Rate My Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox

Associate Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox is a Principal Research Fellow in Mine Waste Geoscience at the W.H. Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre within the Sustainable Minerals Institute at the University of Queensland. She earned her PhD in Environmental Geosciences from the Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Sciences (CODES) at the University of Tasmania in 2012 and a first-class MSci (Hons) in Environmental Geology from the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College London in 2005. Her professional career commenced as an environmental consultant from 2005 to 2006, followed by a research assistant role on the AMIRA P843 geometallurgy project from 2006 to 2007. She then served as a part-time Junior Research Fellow for the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) from 2011 to 2012, postdoctoral research fellow in the Environmental Indicators program from 2012 to 2015, and postdoctoral research fellow for the ARC Transforming the Mining Value Chain Research Hub from 2015 to 2019 at CODES, where she acted as deputy leader of Theme 3 minimising geoenvironmental risks and leader of Program 2 Geometallurgy, Geoenvironment and Mining. Joining UQ in 2019, she founded and leads the Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) research group, Australia's premier secondary prospectivity initiative. She also holds the position of deputy director in the Critical Resources for the Future ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre and was Assistant Editor of Minerals Engineering from 2017 to 2019. Additionally, she served as Adjunct Senior Researcher at the University of Tasmania from 2019 to 2022.

Parbhakar-Fox's research specializations encompass geometallurgy, applied geochemistry, mineralogy, and solid waste management, with a focus on mine waste characterisation to enhance mine planning, predict acid rock drainage, manage tailings and slags, and recover critical metals from historical and abandoned sites. She has developed innovative tests and protocols for waste assessment and leads government and industry-funded projects, including those on carbon-negative mines, Queensland's secondary prospectivity, and optimised copper production. Key publications include 'Development of a textural index for the prediction of acid rock drainage' (Minerals Engineering, 2011), 'A critical review of acid rock drainage prediction methods and practices' (Minerals Engineering, 2015), 'A geometallurgical approach to tailings management: an example from the Savage River Fe-ore mine, Western Tasmania' (Minerals, 2018), and contributions to 196 works catalogued in UQ eSpace. She supervises PhD candidates on topics such as geospatial models for critical mineral extraction from mine waste and sulphide transformation pathways. Her contributions have garnered awards including Superstar of STEM in 2023 and recognition in the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining in 2024, influencing sustainable mining through collaborations with industry, METS sector, and government stakeholders.