Author: admin

Arafura Resources Limited (ASX:ARU) has been awarded grant funding of A$30 million under the Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) which will contribute to the construction of an $90.8m rare earth separation plant at its Nolans Project in Australia’s Northern Territory. The A$1.3 billion  MMI forms part of the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Processing Roadmap that aims to develop Australia as a regional resources technology and critical minerals processing hub within 10 years. The MMI continues to build on broad Australian, Territory and export partner government support for Nolans. The grant awarded to Arafura falls under the MMI’s Collaboration Stream, which provides funding to a small number of transformational projects that will create and facilitate collaborative ecosystems. Nolans, 135…

Australia is one step closer to forecasting jobs across the whole energy sector, including renewable energy and energy efficiency, as the nation’s energy sector continues to transition to net zero carbon emissions. The Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (DISER) has committed to delivering the inaugural Australian Energy Employment Report (AEER) to identify jobs and skills in the energy sector to train and prepare the workforce for the future. Clean energy is a multi-billion-dollar sector that employs hundreds of thousands of Australians. But there has been no national framework to measure and project Australia’s clean energy job needs – until now. RACE for 2030 chief executive Jon Jutsen welcomes the commitment of the Australian Government at this…

Like many other industry sectors, the South Australian resources sector also faces looming workforce and skills shortages, according to the South Australian Chamber of Mines & Energy (SACOME), The Chamber says the combination of a global pandemic and a massive pipeline of infrastructure projects in Western Australian and the eastern States has resulted in economy-wide labour shortages. SACOME Chief Executive, Rebecca Knol, said this comes at a time where the South Australian resources sector is on the cusp of a cyclical upswing with a suite of projects and buoyant exploration activity fuelling demand for workers. In response to member concerns about labour supply, the South Australian Chamber of Mines & Energy (SACOME) commissioned reporting in late 2021 to quantify workforce…

De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG) has obtained excellent resource infill drilling results from the Brolga zone at the world-class Hemi gold discovery in Western Australia. The drilling is being conducted as part of the Prefeasibility Study (PFS) of the Mallina Gold Project. Brolga was identified, along with Diucon and Falcon, in a Scoping Study released in October 2021 as one of the early proposed production sources for the Project. Resource definition drilling allows more of the Brolga resource to be classified as JORC Indicated mineralisation. This increases the potential production target and Ore Reserve for the PFS and provides increased confidence in the Project’s projected cashflow from early production sources. Resource definition drilling at Brolga has focussed on the…

The Federal government is confident a new investment partnership with India can unlock mutual benefits for both countries from Australia’s world-leading critical minerals sector. Australia’s Minister for Resources and Water, Keith Pitt, has announced $5.8 million in funding to support a three-year Australia-India Critical Minerals Investment Partnership. “Australia and India are natural partners sharing mutual strategic and economic priorities and this Partnership will support further Indian investment in Australian critical minerals projects,” Minister Pitt said. “It is the first of its kind and represents a step-change in how countries can work together to support key industries and pursue growth opportunities. “Our combined capabilities will take on the challenge of resourcing the emerging technologies used in sectors such as defence, aerospace,…

Renewable energy penetration is set to increase on major mine-sites in the Goldfields and Pilbara regions, after one of Australia’s leading independent power producers signs a deployment agreement with a clean energy technology provider. Zenith Energy and 5B have signed an Ecosystem Framework Agreement-Deployment (ESAD), permitting Zenith to be a deployment partner of the 5B Maverick system within Australia. The 5B Maverick system solar array is prefabricated, allowing rapid deployment and increasing the ability of Zenith to expand renewable assets across existing and future sites. Managing Director Hamish Moffat said it’s the next step in reducing emissions across Zenith’s legacy portfolio. “We’ve been looking to increase renewable assets across multiple sites for some time, the question has always been around…

Just days after sending its first gold concentrate shipment to St Petersburg headquartered Polymetal International plc, Wiluna Mining Corporation Limited (ASX: WMC) has suspended further shipments to Russia due to the war in the Ukraine. The company told the ASX, that in light of the current military action in Ukraine, it will immediately suspend shipments of gold concentrate from its Wiluna Mining Centre to Russia. “During this period, Wiluna has arrangements in place to sell and ship all its concentrate to alternative destinations,” the company stated. “We will continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine and any sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation before making further decisions on the destination of its product. In late February, WMC celebrated the departure…

Boart Longyear Group Ltd’s (ASX:BLY) manufacturing plant in Wroclaw, Poland has completed the facility’s largest order ever for twelve LF160 drill rigs and FREEDOM Loaders to be delivered to Mitchell Services Limited, an Australian customer. Pat Nill, Boart Longyear’s Vice President of Global Products, said the achievement included the coordination of teams in Poland, Australia, Germany, and the US. “We are very proud of what our Polish manufacturing team and local Australian teams have achieved, which required strong global coordination between the production, engineering, and R&D teams to meet our customer’s specifications. The multiple teams truly embodied our corporate value of teamwork,” Mr Nill said. Focusing on the customer’s needs, Boart Longyear’s Adelaide-based sales team partnered with the Company’s R&D…

Polymathian has updated details on its collaborative industry project to automate OZ Minerals’ Carrapateena Mine, a sub-level cave operation in South Australia. Polymathian has been applying ground-breaking technology through a METS Ignited Industry Growth Centre Collaborative Project. The $2 million industry-led collaborative project leveraging government funding was awarded to Polymathian to deploy ORB, its mine optimisation software, at OZ Minerals’ underground Carrapateena mine. Representing industry’s continued investment in innovation, ORB is the world’s first and most advanced Short Interval Control system for near real-time optimisation of mine planning and scheduling activities. ORB is currently being used for block cave mining in Australia and around the world, where it has demonstrated an improvement to mining productivity. Industry investment has enabled Polymathian…

Australian Vanadium Limited (ASX: AVL) has nailed down a key plank in its progress in development planning for its Australian Vanadium Project in Western Australia. The company has signed a Joint Co-operation Agreement with Mid West Ports Authority (MWPA) for the future use of facilities and services at the key mid-west resources sector port facility at Geraldton, as it moves towards approval, funding and development of the Project. “Having confidence that Mid West Ports Authority will be able to directly accommodate our requirements is another big step in our pathway to production,” Managing Director, Vincent Algar, said. “Improving confidence levels in our costings and providing necessary assurances for future access and communication is a major benefit as we finalise our…