Heavy metal metallurgy and advanced material research institute (Heavy Metal Metallurgy Institute, HMMI) was founded on the foundation of original heavy metal metallurgy department of Central South University of Technology (CSUT). With the establishment of Metallurgy Science and engineering school (now as Metallurgy and Environment school) in April 2002, its name was formally revised as Heavy metal Metallurgy and advanced Material research Institute. The institute is consists of twenty-seven members, including ten professors (one academician of the ChineseAcademyofEngineeringand six doctoral supervisors), seven associated professors, ten lectures. Twenty-one of them hold doctoral degrees and three of them have master degrees. Several academic groups with unique research directions are established and leaded by academic leaders.

HMMI now possesses laboratories with gross area of1237.76m2and scientific apparatus worth of 4.5 million. HMMI is the pillar of our university’s nonferrous metallurgy national key discipline. HMMI also possesses doctoral programs and a postdoctoral research station. Until now, except for the bachelors, HMMI has also trained more than 53 doctors and 156 masters, who have become management and technical backbones in relevant corporations and institutes, some of whom has become well-known scholars and entrepreneurs.

Being one of the important research bases of heavy metal metallurgy, HMMI has assumed eighteen national natural science foundations, four "863" projects, nine national key scientific and technological projects, thirty-three provincial projects and over two hundred projects from companies since 1995. In the past ten years, HMMI averaged annual revenues of three million. Rewarded by the active scientific work, a large number of scientific and technological achievements have won high grade scientific achievement evaluations and awards. In the past decade, twenty-four projects have subjected to scientific achievement evaluations (eleven projects were judged as “International advanced”). One National science and technology progress award and thirty provincial science and technology awards were rewarded. Over sixty-eight patents were applied and over thirty-six were authorized. A series of advanced technologies with unique properties were developed in areas of complex ore processing and product deep processing, ultrapure metal/ metal compound production, soft magnetic ferrite material production, superfine powder preparation, noble metal extraction and refining, bi-metal electrolysis, brass direct electrolysis and application of computer science in metallurgy.

In the past twenty years, teachers in HMMI has published thirty-seven monographs and over one thousand articles on heavy metal metallurgy and material in international academic conferences and scientific journals, three hundred of them are cited by foreign authority index, which greatly improved the reputation of HMMI. In the published monograph, "Antimony", "Antimony metallurgy", "Encyclopedia of China (Mining volumes) ", "China Metallurgical Encyclopedia (non-ferrous metallurgy volumes) ", "Nonferrous extractive metallurgy Handbook", "Theory and methods of recycling nonferrous metal resources", "Application of chemical potential diagram in the hydrometallurgy and wastewater purification", "Zinc hydrometallurgy", "Heavy metal metallurgy", "Basis of metallurgical Equipment", "Pyrometallurgical equipment" and "Hydrometallurgical equipment", "Manganese metallurgy", etc. have become essential reference book of the professionals. Especially "Antimony"(edited by Professor Zhao Tiancong), which evokes worldwide repercussion and is well-known as antimony encyclopedia, won the fifth outstanding science and technology book award of state administration of press, publication, radio, film and television of china in 1990.