Smart solutions for sustainable mining: meet CSIRO's next generation

By  Fran Molloy 1 April 2025 6 min read

Our Sustainable Mining Technologies Research Program brings together around 100 staff and affiliates. The program focuses on mine safety, environmental performance, automation and digital connectivity.

The program develops more sustainable and safe solutions for mining operations, using tools like advanced geospatial monitoring and autonomous systems.

Three early career researchers in the program are pushing boundaries in different ways. One visualises mining processes, another develops fibre optic sensing for underground safety. The third creates mobile mission control centres for remote operations.

All three are helping shape the future of sustainable mining.

Romana Dew: Mapping mining's environmental future

What’s involved in your current role at CSIRO?

As a Senior Spatial Scientist, I translate geoscience for software engineers, with my work informing visualisations, data, and decision-making for current and future mine operations.

I recently moved into the Mining Geoscience team where I am excited to work with other geoscientists who speak the same geoscientific language and share my passion for rocks.

Our team develops technologies for mining, manufacturing, space and other industries to improve safety, efficiency and productivity. Our projects inform new uses for mining by-products and test-driving technologies on Earth before they launch into space.

I am passionate about science communication. Recently, I was able to share this passion through the STEM in Schools Partnerships and student engagement at the IMARC and i-SAIRAS conferences.

How did your previous experience prepare you for this role?

As a child growing up in regional South Australia, I loved reading atlases, creating art and collecting rocks and gemstones. I completed a Double Degree in Science (Geology, Geophysics and Applied Geoscience) and Arts (Geographical and Environmental Studies) at the University of Adelaide. Geology and geography complement each other as the science and words about Earth.

My PhD research on tectonic evolution and palaeogeography of Thailand also gave crucial insights about the history of Australia’s landscapes and resources. Understanding landscape evolution is essential to making data-informed decisions on where and how to mine more effectively and sustainably.

Additionally, my experience in academia, mining, and environmental consulting provides me with valuable insights into these respective stakeholder perspectives and pain points. In my current role I can apply these insights to inform innovation and research directions. I recognise the complexities of the mining environment, its stakeholders, and timelines, and will take these factors into account when developing data-informed products.

What excites you most about the future of this field?

Rapid advancement in spatial technologies open incredible possibilities – we can now process and analyse multidisciplinary data at unprecedented scale and speeds.

At the same time, machine learning and AI can lead to more efficient, safer, and environmentally sustainable mining operations.

These tools, combined with increasingly sophisticated visualisation techniques, are transforming our approach to frontier environments, such as remote locations on Earth or in space.

Karan Naidu: mission control for modern mining

Tell us about your role at CSIRO – and about the Mobile Mission Operation Centre.

My role entails supervising the development of the Mobile Mission Operations Centre (MMOC) project, a facility CSIRO is building in conjunction with the iLAuNCH consortium.

The purpose of this facility is to act as a mobile command-and-control centre for carrying out and facilitating rocket launches, terrestrial operations, commercial operations and various other activities in both civil and remote regions of Australia. This first-of-its kind facility in Australia aims to accelerate sovereign space capabilities and infrastructure. It combines our remote mining operations expertise with a focus on space resources.

In my role, I move rapidly between working on software, systems and mechanical development to facilitating stakeholder meetings. I also supervise student vacation-ships on various projects throughout their summer experience.

One minute I will be surveying 3D imagery on a rocket launch site, then an hour later, meeting international delegates, local startups and established organisations

How did your education and experience lead you to this role?

Growing up, I’ve always been fascinated with space and engineering and was passionately driven towards combing the two worlds together.

I completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronics with honours at the University of Canterbury. In addition, I completed a course in Spacecraft Systems Engineering at the University of Auckland. I worked for several start-up companies that specialise in robotics, manufacturing and automation.

I then had the opportunity to work in the satellites team for an Australian aerospace company, Gilmour Space Technologies. There I developed flight software, ground testing infrastructure for commissioning micro-satellites for earth observation purposes. I gained valuable insight and experience on software and systems engineering, coupled with a holistic experience of various engineering disciplines. Finally, I joined CSIRO as a Software Systems Engineer for Space and Robotics.

How does space technology connect with mining operations?

There is considerable overlap between the challenges of remote mining operations and space missions.

The concept of zero-entry mining is removing a person from a risk intensive mining environment and placing them in a remote location, with the capability to carry out the same job in safer conditions. The big challenge is to emulate the user experience from the real world to this remote environment.

Solving this problem on Earth will have a direct technology transfer to space applications.

What are the main challenges in adapting mining technologies for space applications?

A major challenge posed is adapting technologies to operate within a more constrained and unforgiving environment with minimal user input.

Another challenge is needing to reduce the technologies to their bare metal equivalent yet still make them capable of carrying out the same operations.

To achieve these goals, a considerable amount of foresight is required. 

Xulu Lin: listening to the Earth

Tell us about your role in making mining safer.

I’m a geophysicist using advanced sensing technologies to detect and analyse tiny movements in the earth underground, called seismic events. In underground mines, this is crucial for safety and operational efficiency. 

I’m working on developing distributed fibre optic sensing (DFOS) for microseismic monitoring and integrating AI into seismology, the study of earthquakes and ground vibrations. 

DFOS is a technology that turns ordinary fibre optic cables into thousands of highly sensitive sensors. We can detect incredibly subtle ground movements, by monitoring vibrations, strain and changes in temperature along the entire length of the cable.

This gives us unprecedented insight into what’s happening underground in real-time, which is vital for early warning systems and monitoring mine stability. DFOS also reduces the costs compared to traditional instruments.

How does your educational background relate to your current role?

I came into geophysics as a physics major at the Australian National University and studied computational seismology in my honours year.

This is an uncommon path in geophysics and gave me useful experience that helps in my research of physical principles and development of software for geophysics specialists. 

How do you see AI transforming this field?

The dense sensing points along fibre optic cables used in DFOS technology leads to substantial amounts of seismic data to process in real time.

Integrating machine learning, a subset of AI, into our processing workflow will make it feasible to process this data. Machine learning helps us provide the mines with useful information on microseismic monitoring for faster, better-informed decision-making safety and operations.

What’s next for you in your research and career?

I’d like to gain more hands-on experience in other areas of geophysics apart from seismology. I am currently also involved in a radar monitoring project to learn more about this sensing technology.

Meanwhile, I would like to advance further research in DFOS for microseismic monitoring, working with my colleagues to address some unsolved questions.