Category: Features

If Doctor Copper is anything to go by, then the prognosis for global economic health and our nation’s copper mining industry is extremely positive. After the global economy plummeted in March last year due to the impact of COVID-19, including the price of copper, the mineral has completely rebounded from the depths of its plunge, soaring almost 100% in less than 12 months to more than US$9000/t. Experts predict the price rise to continue in 2021 due to increasing global demand brought on by the widespread transition to smart, connected cities as well as copper’s properties of being recyclable and antimicrobial. An average house contains 180kg of copper and an electric car contains about five times more copper than the...

While China’s unofficial ban on Australian coal continues amid trade tensions, overall export figures from the world’s largest coal port have remained resilient. Late last year when coal ships stopped departing the Port of Newcastle for China, which normally accounts for 20% of exports from the port, it sent shockwaves through the mining industry. During the 2020 September quarter, China’s total metallurgical coal imports plummeted by 14%, while thermal coal imports nosedived 38%, compared to the same period in 2019, according to the Australian Government’s Department of Industry. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, with producers finding new markets, as several other countries in Asia step in to fill the void in demand left by...

Aquila is an underground hard coking coal mine near Middlemount in Queensland, which forms part of the Capcoal joint venture between Anglo American (70%) and Mitsui & Co. Ltd (30%), with Anglo American the managing company. The mine project, announced in July 2019, proposes a medium seam longwall operation targeting the Aquila and Aquila Lower coal seams to produce hard coking coal and effectively extend the life of Anglo American’s underground operations in the area. Aquila will extend the life of Anglo American’s existing Capcoal underground operations near Middlemount by six years to 2028, and continue to utilise the associated infrastructure at the Capcoal complex as its nearby Grasstree mine approaches end of life. According to the company’s publication Capcoal...

Sheffield Resources is advancing its flagship Thunderbird joint venture project in WA. The project is one of the world’s largest, undeveloped zircon-rich mineral sands deposits and is currently being developed in the Canning Basin, midway between Broome and Derby in the northwest of the State. Construction is expected to kick off in the 2021 dry season with site investigation, design and tendering works taking place just before. Trial mining took place at the end of last year with the excavation of a 30m-deep pit and the program confirming the dozer push ore mining method as the most viable option. This will be a globally significant zircon producer with estimated production of 132,000tpa for the first 4 years from start-up, ramping...

Southern Ports services a 400,000km2 area in WA – bigger than the land size of Germany. Created in 2014 through the amalgamation of the three WA ports of Albany, Bunbury and Esperance, Southern Ports looks after all sea trade in the southern and southwest regions of WA. Main goods traded through the three ports include minerals, grains and wood products. The commencement of the new Executive Leadership Team (ELT) in 2020 saw Southern Ports achieve a very successful FY20, reaching a total trade of 32.2mt, which is a 13% increase from the year before. Southern Ports chief executive Steve Lewis says the resilience of its customers through COVID-19 played a significant part in the positive outcome for the organisation. “Trade...

The Queensland Government has given the green light to what will become one of the world’s largest steelmaking coal mines. The granting of mining leases for the Olive Downs Coking Coal Project on September 29 was the last of the major approvals required to allow construction to start at the Bowen Basin mine. The Pembroke Resources project will create up to 500 jobs during construction and more than 1000 new jobs in the region as it is developed to produce about 15mtpa of saleable coal over its 79-year mine life. Pembroke CEO Barry Tudor told The Australian Mining Review the mine would provide a much-needed stimulus during the COVID-19 recovery, while generating about $5.5b in royalties for the  Queensland Government....

A start-up mining company that achieves nameplate capacity in just the second month of operation is something the industry doesn’t hear of too often. Nestled in the Perth Basin in WA, amongst key players such as Iluka Resources and Tronox, is a newcomer to the mineral sands mining operations, Image Resources. In December 2018, Image Resources moved from advanced explorer to active mining company, becoming profitable within three months of operations and, subsequently, cashflow positive in the second quarter of 2019. Two years on, Image Resources is now an established, profitable mining company producing heavy mineral concentrate (HMC), with 270,000t achieved in 2019. It completed the sale of 12 bulk shipments of HMC during the year, for a total of...

Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS) continues to top itself with two new projects coming online in 2021 and record-breaking results in FY20. This comes off the back of two successful operational start-ups in FY20 at the Marda gold project, where a total of 449kt was mined at a grade of 1.78g/t for 25,656oz of contained gold, and the Greenfinch open pit at the Edna May gold mine, with a total of 117kt mined at a grade of 0.89g/t for 3380oz of contained gold. Wrapping up FY20, the company produced 230,426oz of gold, spent $19.8m on exploration and delivered a $113.4m profit after tax, a 420% improvement on the year before. Ramelius exceeded production guidance in the June and September 2020 quarters...

Tomago Aluminium is one of Australasia’s largest aluminium smelters, contributing a total $1.5b to the nation’s economy and its local community every year. Located in north-west Newcastle in the industrial suburb of Tomago, the smelter sits on 500ha surrounded by bush and has been an important feature of the Hunter region for over 35 years. Tomago Aluminium is an independently-managed joint venture between Rio Tinto (51.55%), Gove Aluminium Finance Limited (36.05%) and Hydro Aluminium (12.40%). The owners provide raw materials to Tomago Aluminium that are converted to aluminium at the Tomago plant, after which the product is supplied back to the owners, who take it to market. A total of 90% of the product made at Tomago Aluminium is exported...

It has been a year since the $621m Gruyere gold mine was opened by the WA Mines and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston. The Gruyere deposit in the Yamarna greenstone belt was the single largest gold discovery in WA in more than a decade. The Tier One operation was set to produce 300,000oz of gold annually and employ 250 people over its 12-year mine life. As the mine moves towards nameplate production in 2020, Gruyere is establishing itself as one of Australia’s largest and lowest-cost gold mining operations. Commercial production began on October 1, 2019, with Mr Johnston officially opening the mine on December 3, 2019. Within 12 months of operations, the site produced 230,590oz of gold at an operating cost...

Just six years ago BHP was looking to offload its Western Australian nickel business amid plummeting prices and escalating costs. In 2014 the mining giant announced plans to sell Nickel West so it could focus on its key iron ore, copper, coal and petroleum assets. In the end it decided to keep the operation in its portfolio as a “non-core” asset, but only because it failed to find a buyer at a suitable price. How times have changed. BHP is now rapidly gearing up to become one of the world’s leading nickel suppliers in the batteries sector as it positions Nickel West to feed the electric vehicle “revolution”. There have been several reports of BHP being in talks with electric...