Mining and maths - a resourceful combination
by Linda Hein
For a former UniSA Pro Vice Chancellor of Research, maths has been the work of a lifetime.
Professor David Lee has spent much of the past decade applying mathematics to mining, an industry that piqued his interest soon after retiring from what had been a highly distinguished career with UniSA, spanning more than 30 years.
At 26 years of age, just two years after beginning as a maths lecturer in 1964, David Lee was made Head of the Mathematics and Data Processing School, and later Head of Technology and Development.
With the formation of UniSA he became the inaugural Pro Vice Chancellor of Research, a position he held for five years until retiring to continue research as an Emeritus Professor.
Prof Lee has spent a significant amount of time over the past ten years visiting and learning about underground mining, in places such as the Northern Territory’s lead and zinc mine at McArthur River, the Pajingo gold mines in northern Queensland and Western Australia’s Jundee mine. Global mining company, Newmont Mining, has been a major supporter of his research.
"I had to learn what they really did and what the real problems were, because you need to know the problem well before you can apply maths to it," he said.
Prof Lee first applied mathematical network theory during the building of the Mawson Lakes campus to successfully reduce the costs of copper piping in the chemistry labs.
His latest project sees him putting mathematical network theory to work for some of the world’s largest mining companies, including BHP, Rio Tinto and Oxiana, in a multi-million dollar research project to optimise the design of underground mines.
Together with researchers at the University of Melbourne, Australian Mining Consultants and Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, Prof Lee will apply his knowledge to help improve the efficiency of what he terms "underground cities".
The sequence of mining software packages developed through the project will also help alleviate chronic skill shortages affecting the booming mining industry, potentially saving billions of dollars for mining companies.
"The exciting part of this new project is that there will always be a puzzle to solve," he said.
Prof Lee and a team of UniSA researchers are also investigating how similar mathematical theory could apply to rail and shipping systems to help alleviate the infrastructure blockages experienced in the Port of Newcastle.