The Cooperative Research Centre for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration (CRC LEME) is established and supported under the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centre Program. LEME is now in its last year (2007-2008) of a seven-year renewal, being the successor of the highly acclaimed CRC for Landscape Evolution and Mineral Exploration, which formally finished in June 2001.
Its role is to apply regolith science to the challenges facing Australia in natural resource management and mineral exploration. Regolith is the surficial mantle of weathered rock, sediments, soils and biotic complexes that are formed by the natural processes of weathering erosion and transportation.
LEME is an unincorporated joint venture between Geoscience Australia, CSIRO (represented by the divisions of Exploration & Mining, and Land & Water), Australian National University, Curtin University of Technology, Adelaide University, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Primary Industries and Resources of South Australia, and Minerals Council of Australia. As such it has access to 155 (amounting to 78 Full Time Equivalent) research scientists, drawn from both in-kind contributions and cash-funded positions in participating organisations. In addition it has a large cohort of PhD and Honours students, supported by its Student Program. This body of research expertise is assembled into multi-disciplinary research teams, under a program structure managed by the Executive, to address our strategic research priorities.
Over the life of LEME (2001-2008) we expect to receive income from CRC grants, participant contributions and industry, totalling some $38m, which will be disbursed on research. When the value of in-kind salaries and resources of some $94m is added, we have a total resource value of nearly $132m.
