News New laboratory to support next generation of Earth science
Published:24 November 2022
Geoscience Australia is ready to support the next generation of Earth science advances, after its new modern laboratory was officially opened today by Minister for Resources and Northern Australia the Hon Madeleine King.
Minister King was given a tour of the laboratory by Geoscience Australias CEO Dr James Johnson.
Dr Johnson said the new laboratory at Geoscience Australias offices in Symonston, ACT, represents the start of an exciting new era for Australias national Earth sciences agency.
For more than two decades, our laboratory staff and their expertise has helped lay the groundwork for a better understanding of Australias geology knowledge that benefits all Australians, Dr Johnson said.
They have analysed tens of thousands of geochemistry samples from across Australia and have set the benchmark that other laboratories around the world have followed.
The new state-of-the art laboratory will set the bar even higher supporting our mission to provide governments, communities and industry with the precompetitive geoscience data and information needed for the transition to net zero.
Minister Madeleine King MP and Geoscience Australia CEO Dr James Johnson formally opened the laboratory
Geoscience Australias Director of Laboratories, Dr Keith Sircombe, said the new laboratory represented a rare opportunity to review and renew methods and workflows from the ground up.
Laboratory safety requirements and building codes have evolved a lot since the former laboratories were designed and built in the 1990s. The new laboratory is more flexible and will evolve with new equipment and methods, Dr Sircombe explained.
The new laboratory space meets modern safety requirements with additions like purpose-built acid digestion and biosecurity rooms, which will provide more flexibility and support for Government advice across other portfolios demonstrating the true cross government impact of Geoscience Australias work more generally.
We have replaced old ancillary equipment to improve efficiency and space and through this process we even identified some equipment that potentially pre-dated the creation of the Bureau of Mineral Resources Geoscience Australias predecessor organisation in 1946.
In addition to the new laboratory, Geoscience Australia will also establish a mobile laboratory under the $225 million Exploring for the Future program to support the search for minerals, energy and groundwater.
This mobile laboratory will host exciting new equipment, with portable analytical instruments using state-of-the-art electronics pioneered by NASAs robot rovers on Mars, Dr Sircombe said.
All of the data analysed by Geoscience Australias laboratories is made publicly available through online portals such as the Exploring for the Future Data Discovery Portal.
Dr Keith Sircombe explaining to Minister Madeleine King MP how to operate the Portable Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy equipment, which was used to analyse a spodumene sample from Western Australia