Professor John de Laeter (1933 – 2010) established the Physics Department at Curtin University in 1968, and developed a geochronology capability in WA in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Western Australia. Rising to the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Development, John spearheaded a tripartite proposal to commission a new SHRIMP ion microprobe at Curtin in 1994, and received funding in 1998 to establish a State Centre of Excellence Program in geochemistry and isotope science which was aptly named the John de Laeter Centre for Mass Spectrometry. 

The John de Laeter Centre (JdLC) at Curtin University is the premier research infrastructure centre in the world for the characterisation and analysis of strategically important critical minerals industry. 

 

The Centre has been working with the Geological Survey of Western Australia for 56 years to improve the understanding of Western Australian mineral deposits. Curtin’s resource assessment research infrastructure was boosted by state funding under the WA Centres of Excellence program in 1999 and since that time has grown to operate >$50 million in advanced analytical instruments fundamental to research and innovation to the minerals, energy, defense and manufacturing sector. 

With the recent launch of the $10.7M AuScope Geoscience Ion Microprobe Facility by the French Ambassador and the State Minister for Minerals and Energy, the facility will be used by Earth scientists to determine the composition and evolution of our continent, mapping its mineral deposits, and improving ore processing. It provides the research infrastructure needed by Australia’s resource industry to discover the next generation of critical minerals.