Rio partners with Sandvik to advance autonomous drilling

MINING giant Rio Tinto has announced it will invest its considerable resources in a new approach to tackle a looming skills gap in the nation’s future workforce. The company will invest $10m in a four-year national program targeted at school-age learners, that aims to fast-track the development of skills needed for the digital future, including critical thinking, problem-solving, automation, systems design, and data analytics. Developed in partnership with leading education and innovation start-up accelerator BlueChilli and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the program will crowd-source and fund ideas from start-ups and schools – identifying existing EdTech projects aimed at enhancing future skills, that can be scaled up quickly for the use of students, teachers and parents. EdTech refers to software designed...

Lithium mica concentrates will be tested in a SiLeach pilot plant. Image: Lithium Australia.   BY ELIZABETH FABRI   LITHIUM Australia will commence testing lithium mica to determine if the material has potential to become base feedstock for its proposed large-scale pilot plant (LSPP) in WA.   Lithium mica, long considered a waste material by the mining industry, will be sourced from one of two sites in the Eastern Goldfields, and tested at ANSTO Minerals’ (a division of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) Lucas Heights laboratories in Sydney. Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said WA’s lithium fields hosted abundant pegmatites, many of which contained lithium micas. He said the company had already undertaken substantial bench-scale test work...

Safeguarding your most valuable assets with the BLH stop DropTM barricading system Working at heights presents many unexpected dangers. A dropped object, no matter its size, weight, or the height it falls from, can be disastrous and negatively impact productivity, operational costs, and the lives of site personnel. Mines, oil and gas platforms, refineries, power generation and petrochemical plants, civil infrastructure projects, and food processing facilities, demand quality, reliable, and engineered systems that protect workers day-in day-out. Although many different types of dropped object prevention systems exist, only one patented system has proven itself for over a decade. Invented by BLH Safety Solutions founder Shane Gill, Stop DropTM Barricading is the original dropped object prevention solution used by the world’s...

Australian scientists have made a significant leap forward in energy storage technology with the world’s first proof-of-concept quantum battery.