Category: Features

By Reuben Adams THE Port Pirie smelter once faced an uncertain future, but a $563 million redevelopment is set to give the South Australian institution and its namesake town a new lease on life. The Port Pirie smelter has been in constant operation on the eastern shore of the Upper Spencer Gulf for an incredible 125 years. The histories of the smelter and the town are inextricably linked; the discovery of silver, lead and zinc at Broken Hill in 1883 facilitated the development of a railway connecting it with Port Pirie in 1888, and the subsequent construction of a lead smelter in 1889 to treat Broken Hill ore. Broken Hill Proprietary began constructing its own smelter from 1892, which was soon acquired…

By Samantha James CUDECO is among only a handful of companies to have solely steered a major Australian project from discovery to production. The Rocklands Group copper project near Cloncurry in Queensland has been a long-term investment for CuDeco, following the discovery of a previously-unknown zone within historical workings in 2006. Under CuDeco’s direction the newly discovered copper, cobalt and gold mineralisation at Las Minerale quickly grew, with the project soon taking in the Central Rocklands and Southern Rocklands areas, together referred to as the Rocklands Group. The ore exhibited large zones of high-grade coarse native copper ore co-mingled with oxide, supergene, transitional and primary copper ores, making it unique and the first of its kind discovered in Australia. CuDeco began…

By Samantha James THE resources industry in South Australia is supported by government initiatives that are helping the state remain one of Australia’s top mineral exporters. Once known as the ‘copper kingdom’ thanks to large discoveries made in the seventeenth century, South Australia also lays claim to the first commercial metalliferous mine in Australia, producing silver-lead ore from 1841. In the years since, exploration and development of additional commodities including uranium, iron ore, gold, silver, zinc, mineral sands, zircon and graphite have put South Australia on the world’s resources map. The state is the largest producer of uranium in Australia, hosting 80 per cent of the country’s reserves and 25 per cent of the world’s known uranium, and is home to…

By Reuben Adams A successful mining hub for more than 90 years, Mount Isa reigns as the administrative, commercial and industrial centre for Queensland’s vast north-western region – a region which is not connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM). While the NEM interconnects the eastern states and South Australia – the closest NEM connection point for North West Queensland (NWQ) is in Townsville, about 1000km away. The Queensland Government released the Sims Review of North West Queensland Energy Delivery in May 2009, calling on energy providers and major regional energy users to find a commercially viable, long-term solution to meet the needs of key regional energy users. “The current source of local generation, the CS Energy-owned Mica Creek power station,…

By Courtney Pearson Working on exciting new technology to pave the way for a future of automation in mining is all in a day’s work for CSRIO principal research engineer Dr Mark Dunn. Q. When did your journey with the CSIRO begin? I started with CSIRO in early 2008 with no domain knowledge of mining technologies or processes. My background was in technology and automation in agriculture, and that translated well into the mining industry and the types of projects that we undertake. I have a strong background in machine vision and software and hardware systems that can be used in very practical applications. I have been fortunate to be involved with a very strong team in the coal mining…

By Samantha James FOLLOWING first heavy mineral concentrate production at Keysbrook, MZI Resources is ramping up with the aim of becoming the world’s largest primary producer of leucoxene. WA has a long history of mineral sands mining and processing, providing MZI and the Keysbrook project with experienced employees and established community and regulatory operating models. Smooth construction and commissioning assisted production to begin three weeks ahead of schedule in October 2015, with first concentrate from the nearby Picton mineral separation plant – owned by Doral Mineral Sands – achieved in early November. MZI is targeting full capacity of 95,000 tonnes per annum of leucoxene and zircon by the end of the calendar year, to coincide with its first sales. Keysbrook…

By Samantha James DESPITE a fluctuating price in 2015, Australia’s iron ore sector is remaining competitive within a global market. Australia’s iron ore industry has been one of the country’s great economic success stories for the past 50 years, growing in revenue to more than $70 billion in 2014 following a jump in prices and subsequent increases in production. Prices peaked at more than US$190 per tonne in 2011 however proved unsustainable and steadily decreased throughout 2015, to the lowest level in almost a decade at US$43.89/t in late November. From 2000 to 2014, Australia’s annual iron ore production rose from 170 million tonnes to around 660mt – a compound annual growth rate of 10 per cent. However, the declining…

By Courtney Pearson IN the wake of tough market conditions, few other countries have experienced such a roller coaster in minerals exploration as Papua New Guinea (PNG). Mining is an integral part of PNG’s economy, driving growth and services through mineral export revenues. Reflecting the worldwide downturn in mining, the PNG Government’s latest budget figures revealed that revenue from the country’s mining and petroleum tax fell from about PGK1.7 billion to PGK300 million. The 2015 supplementary budget included a 12 per cent fall in revenue. PNG Treasury minister Patrick Pruaitch said that “sharply lower commodity prices” had forced the government to adopt prudent fiscal policies to safeguard the country’s growth record and prospects. The PNG Government’s 2016 national budget theme…

By Courtney Pearson THE sheer size and cost of the Roy Hill project in WA’s Pilbara region is a testament to risk-taking. The tenements comprising the Roy Hill project, 115km north of Newman in WA, were originally owned by BHP Billiton. When the company dropped them,   mining magnate Gina Rinehart took a risk and picked them up in 1993 – just a year after taking on the executive chair role with Hancock Prospecting.  At the time, it was seen as a risky decision. “When , the most knowledgeable company in iron ore in the Pilbara … decided that the Roy hill area was not of value, you can understand why people thought this was not a viable opportunity,…

By Courtney Pearson 5 November, 2015 IT may only be five years old, but gold explorer Doray Minerals has a to-do list to rival the best in the industry. The company’s project plans are coming to fruition, with first production at its newest development, Deflector, expected in mid-2016 and its flagship project, Andy Well, exceeding annual production guidance. Doray Minerals managing director Allan Kelly said the past year had been better than expected for the company. “We’ve been busy on the production side, the exploration side and on the corporate side,” he said. In fiscal 2015 the company reported good results across the board, including a 15 per cent rise in gold production to 88,736oz, a 21 per cent rise…

By Samantha James WHEN BHP Billiton demerged its nickel, coal, manganese and alumina assets into South32 in May 2015, it claimed established operations and low debt would keep the new company afloat in the slumped market environment. The market expectation was that BHP’s spinoff would be worth around US$15 billion, however shares dropped from its listing price of $2.05 to an average of about $1.4 in September and early October due to low returns on commodity prices and in reaction to South32 impairing assets within its South Africa Energy Coal business and its Cerro Matoso nickel mine. As a result, analysts estimated a slide in value of around US$10 billion and a 27.7 per cent drop in share value since…