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By Rachel Dally-Watkins UNSW Australia’s School of Mining research director and conference chair Associate Professor Dr Serkan Saydam spoke to Rachel Dally-Watkins about what delegates can expect at the Third International Future Mining Conference and Second Off-Earth Mining Forum. Q: What will be some of the key issues for mining in the future, and what industry-wide changes need to be considered now? We’re in the down side of the bust and boom cycle right now, but the mining industry has always been driven by commodity prices. There are many economic uncertainties as well as technical uncertainties facing this industry, but we can’t make changes for the economic uncertainties because that’s not something that is in our hands. So what we…

By Samantha James October 15, 2015 THE WA State Government has vowed to work with the Mining Industry Advisory Committee (MIAC) to address several recommendations made in a parliamentary report into the mental health impact on fly in, fly out workers in the resources industry. Mines and Petroleum minister Bill Marmion said the government had carefully considered the report by the Education and Health Standing Committee, which recommended 30 actions to improve workers’ mental health. “The health and safety of workers in the resources industry is one of the government’s highest priorities,” he said. “Mental health is a community-wide concern and any information highlighting factors influencing the incidence of mental health issues among vulnerable sections of the community is welcomed.…

By Samantha James Rio Tinto Iron Ore holds 15 mines 1700km of rail, four port terminals, three power stations, and around 360 trucks, 39 production drills and 190 locomotives in the Pilbara region of WA. All these assets utilise various integrated automated systems, also relying on unmanned trucks and drills to mine iron ore. RIO Tinto produces more than 295 million tonnes per annum of iron ore from its Pilbara operations. Following the completion of port and rail infrastructure in 2015, Rio Tinto is concentrating on improving system-wide efficiency and productivity. The company has been researching new ways to deliver cost savings and improve environmental impacts and safety since operations commenced nearly 50 years ago; and then in 2008 the…

By Samantha James One hundred and thirty years on, BHP Billiton is an old company with new tricks. Despite price drops affecting its major commodities– iron ore, coal and copper – BHP Billiton made more than US$44 billion in revenue for fiscal 2015 and reported a 9 per cent increase in overall production. THE company in its current form was created in 2001 when BHP and Billiton merged.  BHP’s first discovery was made in 1883 in Broken Hill, NSW and Billiton’s was at Billiton Island in western Indonesia. After the merger, the diversified entity quickly grew to become one of the largest mining companies in Australia and the world. Following the demerger of South32 in May 2015, the company retains…

By Courtney Pearson October 12, 2015 BRINGING together the entire mining industry is no easy task, yet for the second year in a row, the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) plans to do just that. The inaugural IMARC, held in 2014, aimed to unite mining leaders, policy makers, financiers, technical experts, innovators, collaborators and educators. The five-day event attracted 200 speakers from across the globe to deliver presentations, share their insights, address challenges and look ahead, IMARC event director Anita Richards said. “Thought leaders in innovation, investment, workforce strengthening, policy, safety and more were positioned front and centre, presenting to an audience of over 2000 key mining and resources industry representatives,” she said. The 2015 conference will feature a mining…

By Samantha James October 7, 2015 NEW data released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) into the pay gap between men and women in management positions has highlighted the need for change in the resources sector. WGEA reported in September 2015 that 28.9 per cent of women employed in key management personnel (KMP) positions across several industries were paid at a lower rate than their male counterparts. This was followed by general managers at 27.5 per cent, then other managers and senior managers at 24.6 per cent and 23.5 per cent respectively. The resources sector has the lowest percentage of female managers at 13.7 per cent, compared to an average across all industries of 48 per cent of employees…

By Samantha James October 7, 2015 ROY Hill EPC contractor Samsung C&T and subcontractor Best Tech have clashed in the WA Supreme Court over failed payments associated with work at the $10 billion project. According to Best Tech, Samsung failed to make payments for the supply of about 15,000t of steel modules for the project. Samsung stated that the Thai supplier had reneged on its contract obligations, and gave notice that it would seize a bank guarantee related to contract. This was temporarily blocked by Supreme Court Justice Janine Pritchard. A number of Roy Hill subcontractors have clashed with Samsung, most in relation to changes to the scope of work under contracts at the Pilbara project. NRW Holdings issued dispute…

By Samantha James AUSTRADE is finishing up a month of mining-focused investment activities designed to boost international trade and development opportunities for Australian Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) providers. The Government-run promotional agency for investment, trade and education was a key participant in the AIMEX conference and Africa Down Under forum in September. Its overseas offices also coordinated Australian company participation at key mining events in major offshore markets including Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Peru and Kazakhstan. Austrade’s Resource and Energy Trade team is supported by an international network comprising 80 offices in 60 countries that assist Australian METS suppliers to enter the global supply chains of major multinational mining companies. The department works with industry partners including Austmine, HunterNet,…

By Courtney Pearson October 7, 2015 THE Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET) is officially open for business three years after construction began, providing the coal industry with 27mt of export capacity per annum from the port of Gladstone. Queensland’s newest export terminal shipped its first 1 million tonnes of coal at the start of September. The privately-funded Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET) is owned by eight Australian and international resources companies including Glencore, Aquila Resources, Caledon Coal and Yancoal. The consortium celebrated mechanical completion and its first shipment of 73,000t of coal towards the end of April and hasn’t looked back since. The terminal is the end destination for the longest train on Aurizon’s Central Queensland Coal Network – at…

By Courtney Pearson October 7, 2015 MCARTHUR River Mine (MRM) has agreed to pay the Northern Territory Government a sizable increase to its security bond for future site rehabilitation. Mine operator Glencore was given until 1 October to pay the “significant increase” to continue operating its Boroloola zinc mine, Chief Minister Adam Giles said. The figure was not disclosed. “The bond is one of a number of issues which we have been working hard to resolve with MRM,” he said. “We want miners to keep working at Boroloola and we want MRM to meet its obligations to protect the environment.” In February last year the NT Government discovered that mining waste at the site varied from what was assessed and approved…

By Courtney Pearson October 7, 2015 SPIN-off S2 Resources, which hopes to list on the ASX by mid-October, is confident that it will continue to build on the achievements of Sirius Resources. Members of the Sirius Resources management team have moved to S2, with a pay cut, in attempts to emulate and surpass past successes. “We want to do Sirius all over again, and we believe we can,” S2 Resources managing director and chief executive Mark Bennett told the WA Mining Club. “We are in a much better position as Sirius mark one than Sirius mark two.” S2 will begin a $1 million drilling program at the Baloo prospect which contained a “significant zone of gold mineralisation”. “We’re in a…