Off the Record: BHP’s decarb gap is getting harder to ignore

RTS highlights industry-wide concerns This week in Perth, WA, key industry representatives addressed some major challenges the Australian mining industry is facing at the Resources Technology Showcase. Concerns surrounding the feasibility of global green steel production amid challenging industry conditions, oversupply, low ore grades, approval delays and low ore prices, were prominent. BHP (ASX: BHP) WA iron ore asset president Tim Day says getting the costs of smelting iron ore using lower emissions fuels to compete with traditional blast furnaces is at least 10 years away. “It is very hard to compete against an established industry and making the industry commercial in Australia...

The Queensland Government has declared a $662m extension proposal of Peabody Energy’s Centurion coal mine as a coordinated project. 

Coal’s opportunity to power energy transition Abandoned coal mines could host more than 52GW of solar in Queensland and more than 14GW in NSW according to a Global Energy Monitor (GEM) study. The study assessed decommissioned and soon to be closed surface coal mines across the globe and their potential to be given a second life as a solar farm, identifying the global capacity to host more than 300GW of solar. Four major coal producers were identified as having the greatest opportunity for coal to solar transitions, including Indonesia, the US and India with Australia at the...