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World First Explorations
New Zealand Institute for Minerals to Materials Research
Welcome to research into New Zealand’s mineral resources. Combining this with world-leading technologies, we aim to deliver a more sustainable future for all.
Leading-Edge Research Projects
At NZIMMR, our high calibre research team is working on a growing list of projects for adding value to New Zealand’s rich endowment of mineral resources.
Come and help us apply new thinking to an industry searching for value-added solutions to answer complex problems.
The purpose of NZIMMR is to research new economic opportunities from adding value to New Zealand’s mineral resources, including low-emissions technologies. This work supports the Government’s Minerals and Petroleum Resources Strategy for Aotearoa New Zealand 2019 – 2029, for promoting a domestic minerals industry.
We have the opportunity to create materials that will not only put us on the world map, but ensure our future.
Gold resists corrosion, is malleable and is the world’s most reliable and durable electrical conductor. This makes gold one of the key, low-carbon-technology metals, and New Zealand has abundant resources of it.
The sixth-lightest element on the periodic table, carbon is the stuff of life, and increasingly of advanced materials for the low-emissions economy.
A tough, hard-wearing, corrosion and heat-resistant metal, tungsten is challenging to transform from its ores, scheelite and wolframite into an export-ready concentrate, or the elemental metal.
Science Excellence
What they are, and why do we need them?
Neodymium and dysprosium are among high-value REEs found on the West Coast, starting a conversation on how to make their recovery economic. The NZIMMR’s contribution to date has been to increase the visibility of REEs and renew interest in their economic recovery.
West Coast
Tai Poutini
We're passionate about our place.
Untamed, natural wilderness.
You can expect things to be different
on the West Coast.
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The world's most accessible glaciers, a UNESCO Heritage area, natural arches big enough to park a truck in, New Zealand's West Coast has so much to offer.
Current Projects
Project 1470-6
Tungsten Tailings
Metallurgists Crack the Tungsten Code
Project 1003-5
Rare Earths & Mineral Sands
NZIMMR’s Search for REEs is extending to Mineral Sands
Project 1280-4
Pounamu
New Life for Pounamu Shavings
Project 1709-3
Silica Sands
Adding Value to New Zealand’s Silica Sand Resources
Project 1359-2
Enhancing Gold Recovery
Substantial Amounts of Gold on the West Coast
Project 1708-0
Carbon Foam
Turning Light Carbon Materials into Power