Mineral Industry Operating Technique Award (MIOTA)

February 8, 2011 (PA3).  The winners of this year’s Mineral Industry Operating Technique Award (MIOTA) sponsored by the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AUSIMM) are Dr. Cathy Foley and her CSIRO team.  Below we reproduce the award citation note published in the “AUSSIM Bulletin” dated February 2011:

“Dr Cathy Foley and her CSIRO team, for the invention of the method to make a highly sensitive magnetic field sensor using a high temperature superconductor. The sensor is the basis of the mineral exploration tool, LANDTEM™.  LANDTEM™ is a portable exploration tool which uses highly sensitive magnetic sensors known as SQUIDs (Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices) to differentiate the ore from other conductive material.  Cathy led the initial development and commercialisation of LANDTEM™ in collaboration with BHP Billiton and the then Canadian mining company, Falconbridge. LANDTEM has since been licensed to an Australian start-up company, Outer-Rim Development, and has ultimately helped to unearth around $6 billion of new mines worldwide."

The presentation of this award is scheduled for March 2011.   We, the whole ESNF team, warmly congratulate Cathy and her colleagues on this special distinction and hope to report on the award presentation ceremony.  Earlier this year, Cathy received the Australian Telestra Award for the LANDTEM achievement, see HE43.  In 2007, the LANDTEM team was recognized by the award of the CSIRO Medal.