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By Samantha James A new report claims that a 5 per cent drop in Chinese coal consumption year on year, slow electricity demand growth of 0.5 per cent and an increase in non-thermal electricity generation has resulted in the ‘snuffing out’ of the seaborne thermal coal market. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report stated  Chinese coal imports in calendar 2015 had dropped by 30 per cent and predicted another 30 per cent decline in global traded thermal coal demand by 2021. “With the collapse in both Indian (down 34 per cent year on year) and Chinese (down 35 per cent year on year) coal imports in December 2015, the seaborne thermal coal industry is entirely beleaguered,”...

By Reuben Adams THE Port Pirie smelter once faced an uncertain future, but a $563 million redevelopment is set to give the South Australian institution and its namesake town a new lease on life. The Port Pirie smelter has been in constant operation on the eastern shore of the Upper Spencer Gulf for an incredible 125 years. The histories of the smelter and the town are inextricably linked; the discovery of silver, lead and zinc at Broken Hill in 1883 facilitated the development of a railway connecting it with Port Pirie in 1888, and the subsequent construction of a lead smelter in 1889 to treat Broken Hill ore. Broken Hill Proprietary began constructing its own smelter from 1892, which was soon acquired...

By Samantha James CUDECO is among only a handful of companies to have solely steered a major Australian project from discovery to production. The Rocklands Group copper project near Cloncurry in Queensland has been a long-term investment for CuDeco, following the discovery of a previously-unknown zone within historical workings in 2006. Under CuDeco’s direction the newly discovered copper, cobalt and gold mineralisation at Las Minerale quickly grew, with the project soon taking in the Central Rocklands and Southern Rocklands areas, together referred to as the Rocklands Group. The ore exhibited large zones of high-grade coarse native copper ore co-mingled with oxide, supergene, transitional and primary copper ores, making it unique and the first of its kind discovered in Australia. CuDeco began...

By Samantha James THE resources industry in South Australia is supported by government initiatives that are helping the state remain one of Australia’s top mineral exporters. Once known as the ‘copper kingdom’ thanks to large discoveries made in the seventeenth century, South Australia also lays claim to the first commercial metalliferous mine in Australia, producing silver-lead ore from 1841. In the years since, exploration and development of additional commodities including uranium, iron ore, gold, silver, zinc, mineral sands, zircon and graphite have put South Australia on the world’s resources map. The state is the largest producer of uranium in Australia, hosting 80 per cent of the country’s reserves and 25 per cent of the world’s known uranium, and is home to...

By Reuben Adams A successful mining hub for more than 90 years, Mount Isa reigns as the administrative, commercial and industrial centre for Queensland’s vast north-western region – a region which is not connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM). While the NEM interconnects the eastern states and South Australia – the closest NEM connection point for North West Queensland (NWQ) is in Townsville, about 1000km away. The Queensland Government released the Sims Review of North West Queensland Energy Delivery in May 2009, calling on energy providers and major regional energy users to find a commercially viable, long-term solution to meet the needs of key regional energy users. “The current source of local generation, the CS Energy-owned Mica Creek power station,...

By Courtney Pearson Working on exciting new technology to pave the way for a future of automation in mining is all in a day’s work for CSRIO principal research engineer Dr Mark Dunn. Q. When did your journey with the CSIRO begin? I started with CSIRO in early 2008 with no domain knowledge of mining technologies or processes. My background was in technology and automation in agriculture, and that translated well into the mining industry and the types of projects that we undertake. I have a strong background in machine vision and software and hardware systems that can be used in very practical applications. I have been fortunate to be involved with a very strong team in the coal mining...

By Samantha James RESEARCH by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) claims that almost 80 per cent of miners are overweight or obese. The statistics, commissioned by Jenny Craig, ranked mining as the most overweight industry in the country at 78.2 per cent, with transport, postal and warehousing (74.8 per cent) and wholesale trading (69.7 per cent) coming a close second and third. An obese employee was terminated by BHP Coal at a site in Queensland in 2014 on the basis that his weight was a safety risk. This decision was upheld by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, which ruled that employers’ rights and obligations to ensure the safety of employees extend to the impact of overweight workers. Commercial law...

By Samantha James A new binding heads of agreement will see Stone Resources Australia and MHM Metals jointly develop Stone Resources’ Brightstar gold project near Laverton, WA. The Brightstar projects covers about 300 square kilometres and includes the previously mined Alpha gold deposit, as well as the Beta, Gamma, Ben Hur, King of Creation and Cork Tree Well gold prospects and the 350,000 tonne per annum Brightstar gold treatment plant, which is currently on care and maintenance. Stone Resources released an updated resource estimate for the project in June 2015 totalling 13.36 million tonnes grading 1.7 grams per tonne of gold to contain 739,000oz of gold. Under the agreement, MHM could earn up to 80 per cent in the Brightstar project,...

By Courtney Pearson TASMANIAN miner Grange Resources has warned it may begin making redundancies due to low iron ore prices. Grange employs between 550 and 600 workers at its Savage River magnetite mine and concentration plant 100km south west of Burnie. Despite record production of magnetite pellets during 2015, Grange stated it was looking to cut costs. “An optimisation strategy, which is expected to be completed early in 2016, is part of Grange’s overarching strategy to continue reducing costs, maximising margins and retaining free cash flow,” the company stated. “Due to the continued weakness in the iron ore price and subdued pellet demand combined with the optimisation strategy, redundancies may be made.” In its June 2015 half-year report the company...

By Samantha James EVOLUTION Mining has completed its takeover of Phoenix Gold after months of negotiations. The company made an initial bid for Phoenix in mid-August 2015 as a counter-offer to an unsolicited, conditional off-market offer made by Zijin Mining Group in late June. By this time Evolution had purchased 19.8 per cent of Phoenix’s shares, making it the company’s largest shareholder. Both Zijin and Evolution’s offers were rejected as inadequate, despite Evolution’s 20 per cent premium on Zijin’s offer price of $0.10 per Phoenix share. Negotiations with Evolution continued and in November Phoenix announced a recommended transaction “acknowledging the likelihood that Evolution imminently gain control of Phoenix”. The revised offer comprised cash and shares, with total consideration increased...