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Bellevue Gold’s (ASX:BGL) namesake gold project in WA remains on budget and is set for first production in the December 2023 quarter. The first toll treatment material from the Vanguard open pit has been trucked to the Gwalia plant, enabling Bellevue to generate early cash flow ahead of processing at the Bellevue gold mine plant. Completion of the mill and gravity circuit structural steel and the conveyor structures has been achieved ahead of belt installation next week while painting of the fine ore bin has begun and positioning of the mill shell sections and bolting continues. Installation of the knelson gravity separators, cyclone nest and screen has been completed, and installation of various process and sump pumps has begun in…

Group 6 Metals (ASX:G6M) has dispatched its first shipment of tungsten concentrate from its Dolphin tungsten mine (DTM) on King Island, Tasmania. The shipment was loaded at the Port of Grassy on King Island and contained around 13t of tungsten concentrate with an average grade of 69% tungsten trioxide. The shipment is valued at $300k cost, insurance and freight (CIF) with 85% of the proceeds expected to be received next week. Group 6 managing director and chief executive Keith McKnight said the first shipment is a major achievement for the company and the mine. “The first shipment of tungsten concentrate and recognition of sales revenue is a major achievement for the DTM. This is a significant step towards building cash…

Northam is set to become home to one of the first end-to-end green hydrogen production systems in WA following a $5m investment. The system — named the MEG HP1 Hydrogen project — will be built in partnership by Infinite Green Energy, Korean Samsung C&T and Doral Energy Group. The $5m funding comes from the WA Government’s investment attraction fund and will go towards two 5MW electrolysers to establish a hydrogen production eco-system, hydrogen storage compression technology and general construction. Green hydrogen produced by the project aims to be a cost competitive, environmentally friendly alternative to other forms of fuel such as diesel. Once up and running, the project is expected to produce around four tonnes of hydrogen every day for…

The Western Green Energy Hub and Korea Electric Power Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of one of Australia’s largest green hydrogen energy hubs. The project which will be located in WA’s Goldfields-Esperance region on mining country, will cover 15,000km2 and require around 3000 wind turbines and 25m solar panel modules. These turbines and modules generate energy for electrolysis which converts water into hydrogen. Once complete, the project will become one of the largest of such green energy hubs in the world and generate 3.5mt of zero-carbon green hydrogen per year. Construction is expected to span around 20 years and create thousands of jobs. WA Hydrogen Industry Minister Bill Johnston congratulated both companies. “Congratulations to…

VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) has secured a $2m grant from the Western Australian State Government’s Investment Attraction Fund (IAF). The IAF is part of the Sate Government’s Diversify WA initiative, a collaboration between government, industry and the community supporting the focus on creating secure, quality jobs, growing and diversifying the economy and attracting new investment. The grant is being awarded on a matched funding, dollar for dollar basis, where IAF will provide a financial contribution to VRX, up to $2m. VRX will use the grant for test work and construction of a pilot plant for the high purity quartz flour project. The company intends to develop a high purity quartz flour manufacturing process to meet a standard of 99.999% pure silicon…

Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) has successfully installed a 2.1MW solar-battery system at its Wonmunna iron ore project in WA’s Pilbara region. Installation of the 4000 solar panels is now complete and following testing and optimisation, the technology is providing significant benefits for site operations and reducing dependency on diesel fuel. The solar-battery system will produce more than 30% of the mine’s power requirements and cut diesel consumption by roughly 760,000l per year. It will also reduce the site’s carbon emissions by around 2000t of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. Additionally, the crusher is 100% powered by the solar-battery system during the middle of the day when renewable output meets peak plant load. In the warmer summer months, the system can displace…

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) has made a $40.4m investment in Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) for an initial 15% shareholding. The mining giant has agreed to initially subscribe for and purchase 83,095,592 new fully paid Sovereign shares at a price of 48.6¢ per share. The subscription also involves Rio being granted options to acquire 34,549,598 further shares in Sovereign within 12 months of the initial subscription to increase its shareholding to 19.99%. Sovereign will use the proceeds from Rio to advance the Kasiya rutile graphite project, including progressing a definitive feasibility study focused on developing a world-class, low carbon dioxide mine capable of supplying material to the titanium pigment, titanium metals and lithium-ion battery industries. Sovereign chairman Ben Stoikovich said the agreement will…

EQ Resources (ASX:EQR) has installed its third TOMRA XRT ore sorter. Over the past 12 months of operating and sorting the low-grade stockpile, EQ Resources has seen an average 10% to 12% mass yield from the feed concentrate and has optimised the processing parameters to maximise tungsten recoveries. Since starting to process the primary ore from the Andy White open pit, an increased mass yield ranging between 15% to 18% have been achieved, with stable tungsten trioxide recoveries above 95%. Now that the new sorter has been installed, TOMRA technicians are set to arrive on site this week for commissioning. With the open pit ore deliveries, operations have experienced a higher proportion of material in the sortable fraction, which is…

BHP (ASX:BHP), China Baowu and Monash University have formed an industry knowledge centre to accelerate the deployment of technology capable of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from steel production. The industry knowledge centre will enable the real-world testing and assessment of carbon dioxide abatement technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the blast furnace route for steel production. It will also facilitate the assessment of several potential CO2 abatement options and review funding applications from partner institutes in Australia and China. BHP sales and marketing sustainability vice president Dr Rod Dukino said the industry knowledge centre is an important addition to the company’s portfolio. “This is an important addition to our portfolio mix of research and industry partnerships aimed at…

Clara Resources (ASX:C7A) is continuing to make good progress on the route-to-market option for transporting Ashford coking coal from the mine to the port. Road Haulage Specialist transport consultants Smith Global (SG) are continuing to refine the options study commissioned by Clara for road transportation of coking coal between the proposed Ashford mine in NSW and the soon-to-be-completed Inland rail project (IRP) line. Clara engaged SG to examine viable road-based transportation solutions to move coking coal from the Ashford mine to a rail head on the closest segment on the IRP. SG identified a list of routes able to service possible rail head locations and have refined locations between North Star and Croppa Creek. These routes range from 100km to…

Roy Hill has contracted K2fly’s ground disturbance solution for its integrated iron ore mining, rail and port operations in the Pilbara region of WA for five years. The contract is expected to generate annual recurring revenue of $300k and it has a total contract value of $2m. K2fly chief executive Nic Pollock is pleased with the partnership. “This agreement firmly establishes K2fly as the leading supplier of natural resource governance solutions in the Pilbara region of WA,” he said. “Our commercial off the shelf ground disturbance solution is unique globally and supports mining companies to protect their licence to operate in an increasingly regulated sector of the market. “We are really pleased to expand our partnership with Roy Hill and…