, generating jobs for the future and our regional economy.
“The pilot plant will also support the development of new and improved methods for processing minerals, enabling the pilot-scale demonstration of new technologies and assisting companies to increase mining yields and decrease associated costs.”
The RCOE has also turned the first soil on Stage 3, which is the Isaac Resources Excellence Precinct at Moranbah.
“That project is really exciting, it’s a $42 million fully funded project that will weave together everything that we have done across Stage 1 and 2, and we envision it as being able to bring to life opportunities for aligned future industries and help secure the futures of our Bowen Basin mining towns.”
It’s quite remarkable what RCOE has achieved in such a short time, though Steven said it hasn’t been without its challenges.
“Without a doubt it has been challenging. We started with virtually next to nothing though we were fortunate to have good support from Mackay Regional Council, the Queensland State Government and organisations like BMA which gave us our first kick along.
“But since then we have made sure that we are financially sustainable and we can stand on our own two feet and as we have grown we have reinvested our success to further evolve the organisation.”
That evolution has seen the team at RCOE grow to seven, with Steven being the only employee in the beginning, to the most recent addition, Jason Sharam who is the new Resource Innovation & Partnerships Manager.
“Jason will pick up the platform that we’ve built, the connections that we’ve made and he is tasked with charging forward to genuinely help solve industry problems, weaving people together across industry, education, university research and government.”
Steven said another challenge was getting the word out when they were starting out, a challenge that they still are overcoming today.
“A lot of people still don’t know who we are, or they don’t really understand what it is we do and can offer.
“What we want them to know is that the RCOE is about bringing people together, empowering new opportunities in innovation and technology, and delivering positive outcomes for all our futures.”
