In 1951 , White took up the Queensland government 's offer to lease the Silver Mine at Indooroopilly ( formerly Finney 's Hill United Silver Mines Limited ) , to be used as a teaching and research facility . Close examination of mine survey plans ( initialed and dated ) reflect his seminal role as the architect for this transformation . Under his leadership , the Queensland University Experimental Mine was promptly recognized as an integral part of the educational and research capacity of the school . It played an important role in the implementation of the Colombo Plan for staff training for the mineral industries of South-East Asia , and for the university as a whole was considered a " great success " . Much of the rehabilitation of old workings was done as a means of providing training in mine rehabilitation for personnel from countries which lacked facilities for at-the-face training . Being able to offer an on-site mining environment was then ( and still is ) a rare and distinguishing feature of mining education shared by only a small minority of mineral sciences institutions , such as the Colorado School of Mines , Edgar Experimental Mine , and Poland 's Central Mining Institute , whose Barbara Experimental Mine is used for testing devices , equipment , materials and procedures in real underground conditions . White was awarded a Nuffield Foundation travelling fellowship in 1951 , which he used to visit the mining fields of Southern and East Africa , Belgian Congo , and India , with concurrent visits to Austria for the Queensland State Government and Cyprus at the request of Mount Morgan Ltd . In addition , during this year , he made visits to mining centres in Queensland , including Mt Isa , Herberton , Mt Garnet and Mt Morgan . White was a recipient of the '' Coronation Medal '' in 1953 . In this year he also served as president , The Australian Institute of Metals ( A.I.M. ) ; he was state president in 1952 and in 1960 . At A.I.M. conferences , he contributed scholarly papers on the antiquity of metallurgy , and its development over the ages ; these works on the history of metals were subsequently published . He was awarded the A.I.M. 's '' Taylor Memorial Medal '' for metallurgical achievement in 1958 . He was also an active member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy , where he also made scholarly contributions , including a paper on the history of coal production and use . In 1957 , the International Geophysical Year , Professor White was awarded a Carnegie Fellowship ( Grant in Aid ) , for which he took study leave in the interests of mining and metallurgical education , research and related developments in Western Europe , the United Kingdom , and North America ( the US and Canada )
Coronation Medal
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
Frank T. M. White