The Parker Centre's research successes and track record in transferring its knowledge and technology to industry have resulted in national and international recognition.

The Centre has now been refunded twice by the Australian Government's CRC Program. The original Parker Centre received A$11 million over seven years from the CRC Program, had no industry participants and no up-front industry committment. Parker Centre I's achievements gained the Centre another seven years of CRC Program funding (A$18.5 million in total) and 11 major mining companies joined Parker Centre II as Industry Participants with an up-front pledge of A$6.74 million in cash.

The Parker Centre's current incarnation (Parker Centre III) has funding of A$20 million over seven years from the CRC Program, and the 19 Core and Supporting Industry Participants have committed to invest a minimum of A$15 million over the Centre's life.

The A$5.14 million investment in the Parker Centre's activities by the international minerals industry in 2007-2008 was a record annual investment for Parker Centre III. The investing companies comprised the Centre's 19 Industry Participants as well as 88 other companies who are not Participants in the Centre. This level of investment demonstrates strong end-user demand for the Parker Centre's hydrometallurgy skills and expertise.

The Centre has won a number of awards, including a 2007 CRC Association Award for Excellence in Innovation, the Research and Development Award in the 1996 WA Industry and Export Awards and one of the inaugural CRC Association Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer in 1999. In 1999, the Centre also won the Business/Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) Award for Outstanding Achievement in Collaborative R&D involving a CRC. In 2001, AusIndustry awarded the Centre a Certificate of Achievement for its commitment to innovation. In 2002, the Parker Centre was a finalist in the 2002 WA Industry and Export Awards.

The Parker Centre has made important research advances in many aspects of hydrometallurgy.
Specific Research Highlights

The value (delivered and expected) of the Centre's research outputs to the minerals industry totals over half a billion dollars. In 2004, the Centre engaged the Australian consultancy the STEM Partnership (STEM) to conduct independent surveys of the benefits to industry clients of five of the Centre’s individual research areas. The evaluations utilised financial assessments provided by end-users to estimate the value of delivered benefits from implemented research outputs and the risk-adjusted value of benefits that are expected to be delivered by the research. The results are presented below:

AMIRA P266 "Improving Thickener Technology" Project
Delivered benefits: A$295 million (NPV)
Expected benefits: A$200 million (NPV)

Solvent Extraction Research
Delivered benefits: A$61 million (NPV)
Expected benefits: A$47 million (NPV)

Crystallisation Program Research
Delivered benefits: A$39 million (NPV)

AMIRA Alumina Crystallisation Projects (P575A and P521A)
Delivered benefits: A$10 million (NPV)
Expected benefits: A$35 million (NPV)

AMIRA P420B "Gold Processing Technology" Project
Delivered benefits: A$8 million (NPV)
Expected benefits: A$12 million (NPV)

NPV = net present value.

In addition to the direct financial benefits, the STEM surveys found that industry also values the intangible benefits obtained from the Parker Centre’s research. Intangible benefits identified as significant benefits by industry included increased fundamental knowledge; the provision of expert knowledge; exposure to new research techniques and improvements in the skills of company employees, environmental sustainability, occupational health and safety and community acceptance.