Category: Features

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...

OZ Minerals has allocated an additional $6m-$9m in capital expenditure for its Prominent Hill mine this year, after deferring funding earlier in 2020 due to uncertainties posed by COVID-19. Located in one of the world’s most mining-friendly locations, Prominent Hill possesses highly competitive fundamentals. The large copper-gold mine, located 650km north west of Adelaide and 130km south-east of Coober Pedy in South Australia, delivers a high grade resource, with the ore processed using conventional methods. The underground decline development at Prominent Hill will allow OZ Minerals to begin mining the western side of the Malu orebody in a bottom-up sequence. It will also open up the pathway to bottom-up mining from deeper underground from mid to late 2021. According to...

The Goonyella Riverside Mine is a large open cut coking coal mine in the Bowen Basin, located near Moranbah. It’s one of seven owned and operated by the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (a joint partnership comprising BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi Corporation), making BMA the largest coal exporter in Australia, and the largest supplier of seaborne coking coal in the world. The company exports more than 55mt of coal annually to over 27 countries. The product is transported by rail to the coal export terminals at Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point, from where it is exported to the  customers in India, China, South Korea, Latin America and Europe. Goonyella is a reasonably large mine, taking 30-40 minutes to drive from one end to the other, and is made up of...

Mining sustains modern living. The materials for building solar panels, wind farms, sustainable homes and computers are obtained through large-scale mining, with thousands of open pit mines created across the globe. Pit lakes are therefore inevitable by-products when abandoned open-cut mines are flooded by rain and groundwater. Some of these lakes are toxic, posing risks to adjacent communities and ecosystems. There is a call for an ‘integrated’ approach to pit lake management from design to closure. Current in situ treatment options such liming of acid waters, pumping out water from pit lakes and actively treating the water with chemicals are both expensive and unsustainable. Strategies that are integrated and sustainable include engaging ecologists in pit lake design and prioritising ecological...

In 2010, Evolution Mining identified an opportunity to fill a vacuum in the Australian gold mining sector, and went about to create a new mid-tier producer. Its first asset was a resource in North Queensland that others believed was not feasible to develop, but undeterred, Executive Chairman and founder Jake Klein, with the assistance of a small management team, pursued a series of bold and complex deals to form the company in November 2011. The move successfully turned that initial resource at Mt Carlton into one of the world’s highest-grade open pit gold mines. And indeed, it’s all in the name: the company has literally evolved from a small one into a globally relevant gold mining business with a reputation...

Mincor has embarked on an exciting new chapter as it prepares to restart nickel sulphide mining in the Kambalda district of WA, one of the world’s great nickel provinces. Since its discovery by WMC Resources Limited in 1966, it has produced more than 51mt of ore grading 3.1% Ni for 1.6mt of nickel metal. Mincor played a leading role in Kambalda’s post-2001 revival, with the company producing about 180,000t of nickel metal in ore over a successful 14-year period as a profitable, dividend-paying mining company before placing operations on care and maintenance in 2016 at a time of historically low nickel prices. The company has a dominant ground position in the Kambalda District with tenements covering more than 300km2 and a...

GLENCORE’S Mangoola open cut mine has long been regarded as one of Australia’s major coal mines, a reputation cemented by a unique award-winning trifecta at the 2019 Australian Mining Prospect Awards. Its Coal Handling and Preparation Plant (CHPP) was named overall Australian Mine of the Year, Coal Mine of the Year and also picked up the award for Excellence in Occupational Health and Safety. Mangoola had previously claimed the Mine of the Year accolade in 2013. The greenfield 1800t/h CHPP was delivered by QCC Resources and Downer under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in 2011, and delivered below budget, ahead of schedule and without any lost-term injuries (LTI). In fact, since commencement in 2011, the operating team has...

Bengalla Coal: New Hope BENGALLA Coal in NSW’s Hunter Valley has literally provided new hope for the New Hope Group. A promising performance from the mine has been the main reason for solid coal earnings for New Hope in the past year, driven mainly by increased production. The company generated a revenue of $618m in the six months ending January, which was in line with its income in the prior corresponding period. New Hope managing director Shane Stephan said this was largely due to the success of Bengalla, in which New Hope has 80pc interest. He said the result was achieved despite a 29pc decline in coal prices during the period, which the company had offset with 42pc higher sales...

DESPITE the uncertainties caused by COVID, gold appears to have recovered swiftly on the markets, exceeding the $2500/oz mark in mid-June. The bullish outlook is certainly encouraging news for gold miners, none more so than Alkane Resources, a gold production company with a multi?commodity exploration and development portfolio. Alkane’s projects are predominantly in the Central West Region of NSW, but extend throughout Australia through investments in other gold exploration and mining companies. Alkane’s gold production is from the Tomingley Gold Operations (TGO), which has been operating since early 2014, and its most advanced gold exploration projects are in the fully Alkane-owned tenement area between TGO and Peak Hill, which have the potential for sourcing additional ore for TGO. Alkane has...

THE Australian space industry is set for lift-off. The Federal Government is paving the way for Australian companies to become key players in the global space economy, currently worth US$350b and expected to be valued at more than US$1.1t by 2040. The flow-on effects will reach other markets such as mining, agriculture, finance, health and tourism. In this article, we look at what this means for Australian resources companies. NASA’s Moon to Mars Mission Man first landed on the Moon in 1969 through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo 11 mission. In Greek mythology, Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo. Now, more than half a century later and through the Artemis program, NASA aims to land the...