Corporate Body

CSIRO Minerals Utilization Section (1958 - 1959)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

From
9 October 1958
Australia
To
25 May 1959
Functions
Industrial or scientific research, Metallurgy and Mineralogy or mining

Summary

The CSIRO Minerals Utilization Section became an independent section on 9 October 1958 as part of the formation of the CSIRO Chemical Research Laboratories. Previously, from 1940, work in this area was conducted under the CSIR/O Division of Industrial Chemistry. It became a separate division on 26 May 1959, becoming the CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry.

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Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf page 59:
"The study of minerals was one of the Division of Industrial Chemistry's earliest activities. It was started in 1940, when Mr. R. G. Thomas (the first Chief of the Division of Mineral Chemistry) came over from Adelaide, where he had been a geochemist with the Division of Biochemistry and General Nutrition. During the war Mr. Thomas initiated a study of the ores of the less common metals, such as titanium, zirconium, hafnium, cerium, thorium, lithium, germanium, and uranium, many of which occur in the beach sands of eastern Australia. In the postwar era the group's pioneer work has been of great value to the mining industry, as one after another of these metals has proved to be of industrial importance. A notable achievement was the development of a process for separating zirconium, a metal used in the construction of nuclear reactors, from hafnium, which contaminates it.

Apart from its interest in the more uncommon metals, the Division of Mineral Chemistry has undertaken sponsored work on the extraction of copper and the cyanidisation method of refining gold."

Chronology

26 May 1959
Operational event - Granted CSIRO divisional status
9 October 1959
Operational event - Established as an independent section within the CSIRO Chemical Research Laboratories

Timeline

 1958 - 1959 CSIRO Minerals Utilization Section
       1959 - 1988 CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry
             1975 - c. 1980 CSIRO Division of Process Technology
             1988 - 1995 CSIRO Division of Mineral Products
                   1977 - 1980 CSIRO Fuel Geoscience Unit
                   c. 1995 - CSIRO Minerals Division
                         1980 - 1987 CSIRO Division of Fossil Fuels
                               1988 - 1990 CSIRO Division of Coal Technology
                                     1990 - c. 1995 CSIRO Division of Coal and Energy Technology
                                           c. 1995 - CSIRO Energy Technology

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Ailie Smith

Created: 13 July 2000, Last modified: 2 May 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/A000703b.htm

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