Category: Features

DISCUSSIONS around how mining companies work with their local communities took centre stage on the first day of the Asia Pacific International Mining Exhibition (AIMEX) at the Sydney Showgrounds. In the opening keynote speech of the AIMEX Conference, NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee commended the event for its opening focus on community. “There’s a lot of focus on technology and innovation which is very good news for our industry, but it’s also great to have the opportunity to focus on some other very important priorities for us as an industry in relation to community engagement,” he said. “It’s a very commendable way to start a mining industry event. Mr Galilee said the NSW Minerals Council addressed the…

THE Mid-West Ports Authority is playing the long game, increasing throughput by maximising its existing infrastructure, ensuring that when mining projects in the region come online, the Port of Geraldton will ready and waiting to be that vital link in the mining supply chain. Mid-West Ports Authority chief executive officer Rochelle Macdonald said there was a huge amount of opportunity that the port can realise in the next 10-15 years. “In the past 10 years we’ve actually seen a doubling of the trade going through the port of Geraldton so it’s not unrealistic to see the trade increasing quite significantly going forward,” Ms Macdonald said. “We’ve got iron ore, base metal concentrate, mineral sands, and some new products, rare earths…

Q. Can you tell us more about your time spent in Australia with Monash University and your field work at Mt Isa? I lived there from 1992 to 1997 while I did my PhD. I chose to study the extensional history and architecture of the western part of the Mount Isa Inlier. It was very field-based so I ended up spending two to three months every year camped in the outback mapping and figuring out the structural history of some fairly big, complicated areas. That PhD work led to a post doctorate, which wrapped up in 1997. I decided at that time to step away from academia and get into industry and mineral exploration and that has been my focus…

SOUTH Australia has a solid strategy in place for copper growth in the state. Firstly, to accelerate exploration and discovery; secondly to develop innovative infrastructure, services and research; and thirdly, engage to build industry and community capacity. BHP’s Olympic Dam is certainly reaping the benefits of the first step, with South Australia approving its expansion plans in February of this year. The $3b proposal would increase Olympic Dam’s annual copper production from 200,000t to up to 350,000t and increase the level of gold, silver and uranium production. SA Energy and Mining Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan declared BHP’s proposed expansion of Olympic Dam a major development as a key milestone in this important project. “Olympic Dam is already the State’s…

IN 2018, the resources industries contributed to more than 25pc of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) GDP, and 80pc of its export revenue, and the industry employed about 20,000 people. As a post-colonial nation, development in PNG has lagged behind the rest of Asia due to the wildness of the terrain, the challenges of remote locations, and lack of cheap, reliable electricity and infrastructure. One of the biggest infrastructure hurdles has been the lack of a domestic concrete plant that will allow PNG to transition its infrastructure and construction projects from traditional, locally sourced building materials to modern methods using concrete. Mayur Resources executive director Tim Crossley said that this transition had been well documented. “If you look at the development…

IMAGE Resources managing director Patrick Mutz said the ramp-up to full-scale production at the miner’s Boonanarring project was achieved in only two months (as opposed to six months) after operations started in February, partially due to higher grade ore than expected based on the Ore Reserve. “It was equally due to three very important contributors,” he said. These were a high quality deposit with coarse grained mineralisation and high heavy mineral (HM) grade; the proper matching of plant and equipment with the deposit; and a very experienced workforce. “The rapid ramp-up was beneficial as it contributed to higher than forecast production and revenue,” Mr Mutz said. At the recent Noosa Mining Conference in Queensland, Mr Mutz told investors the company…

AUSTRALIA’S second largest coal producer, South African miner Anglo American, has reaped the benefits of the high price of coking coal as China’s steel industry continues to boom. The company has announced that, after 10 years on the shelf, it would revive the Aquila project, reconfirming its commitment to coal in Australia, and extending the life of the Capcoal operations out to at least 2028. Anglo American has also announced a $1b share buyback program after posting its best first half results since 2011. Internationally, the board has seen two new additions to its non-executive team, and Nolitha Fakude has moved into the executive role of Anglo American chairman of South Africa’s management board. Aquila Anglo American announced it will…

WHILE the recent Noosa Mining Conference in Queensland was abuzz with investors considering their options, there was a notable difference in sentiment towards larger companies as opposed to juniors. Keynote speaker Lion Selection executive director Hedley Widdup said investor sentiment had been low towards juniors since 2018. “In 2018 something broke. It is very difficult to raise money in the junior sector at the moment,” Mr Widdup said. “Investors are not only not buying, they are also selling, so there has been a wholesale movement away from the junior space.” Mr Widdup puts this partially down to the fact that being pre-production means juniors are harder to value which makes them hard to price – so why wouldn’t investors jump…

WESTERN Areas is bang on track to coincide production at its Odysseus project with the expected high demand for nickel in the electric vehicle market in 2022. The project sits within the Cosmos nickel complex, alongside Western Areas’ existing Forrestainia operation in WA, 28km northwest of BHP’s Leinster nickel operations. Western Areas managing director and chief executive officer Daniel Lougher said that early works on site were almost complete. “Early works was being done in parallel with the definitive feasibility study and included dewatering, creating evaporation ponds and doing some work at the camp plus the rehabilitation of the existing decline underground,” Mr Lougher said. “We’re now sitting fully rehabbed down to a vertical depth of about 500m below the…

ALLIANCE Mineral Assets Ltd has continued to set records for lithium production and shipping totals from the Bald Hill lithium and tantalum mine in WA. The Bald Hill hard rock lithium operation boasts a top quality +1mm spodumene concentrate (low mica, low iron) and a significant tantalum by-product production. Lithium production for the March quarter was 68pc higher than the previous quarter, with 38,291 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of high-grade spodumene concentrate produced, grading 6.1pc lithium carbonate. The company also achieved a monthly production record in March when 15,012wmt was produced with a recovery of 70pc of gross feed and 79pc of net feed, after removal of unprocessed fines. This follows record lithium production in January, with the company shipping…

Renascor Resources recently received an enormous funding boost from Dutch export credit agency (ECA) Atradius for its Siviour graphite mine in South Australia. Emma Davies spoke with managing director David Christensen about how this unique support covers a large amount of the capital costs of the project and places the company in an excellent, low-risk position moving forward. Q. Can you please explain how Renascor was able to secure backing from the Dutch export credit agency (ECA) Atradius for its Siviour graphite mine in South Australia? Renascor Resources’ plan to turn Australia’s largest graphite resource into a producing mine by 2021 has been greatly boosted by Atradius’ recent funding support. We have received in-principle support for up to 60pc of…