Author: Chloe Coutinho

Australia and Canada target ‘high standards’ critical minerals Australia and Canada signed a joint declaration of intent on critical minerals collaboration at the G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting. The agreement will see the countries promoting and strengthening cooperation and trade in critical minerals value chains. Other objectives include advancing projects of mutual interest, encouraging commercial partnerships and research collaborations and addressing policy challenges faced by producer nations. This follows last week’s announcement of a US-Australia Framework for Securing Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths, which will support a $13b (US$8.5b) pipeline...

New hub commences production at Onslow Iron Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) has safely commended production at the Upper Cane and Cardo Bore East hub, high-grade deposits located about 16km south of the Ken’s Bore mine. Part of the project’s Stage 1 mining activities, the hub is just the second area to be mined at Onslow Iron. Ore is now being hauled on the intra-mine haul road to crushing and processing facilities at Ken’s Bore. MinRes executive general manager Onslow Iron Mike Tonkin says bringing the...

Resolution positioned for US DoW funding following acquisition Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) will acquire 100% of the shares in Remington Capital Corporation which holds an option to acquire the Johnson Creek tungsten and antimony mill and antimony camp properties in Idaho, US. This acquisition would cement Resolution as one of the few US-based antimony, tungsten and gold companies with its own in-house processing capability. The timing of the acquisition, alongside the US’ aggressive strategy towards critical minerals, is no coincidence. Resolution sees this as a “springboard” for solving the Pentagon’s need to secure immediate US supply of...

BHP and POSCO partner up on ‘near zero emissions’ tech BHP (ASX: BHP) and POSCO have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) advancing POSCO’s hydrogen reduction ironmaking technology (HyREX). The technology eliminates the sintering and coking processes used in conventional integrated steelworks operations. It consists of a hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) production process using fluidised bed reactors (FBR) and an electric smelting furnace (ESF) process for melting the reduced iron. Trials are planned to be undertaken utilising BHP’s Pilbara iron ore at POSCO’s HyREX demonstration plant in Pohang, South Korea — which,...

CME calls for power relief, uranium mining and speedier approvals  The WA CME has warned that WA and Australia’s investment fundamentals have become increasingly uncompetitive in its FY27 pre budget submission (PBS).  Restoring the state's standing as an internationally competitive resources jurisdiction is the key theme of the PBS, which identifies timely and efficient approvals processes, project-ready strategic industrial areas and delivery of low emission, reliable and globally cost-competitive energy systems as priority areas for the WA Government.  The mining industry has afforded WA significant economic benefits. In FY24, WA households enjoyed disposable income per capita 9% higher than the national average,...

Anglo American raises iron ore guidance  Anglo American saw steady performance across copper, iron ore and manganese ore in Q3 CY25 as the company continues with its portfolio simplification.  The company says it is well positioned to meet 2025 guidance, with the miner maintaining production and unit cost guidance with the exception of the Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil.  In Q3, Minas-Rio benefited from strong operational performance and a successful pipeline inspection, allowing Anglo American to increase guidance from 22-24mt to 23-25mt.  Iron ore production for Q3 dropped 9% from Q3 CY24 primarily driven by anticipated lower production from Minas-Rio due to the...

Lynas to establish new rare earths facility   Lynas Rare Earths (ASX: LYC) is establishing a $180m separation facility in Malaysia to secure a reliable source of heavy rare earth (HRE) oxides outside of China.  The new facility will have the capacity to separate up to 5000tpa of HRE feedstock which will come from the miner’s high-grade Mt Weld rare earths deposit in addition to other sources to be developed.  The phased construction of the facility will see priority projects delivered first. First production of samarium from Mt Weld feedstock is planned for April 2026.  Processing capacity will be progressively added...

Liontown working its way out of the red  Liontown (ASX: LTR) is nearing a break-even point as the miner ramps up its underground production and with the open pit nearing completion at its Kathleen Valley operations.   The underground operations achieved a 1mtpa run-rate in September, six months after first stoping. 225kt of underground ore was mined in Q1 FY26, marking a 105% increase from Q4 FY25.   Liontown also saw a 77% increase in open pit ore mined for the quarter with a total of 292kt mined at a weighted average grade of 1.3% lithium oxide.  Liontown managing director and chief...

Mount Gibson Iron to cut 450 jobs amid mine closure  Mount Gibson Iron (ASX: MGX) will close its Koolan Island mine operations following a significant rockfall.  Production from Koolan Island was previously planned to conclude around September 2026.  Remediating the affected area and resuming mining is not viable given the safety risks and potential future instability, according to Mount Gibson Iron.  Mount Gibson Iron will retain about 75 site personnel for continued processing and rehabilitation activities. The company expects about 250 redundancies and the loss of 200 contractor roles.  Mount Gibson chief executive Peter Kerr comments on the closure.   “It...

Northern Star suffers 20,000oz hit to gold sales  Northern Star (ASX: NST) expects a 20,000oz impact to its Q2 FY26 sales due to operational disruptions at Jundee and South Kalgoorlie early in the quarter.  The miner says the affected volumes will be processed over the remainder of FY26.  In Q1, gold sold totalled 381,000oz with all in sustaining costs of $2,522/oz.  Northern Star has maintained its FY26 guidance of 1.7moz-1.85moz gold sold with all in sustaining costs in the range of $2,300-2,700/oz.  Northern Star managing director Stuart Tonkin says Q1 delivered a mixed performance across the...

Fortescue backed by iron ore in record quarter  Fortescue (ASX: FMG) shipped 49.7mt of iron ore in Q1 FY26, a record amount for the company, up 4% on the prior year.  Guidance for FY26 shipments, C1 unit cost and capital expenditure remains unchanged.  Total ore mined was 60.1mt and total ore processed of 50.8mt, 5% and 6% higher than Q1 FY25, respectively.  While performance was strong, Iron Bridge is still lagging. The operation contributed 2.1mt of iron ore in Q1, well below its nameplate capacity of 22mtpa. Fortescue expects the operation to reach nameplate capacity by FY28.  Fortescue metals and operations chief executive Dino Otranto comments on the...