Premium Content Subscriber only Plans are under way to expand Mackay's successful Resources Centre of Excellence into stages two and three, with automation to be at the heart of its future development. RCOE general manager Steven Boxall said future stages would involve the duplication of the current centre to create an "excellence precinct" over the next 18 months to two years. "Our second and third stages are looking like being projects in the mineral processing space and also advanced manufacturing," Mr Boxall said. "What we're ultimately looking to achieve is some sort of vertically integrated business model. "In a small pilot scale, we could actually be refining minerals on site."