Anthony Roberts
Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy
Thursday October 22, 2015
HUNTER ENGINEER AWARDED PM’S PRIZE FOR INNOVATION
Minister for Industry, Resources and Energy, Anthony Roberts, has congratulated a
New South Wales chemical engineer who has won the nation’s top innovation prize.
Laureate Professor Graeme Jameson AO from the University of Newcastle, whose
mineral-processing technology has revolutionised the mining industry worldwide, was
presented the inaugural $250,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation at a dinner at
Parliament House, Canberra, last night (Wednesday 21 October 2015).
More than 300 mineral processing plants around the globe use the renowned Jameson
Cell - a floatation system used to remove oil, grease and other suspended solids from
industrial wastewater and effluent.
“This is the latest in a very long list of accolades for Professor Jameson whose
invention, the Jameson Cell, has proved to be a real game-changer in the mining
industry,” Mr Roberts said.
“The Cell is used internationally in the extraction of copper, coal, zinc, nickel, lead,
silver and platinum – but it’s been in coal processing that Australian has reaped
enormous benefits, through the recovery of fine coal particles from wastes streams.
“It’s widely accepted the Cell has added billions of dollars in mineral exports to the
national economy annually since it was first used commercially 25 years ago.
“I commend Professor Jameson on this wonderful achievement and thank him for his
tremendous contribution to innovation in NSW, nationally and internationally,” he said.
Professor Jameson was named NSW Scientist of the Year in 2013, the year in which
he also received The Antoine M. Gaudin Award – arguably the world's most important
prize in the field of engineering science and industrial technology.
The technology used in the Jameson Cell continues to evolve and is now being applied
to environmental practices, including the extraction of oil from tar sands in Canada, the
cleaning up of industrial wastewaters in the Hunter, and the removal of blue-green
algae from waterways in inland Australia.