March 2001

Orientation Afternoon for New Students
Half day: 30 March 2001.

The purpose of this afternoon was to describe what the Parker Centre is, its goals and how the Centre is structured and operates. The session also discussed with students their role, expectations and responsibilities and occupational health and safety matters. Two senior PhD students (Daniel Kittelty and Isabel Lázaro-Báez) presented a student's view of the Centre.

Presenters: the CEO, Education Program Manager and Business Manager and Parker Centre PhD students.

May and September 2001

Lecture Course on Hydrometallurgy
The hydrometallurgy course for students consists of:

• An introduction on the fundamentals of hydrometallurgy (overview of hydrometallurgy, thermodynamic principles and kinetic principles) which will be given each year. This introduction is to be attended by all Honours/4^th year students each year but only once by each PhD and MSc student.
  Three hours: 2 May 2001.
  
  
• A three part lecture course presented by Parker Centre staff as one part (six hours) per year over a rolling three year cycle - to be attended by PhD and MSc students.
  The course covers all the major facets of hydrometallurgy. The course is divided into three general areas, namely extraction, purification and recovery, with each area being covered within a specific year and all areas covered within any given three year cycle.
  
  Part 1: Extraction (2001, 2004)
  Leaching
  Four hours: 4 May 2001.
  - conventional (given by Prof Mike Nicol and Dr Gamini Senanayake)
  - selective (given by Prof Mike Nicol and Dr Gamini Senanayake)
  - bioleaching (given by Dr David Ralph)
  
  Solid-liquid Separation
  Two hours: 28 September 2001.
  (given by Dr Phil Fawell)
  - interparticle forces in suspensions
  - coagulation and flocculation
  - separation techniques
  
  Part 2: Purification (2002, 2005)
  Solvent Extraction (3 hours)
  Ion Exchange (1 hour)
  Activated Carbon (2 hours)
  
  Part 3: Recovery (2003, 2006)
  Precipitation and Crystallisation (4 hours)
  Electrowinning (1 hour)
  Chemical Reduction (1 hour)

June 2001

Project Planning and Management
Five days: 18-21 and 28 June 2001.

Designed for students, postdoctoral fellows and other staff who participate in or are responsible for projects involving research, innovation and technical risk. The course developed competency in project planning, proposal writing and ongoing project management and, as a practical application, included producing a proposal document for either the student's degree project or the staff member's next research grant application.

Presented in collaboration with the WA State Government Department of Commerce and Trade.

Presenter: Dr Gil Stokes, Expert Access Ltd.

August and September 2001

Financial Management and Process Economics
Three days: 22-24 August 2001.

Designed to provide students and staff with sufficient financial management skills to communicate effectively with financial managers, and to enable them to undertake preliminary estimations of capital and operating costs, set up cash flow statements and perform techno-economic project evaluations.

Presented in collaboration with Murdoch University.

Presenter: Dr Bernie Verbaan, Techno Economic Consultants of Australia.

Financial Feasibility Case-Study Workshops
Six 2 hr workshop sessions: August/September 2001.

These workshops formed a practical extension of the Finance Management course. In these workshops, the developed financial management skills were applied to practical industry-oriented case studies based on actual financial evaluations of mineral and engineering development projects in Australia.

Presented in collaboration with Murdoch University.

Presenter: Dr Joe Bosworth, Dover Consultants.