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The high standard of research by geology students at The University of Western Australia has won praise from Prime Minister Julia Gillard during a visit to the Crawley campus to launch a new $31 million international mining centre.

Ms Gillard said UWA was a centre of excellence in applied and meaningful research for the mining industry.

"In my short walk through the campus I've met some very excited and interesting Honours and PhD students who are working in the area of minerals research," Ms Gillard said.

"They are here because this is a centre of excellence."

Earlier, Ms Gillard visited UWA's Edward de Courcy Clarke Earth Science Museum, where she met UWA students Matthew Hill (PhD, Geology), John Owen (undergraduate, Bachelor of Science (Honours), Margaux Le Vaillant (PhD, Geology), Yongjun Lu (PhD, Geology) and Zoja Vukmanovic (PhD, Geology).

She launched the new UWA-based International Mining for Development Centre while in Perth to host the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

The Centre, - developed in partnership with the University of Queensland and funded by the Federal Government through AusAID - aims to provide practical advisory, education and training services to developing nations, particularly in Africa.

Media references

Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783