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 Programme. The original Parker Centre received A$11 million over seven years from the CRC Programme, had no industry participants and no up-front industry committment. Parker Centre I's achievements gained the Centre another seven years of CRC Programme 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 has funding of A$20 million over seven years from the CRC Programme, and the 19 Core and Supporting Industry Participants have committed to invest a minimum of A$15 million over the Centre's life.

The Centre has won a number of awards, including the Research and Development Award in the 1996 WA Industry and Export Awards, one of the inaugural CRC Association Awards for Excellence in Technology Transfer and the 1999 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.

The significant increase in cash income from industry-funded research from A$350 000 in the Centre's first year of operation to A$5 million in the last year demonstrates the growth in demand for the Centre’s expertise.