Category: Features

The development of Queensland’s biggest gold mine and a new wave of investment is set to put the historic gold mining towns of Ravenswood and Charters Towers back on the map. Ravenswood Gold is pushing full steam ahead with its recommencement of open pit mining next month (December) in the historic Ravenswood mining district, about 130km south of Townsville. The upgraded and expanded Ravenswood Gold Mine will rejuvenate the old mining town through the creation of 400 new jobs: 250 permanent staff and another 150 workers through the construction phase. It will involve an initial investment of at least $300m with $200m in capital expenditure, to be spent on upgrading the processing plant and development of a tailings dam, as...

The price of gold has climbed steadily since the COVID-19 pandemic began about six months ago, rising by about 40% from the bottom of US$1474 on March 19. Historically, the price of gold has been on the upward trend over the last 50 years. More recently, the impact of COVID-19 has driven investors to park their money in this metal as a safe haven. Gold outperformed all major assets in the first half of 2020, providing an almost 17% return, according to the World Gold Council. Federal Government The September Resources and Energy Quarterly shows Australia’s gold exports are forecast to reach a high of $31b in FY21, making gold the country’s third largest commodity export behind iron ore and...

Liebherr-Australia celebrated 100,000 hydraulic hose assemblies manufactured in its Adelaide-based Head Office complex in September, a milestone that represents the growth and success of the new facility since it was commissioned in 2014. Situated in the 12,000m2 state-of-the-art National Distribution Centre, the workshop manufactures around 17,000 high-pressure hydraulic hose assemblies each year for the entire Liebherr Mining range of excavators and dozers. The hoses are both assembled and tested in the facility to stringent OEM and international standards, including MDG 41 and ISO 9001. Although this milestone represents the hoses manufactured in the new facility, hose production for Liebherr started in Australia in 1999, with mass production in 2006. This was around the same time Matthew Bowes, Liebherr-Australia Group Leader...

Despite a contraction in coal prices, Whitehaven Coal is weathering the storm. The company, which operates four mines in the Gunnedah Basin of NSW along with Winchester South in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, has been able to reward investors and pay out $312m in dividends through the FY20 period. This was despite a softening of Whitehaven’s earnings in the year ending June 30, which reflected lower Newcastle thermal coal prices and the impact on run of mine production due to labour shortages and dust issues at its Maules Creek mine, which produces some of the highest quality high energy thermal coal in Australia. Whitehaven also required a longwall change out at the Narrabri mine, which caused eight weeks of disturbance to...

Drilling work is often undertaken in remote areas which are not blessed with the infrastructure, workforce and access to spare parts available on a fully-equipped mine site. Drilling operators and contractors face a myriad of unpredictable risks, from equipment breakdown to property damage to injury, which are harder to manage in isolated areas. The longer the period of unplanned downtime, the greater the financial hit to a business through lost productivity. Connect Business Insurance (CBI) specialises in providing insurance cover and risk management to the mining industry including drilling operators, contractors and companies. CBI director Paul Cohalan said one of the most common hazards for drilling clients relates to employer liability and worker’s compensation. Mr Cohalan said drilling work, by...

Mining has long been a backbone of North West Queensland’s economy but now it will prove crucial to pulling Australia out of the coronavirus recession. Queensland’s mining industry is the state’s most valuable sector, accounts for 40% of all capital expenditure and directly employs nearly 65,000 people with nearly a quarter of them working at mines in North Queensland. The North West Minerals Province (NWMP), centered around Cloncurry and Mt Isa, is one of the world’s greatest mining regions and holds about 75% of Queensland’s base metal mineral endowment including copper, lead, zinc and silver as well as major phosphate deposits. The big players employ thousands with even the Mt Isa mayor, Danielle Slade, getting her first job straight out...

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is firming up as a key technology to achieve energy security while significantly reducing Australia’s carbon footprint. The resources sector has played a crucial role in world-first projects in Australia that have demonstrated there are no technical barriers to implementing CCS. The technology involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions from burning coal, power stations or industrial facilities such as steel, LNG or cement plants and safely storing it deep underground in geological formations. Now the race is on to improve the commercial viability of the game-changing technology so more large-scale projects can be rolled out across fossil fuel- heavy industries. Expert agencies including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have found large scale deployment of...

Work is well underway towards completion of Adani Mining’s Carmichael Mine site, west of Rockhampton, Queensland. Construction of the project is continuing with strict measures in place to manage the risk of the COVID-19 virus. As of mid-2020, more than $1b in contracts had been signed for the construction of the Carmichael Mine and Rail project, with the company generating up to 1500 direct jobs at the peak of construction and supporting thousands of indirect jobs. Adani Australia has partnered with many local businesses for the mine development, including Townsville’s Mendi Group, which is carrying out onsite civil engineering, and the Wagner Group, which is building a quarry to support operations. The company’s excavator and mine trucks have been busy...

Impetus is growing for the Queensland State Government to approve New Hope Groups’s New Acland Stage 3 project. The planned expansion to the existing mine, which had an environmental impact assessment carried out in 2010, aims to extend the operating life of the mine to about 2042, with annual production tipped to rise to 7.5mt. Yet now, 10 years on – despite the many economic benefits that the project would bring – the miner is still awaiting the green light. Shadow State Development minister Andrew Powell is among many who have questioned the Government’s motives for stalling approvals. After visiting the New Acland site, he said he was impressed by the operation, particularly the rehabilitation work being done. “The rehabilitation is outstanding,” he said. “It’s hard to believe...

Mining operations can be complex and involved, and insurance and risk management programs need to be extremely effective to help both reduce the cost of the risk, and satisfy the myriad of regulatory requirements needed these days For contractors working within the mining industry, ensuring adequate insurance coverage for their businesses and services is an essential consideration. The types of cover needed depends on the type of work being undertaken. Contractors essentially providing their own labour only will probably find public liability is the main requirement. If a contractor is providing advice in a professional capacity, the business might find that professional indemnity is required. And larger businesses, perhaps with multiple staff and equipment on site, may require a range...

COAL IN-SITU CONVERSION (ISC) A Commercial Challenge Review Introduction In-situ conversion (ISC) of coal, also referred to as underground coal gasification (UCG) and in-situ coal gasification (ISG), is an industry process by which a coal seam is converted into a product gas, by combusting, pyrolysing and gasifying the coal in-situ in the presence of an oxidant, after the coal is ignited. The product gas is typically referred to as synthesis gas or syngas and can be used as a feedstock for various applications, including fuels, fertilisers and chemicals production, including power co-generation or power only generation. A coal seam having injection and production wells with a substantially horizontal wellbore linking the two is typically referred to as an in-situ coal...