Author: Chloe Coutinho

FIRB approves Westgold-Karora merger The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) has issued its approval of Westgold’s (ASX: WGX) acquisition of Karora. The enlarged Westgold will have a $2.4b market cap with combined ore reserves of 3.2moz and mineral resources of 13moz, which Westgold says will place it solidly among the top 5 ASX-listed gold producers operating predominantly in Australia. The company will be well funded, with financial resources of about $160m and dual listing on the ASX and Toronto stock exchange (TSX). Westgold expects to complete the transaction by the end of...

Vale, Sir Roderick Carnegie Former Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Limited (CRA) chief executive, chairman and managing director Sir Roderick Carnegie passed away on July 14, aged 91. Under his leadership in the 1970s and 1980s, Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) discovered the Argyle diamond mine in WA rapidly doubling world diamond production and supplying virtually the entire world’s source of rare pink, red and violet diamonds. The company also forged strong relationships with China and continued to develop its flagship iron ore business in the Pilbara, including...

Record-breaking year for BHP iron ore and copper BHP (ASX: BHP) released its FY24 operational review, showing record iron ore production and its highest copper production in over 15 years. BHP chief executive Mike Henry says BHP had a strong finish to the year. “We finished the year with a strong fourth quarter, achieving several production records and we are meeting current production and unit cost guidance for all commodities,” he said. BHP looks to continue this year’s record production and decarbonisation efforts to drive results in FY25. Record production BHP achieved FY24 production guidance for...

Rio Tinto continues to improve in Q2 Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) has released its Q2 production results, emphasising significant upgrades to safety and operations. The report highlights investments in HSE, the energy transition and decarbonisation. Rio Tinto also reported improving iron ore production in the Pilbara for Q2, with 79.5mt produced, up 2% from Q1 of 2024. Safety Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm says the company’s operational performance is continuing to progress. “While there are still significant improvements ahead, we are beginning to see a step-change in production, including from our Queensland bauxite business following the roll-out of the Safe Production System...

Rio Tinto moves forward with $9.2b Simandou investment All conditions have now been satisfied for Rio Tinto’s (ASX: RIO) investment to develop the Simandou high-grade iron ore deposit in Guinea. This investment will be the largest greenfield integrated mine and infrastructure investment in Africa. More than 600km of new co-developed rail with port facilities will allow the export of up to 120mtpa of mined iron ore by Simfer and WCS from their respective Simandou mining concessions. Rio Tinto Guinea and copper executive committee lead Bold Baatar says they are thankful for the Government of Guinea, Chinalco, Baowu and...

Rio Tinto to power the Pilbara with 80MW solar farm Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation (NAC) and Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) will develop an 80MW solar farm on Ngarluma Country near Karratha, WA. The project will supply renewable energy to Rio Tinto’s iron ore operations in the Pilbara region and is expected to be located next to Rio Tinto’s Yurralyi Maya power station. This marks an essential step in Rio Tinto’s energy transition. Rio Tinto estimates 600MW to 700MW...

SuperGrid cadetships open to high schoolers in remote and regional Queensland The Queensland Government is inviting high school students to apply for a cadetship on Queensland’s SuperGrid. Following a successful pilot across South West Queensland this year, Ergon Energy Network and Energex, in partnership with TAFE Queensland, are expanding the program across regional and remote Queensland in 2025. Through the Ergon Energy Network and Energex 2025 Pre-apprenticeship Program, students will learn from experienced TAFE Queensland trainers and Ergon Energy Network and Energex experts during weekly online workshops and on-campus practical days, complemented by real-world experience...

Liontown secures another key offtake deal Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR) has secured a 10-month offtake agreement with Beijing Sinomine International Trade Co. (BSIT) to purchase ramp-up volumes. The 100,000dmt supply of spodumene concentrate will come from Liontown’s Kathleen Valley lithium project in WA. This agreement is in addition to existing long-term offtake contracts with Tesla, LG Energy Solution and Ford which will be progressively brought into effect over the next 12 months as Liontown ramps-up Kathleen Valley to full-production. Liontown managing director and chief executive Tony Ottaviano says...

BHP pauses WA nickel BHP (ASX: BHP) will temporarily suspend WA nickel operations citing the global oversupply of nickel. Despite significant capital investments since FY20, BHP states they have not been able to overcome the sharp decline in nickel prices driven by increased international competition and reduced demand. BHP intends to review the temporary suspension by February 2027. The transition period will commence from July 2024, with operations to be suspended in October and handover activities for temporary suspension completed by December this year. During the transition, BHP...

MinRes shines at mine emergency rescue competition Mineral Resources (MinRes) (ASX: MIN) won the firefighting event in the surface mine emergency rescue competition run by the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) in Coolgardie. The event allows teams to compete in vehicle extrication, hazardous material response, confined space rescue, rope rescue, team skills, theory, mass casualty first aid and incident management. This was the first year MinRes had entered a team in the competition, winning the firefighting event in which participants worked...

Impact Minerals progressing $1.3b high-purity alumina project Impact Minerals (ASX: IPT) has confirmed the WA Lake Hope high purity alumina (HPA) pre-feasibility study (PFS) is on schedule for completion by the end of 2024. In a recent update to its PFS, Impact Minerals identified significant progress on the mine, the process plant and product development, offtake and marketing. The project has an estimated post-tax net present value of about $1.3b with a benchmark production of 10,000tpa of HPA which would make it one of the lowest-cost producers globally by a significant margin. Location of the Lake...