Category: Features

Recently snapping up the Digger of the Year award at the 25th annual Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie, Fortsecue Metals Group has been making great progress across its portfolio.  On the back of the recent win, chief executive Nev Power spoke to Elizabeth Fabri about the highlights of his job, Fortescue’s CEO for a Day program, and his views on where the iron ore market is heading. Q. What are your qualifications and background in the mining industry? I grew up on a property in Queensland and home-schooled for the early part of my education before attending high school in Mt Isa. I left school at 15 to join Mount Isa Mines as an apprentice and later went on to complete an engineering degree, and...

The New Acland open cut thermal coal mine. By Cameron Drummond NEW Hope Group has acquired an $865m stake in the Bengalla coal mining operation in NSW, as 2016 sees a glimmer of life return to the coal industry. New Hope Group is an energy company with coal mining business interests and operations at New Acland in QLD and Bengalla in NSW. The company is ranked as one of the 100 largest ASX-listed companies by its market capitalisation of $1.3 billion, and is amongst the top 10 listed companies based in QLD. New Hope is a major employer in the state, contributing $300 million per annum to the South East Queensland economy. Although the coal industry has been challenged through lower prices...

Metals X’s processing plant at its Higginsville Gold Operations. By Elizabeth Fabri THE new financial year is set to be a game changer for diversified resources company Metals X, as it moves towards a spinoff of its gold division and production at its newly acquired Nifty asset. In August Metals X announced its intent to undertake a $115.6 million capital raising and demerge its gold division; a move that would strengthen the company’s position as one of Australia’s top gold miners. With Metals X’s metals division bolstered by its recent takeover of Aditya Birla, the company stated that its base metals division could now stand alone “as a formidable diversified base metals company”. As it stands, Metals X has three operating...

Image: Gez Xavier Mansfield Photography By Elizabeth Fabri HUNDREDS of kilometres from home, far away from the comforts of family and friends lies Australia’s fly-in, fly-out workforce; a high-risk pocket of the population which often suffers through mental health issues in silence. While mining giants drive down injury rates, silent killers such as mental illness are sweeping across the sector affecting more than 30 per cent of the fly-in, fly-out workforce. Fatigue, isolation, alcohol, and unpleasant workplace cultures all contribute, coupled with unavoidable struggles experienced on the home front. But what remains unclear are the pathways miners can take to irrevocably tackle the issue. Each year, more than 2500 people die from suicide in Australia, with three quarters committed by men;...

After completing a $589 million upgrade Glencore’s Ernest Henry Mining, has continued its support for local and regional projects near its operations. By Cameron Drummond ERNEST HENRY is a copper and gold mining and processing operation 38km north east of Cloncurry in north-west Queensland. The mine is a part of Glencore’s portfolio of Australian copper assets which includes the Mount Isa Mines copper operations, a copper refinery in Townsville and the CSA underground copper mine near Cobar, NSW. Mined copper and gold at Ernest Henry is processed at its on-site concentrator then transported to Glencore’s Mount Isa copper smelter and refined at the Townsville refinery, ready to be delivered to domestic and overseas customers. In its 2015 annual report, Glencore earnings before taxes, depreciation...

For high risk and hard working industries such as mining, alcohol or drug use in the workplace puts businesses out of pocket and can seriously increase the threat of injury. By Cameron Drummond FOR high risk and hard working industries such as mining, alcohol or drug use in the workplace puts businesses out of pocket and can seriously increase the threat of injury. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) claims that most alcohol or drug (AOD) users are employed; all the more reason to address illicit substance use in the work place. While the majority of Australians don’t use drugs or alcohol at work, nearly 20 per cent of lost productivity costs in Australia are directly related to AOD...

Newmarket Gold’s Fosterville mine produced more than 30,000oz of gold for the March 2016 quarter. By Samantha James CANADIAN-based Newmarket Gold is reaping the cash benefits of a 2015 merger with Australian miner Crocodile Gold. Until last year, Toronto-listed Newmarket had been focused on its Canadian base metal exploration assets. Its move into Australian gold was, according to the company, a long time coming – part of the search for “the right production opportunity”. A share structure consolidation and C$25 million capital raising, completed in July 2015, was the platform for Newmarket’s entry into the Australian market, which included the acquisition of three mines and several development and exploration projects. Since completion of the Crocodile transaction, Newmarket has invested more than...

The Carmichael coal mine and rail project is a key part of the Adani Group’s vertically integrated Pit-to-Plug business model. By Reuben Adams ADANI Mining’s gigantic Carmichael coal mine and rail project has been impacted by a myriad of challenges and amendments since it was first announced as a significant project in 2010. Despite weak coal prices and ongoing legal action, Adani Mining chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj is confident that construction will kick off on the $21.7 billion project in 2017. The Carmichael coal mine and rail project is a key element to the wider Adani Group’s vertically integrated Pit-to-Plug business model which involves extraction, processing and export to overseas power plant customers – including the Group’s own power station...

A ‘large special’ diamond recovered from Lulo. By Samantha James AFRICAN-focused Lucapa Diamonds has successfully mined and sold several high value diamonds from its Lulo project since it began producing in 2015. In early 2016, trial mining at the E46 area led to the recovery of several ‘large special’ diamonds – diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats (ct). Lucapa chief executive Stephen Wetherall spoke to Samantha James about the demand for special diamonds in the short term, the long-term market outlook and how expansion plans at Lulo fit into the global rare diamond industry. Q. There are several mining operations ongoing at Lucapa’s Lulo project in Angola. Could you explain how the different operations fit together in the project? How long will...

Alcoa of Australia is owned 60 per cent by Alcoa Inc in the US and 40 per cent by ASX-listed Alumina Limited. The global company’s announced demerger slated for the second half of 2016 will see it become two publicly traded companies; Upstream and Value-Add. Alcoa of Australia’s 60 per cent shareholding would become part of a new global Upstream company to be created by Alcoa (which would retain the Alcoa name). Samantha James spoke to Alcoa of Australia’s subsidiary Alcoa Mining president Garrett Dixon about its Australian development plans. Q. How important are Alcoa’s Australian mines to Alcoa’s global operations? Alcoa of Australia has been an integral part of Alcoa’s global business for more than 50 years. Our WA...

By Cameron Drummond COPPER miner Sandfire Resources has been busy in 2016, increasing production at its DeGrussa mine and upgrading exploration results inside its Greater Doolgunna project. Sandfire intends to build on strong cash flows developed from its high-grade DeGrussa copper-gold mine in a year where it has reduced its debt from $120 million down to $75 million. A high grade deposit find in the surrounding Doolgunna region is also being explored, with positive initial results for future mining capability.  DeGrussa The DeGrussa copper-gold mining venture near Wiluna – 900kmnorth of Perth in the state’s Mid West – has been a shining star for Sandfire in a depressed copper market. It is also the recipient of a government-funded solar array project...