MINING could soon become as synonymous with Muresk as agriculture.
A rejuvenation of the campus as a multi-talented, multi-functional facility is underway, following $10 million Royalties for Regions funding along with a new initiative spear-headed by Ausdrill and Sitegroup Intentional, to establish a mining academy at the facility.
Ausdrill managing director Ron Sayers revealed his vision for Muresk as a mine camp-site facility last week.
He outlined the plans of a working hardrock mine, machinery and simulators to produce high quality, safety conscious, site-ready workers for the mining industry.
Ausdrill has purchased about 800 hectares of land from Curtin University, of which 650ha is arable farm land.
The remainder is a rocky outcrop which Ausdrill will potentially covert into a quarry or a hardrock mine for training purposes.
Pending approval from the Department of Conservation and the Northam Shire, Mr Sayers said the company would then sell the arable land to a neighbouring farmer, Gerald O'Brien.
Untill then Mr O'Brien had agreed to lease the quarry on his property to the mining company for 12 months, with a 12 month option pending approval, for the training academy.
Mr Sayers said ideally if all went to plan they would look to start training on June 1 this year.
He was not expecting any road blocks to delay that time frame as everyone involved had been fully supportive of the plans.
"It is a logical progression," he said.
"Muresk is struggling on the agricultural side and we will give the facility some security and keep the place operating.
"We will likely only start off small, with around 20 people, but we will look to grow from there as quickly as we can."
Mr Sayers noted that the intention was for Muresk to cater for students in both the mining and agricultural industries.
"We also want to provide ongoing access for training for the agricultural industry," Mr Sayers said.
"If we keep Muresk alive, Muresk can do that, but we need to support it through the mining industry to give it the revenue."
He said the two industries complemented each other perfectly.
"When I first started Ausdrill I went looking for farmers because they could stand in the heat, they could swallow the dust and they knew how to check the oil on an engine," Mr Sayers said. "Kids out of the city just didn't know how to do that."
Member for the Agricultural Region Jim Chown MLC, was supportive of the mining academy proposal and the opportunities it presented for the sustainable future of Muresk.
"There has always been a symbiosis between the farming and mining industries in WA," Mr Chown said
"In a previous life I was a farmer in Dalwallinu and I have also tried my hand at mining.
"There is clearly an interchangeability of skills between the two industries that will certainly complement their co-location at the Muresk campus."
Muresk introduced Australia's first agribusiness degree 40 years ago but its future as a tertiary education centre was thrown into turmoil when Curtin University made plans to pull out of the campus in 2010.
But the future is looking bright with CY O'Connor Institute reaching an in-principle agreement with Charles Sturt University to deliver a Bachelor of Agricultural Business Management starting at Muresk in 2014.
The agreement is subject to finalisation of a contract between the two institutions and the Federal Government agreeing to allocation of funded places for its delivery.
