Olivia Mejías González

Dr Olivia Mejías González is the group leader of the Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) group at the W. H. Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre (BRC) within the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI), and Research Fellow in the ARC Training Centre for Critical Resources for the Future (CCRF).

Olivia is a geologist/geometallurgist (MSc, PhD) with 14 years of combined industry and research experience, including her PhD research, applying geochemical and mineralogical characterisation throughout the mining value chain, from exploration and production geology to geometallurgy, across both ore and mine waste materials.

Throughout these years, she has gained valuable experience leading, developing, and applying geometallurgical approaches to Cu-Mo porphyry ores; advancing geochemical studies in Co-rich IOCG systems; and understanding the biogeochemical cycling of In in anthropogenic environments and its implications from a resource-recovery and environmental perspective, particularly in mine wastes derived from Cu-Sn granite-related and Cu-Au VMS deposits, and surrounding creek systems.

She has been growing her expertise across a range of analytical techniques, including LIBS, automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN, MLA and MAPS Mineralogy), LA-ICP-MS, synchrotron-based XFM and XAS, atom probe tomography, and geochemical modelling.

Olivia is a dedicated and collaborative researcher who is passionate about characterising mine waste materials, with a focus on identifying potential metals, critical minerals, and other recoverable products to support sustainable mine waste reprocessing, using an industry-driven research approach to make outcomes transferable and applicable. If you are interested in these topics and keen to collaborate or explore research and industry problem-solving opportunities together, please get in touch!