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In the global society in which we live the graduate speech-language pathologist needs to be prepared for working with a culturally diverse client group and for the possibility that they may work in a country other than the one in which they trained. International clinical placement opportunities are a common method for many Australian speech language pathology programs to prepare students for an international career and for working with a culturally diverse client group. There have been many reported benefits for students taking part in these placements. But what are the benefits for overseas students who participate in a placement in Australia? This clinical insights article asked five clinicians who had trained in the UK and who had completed a placement in Australia during their training to reflect on this experience. They reported many benefits both personally and professionally. They felt that their Australian placement experience prepared them to work with a culturally diverse client group and shaped who they areas clinicians. There were also additional benefits for the service in which they now worked.

Iron Ore Holdings Ltd (IOH) is an emerging junior iron ore company that is developing projects in the Central and Western Pilbara region of Western Australia. IOH's Phil's Creek Project, a small open cut iron ore mine that was expected to deliver around 7 000 000 tonnes of crushed and screened iron ore product over a five year mine life, faced several challenges in the environmental assessment process. A consultant was used to prepare the assessment and important lessons were learnt during the process. One major challenge related to the endangered northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), and another was the unusually high species richness of troglofauna in the project area, with several species initially known only from within the proposed pit footprint. Even though the Phil's Creek Project has been put on hold, meeting and overcoming these challenges has provided IOH with an increased understanding of the level of input required for consultation with government departments regarding environmental assessments., Iron Ore Holdings Ltd (IOH) is an emerging junior iron ore company that is developing projects in the Central and Western Pilbara region of Western Australia. IOH's Phil's Creek Project, a small open cut iron ore mine that was expected to deliver around 7 000 000 tonnes of crushed and screened iron ore product over a five year mine life, faced several challenges in the environmental assessment process. A consultant was used to prepare the assessment and important lessons were learnt during the process. One major challenge related to the endangered northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus), and another was the unusually high species richness of troglofauna in the project area, with several species initially known only from within the proposed pit footprint. Even though the Phil's Creek Project has been put on hold, meeting and overcoming these challenges has provided IOH with an increased understanding of the level of input required for consultation with government departments regarding environmental assessments.

CSIRO Minerals has developed a predictive performance model for the heap leaching of nickel laterite ores, based on fundamental mineralogy. As part of this process, variations in the mineralogy, grade, agglomeration, and leaching performance of Western Australian laterite ores were investigated and related to acid consumption, recovery and impurities deportment. The model is being developed to predict nickel and cobalt recovery, acid consumption and impurities deportment., CSIRO Minerals has developed a predictive performance model for the heap leaching of nickel laterite ores, based on fundamental mineralogy. As part of this process, variations in the mineralogy, grade, agglomeration, and leaching performance of Western Australian laterite ores were investigated and related to acid consumption, recovery and impurities deportment. The model is being developed to predict nickel and cobalt recovery, acid consumption and impurities deportment.

Fluoride is a potentially toxic ion that occurs in aquifers both naturally and as a result of anthropogenic activity. Sometimes remediation of the aquifer is required. One potential aquifer decontamination strategy is an "interception-sorption trench"-one of a number of "reactive wall" technologies. This remediation strategy relies upon natural hydraulic gradients to transport the fluoride through the aquifer to the interception-sorption trench where it partitions onto a strong sorbent-alumina. In this paper, the focus is on the development and calibration of ail equilibrium-based geochemical model that will be employed in the development of a quantitative reactive transport model, which in turn will be used for the design of ail interception-sorption trench. The geochemical model described here takes into account a variety of ions likely to be present in a sandy aquifer, chemical activities, and the surface charge on the alumina. The model is calibrated over a wide pH range and for high initial fluoride concentrations using experimental results obtained from batch tests. It is found that pH dependent equilibrium constants are needed to capture the behavior of the experimentally observed fluoride sorption. The presence of sodium sulfate in Solution is investigated, and it is found that sodium significantly interferes with the sorption of fluoride onto alumina under alkaline conditions. The geochemical model indicates that under acidic conditions, the alumina may release potentially large and unacceptable concentrations of aluminum into the aquifer. As a way of managing this potential problem, it is proposed that aluminum concentrations in the pore fluid may be mitigated by the inclusion of tree bark within the interception-sorption trench.