Category: Features

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...

By Samantha James EVEN though many explorers hold tenements along the prospective Yamarna Belt in WA, it is still one of the least explored greenstone belts in the region, sitting at the eastern most edge of the Yilgarn Craton. A study completed in 2010 by the Geological Survey of WA suggested the Yamarna Belt shares geological similarities with the well-endowed Kalgoorlie Terrane greenstone rocks, and some solid discoveries made by companies such as AusGold have supported this. However, it is Gold Road Resources’ Gruyere deposit that is proving the Yamarna Belt is capable of hosting WA’s next gold mining hub. Gold Road owns more than 5000 square kilometres within the Yamarna Belt and a pipeline of discoveries dating back from...

By Rachel Dally-Watkins UNSW Australia’s School of Mining research director and conference chair Associate Professor Dr Serkan Saydam spoke to Rachel Dally-Watkins about what delegates can expect at the Third International Future Mining Conference and Second Off-Earth Mining Forum. Q: What will be some of the key issues for mining in the future, and what industry-wide changes need to be considered now? We’re in the down side of the bust and boom cycle right now, but the mining industry has always been driven by commodity prices. There are many economic uncertainties as well as technical uncertainties facing this industry, but we can’t make changes for the economic uncertainties because that’s not something that is in our hands. So what we...

By Samantha James Rio Tinto Iron Ore holds 15 mines 1700km of rail, four port terminals, three power stations, and around 360 trucks, 39 production drills and 190 locomotives in the Pilbara region of WA. All these assets utilise various integrated automated systems, also relying on unmanned trucks and drills to mine iron ore. RIO Tinto produces more than 295 million tonnes per annum of iron ore from its Pilbara operations. Following the completion of port and rail infrastructure in 2015, Rio Tinto is concentrating on improving system-wide efficiency and productivity. The company has been researching new ways to deliver cost savings and improve environmental impacts and safety since operations commenced nearly 50 years ago; and then in 2008 the...

By Samantha James One hundred and thirty years on, BHP Billiton is an old company with new tricks. Despite price drops affecting its major commodities– iron ore, coal and copper – BHP Billiton made more than US$44 billion in revenue for fiscal 2015 and reported a 9 per cent increase in overall production. THE company in its current form was created in 2001 when BHP and Billiton merged.  BHP’s first discovery was made in 1883 in Broken Hill, NSW and Billiton’s was at Billiton Island in western Indonesia. After the merger,...

By Courtney Pearson October 12, 2015 BRINGING together the entire mining industry is no easy task, yet for the second year in a row, the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) plans to do just that. The inaugural IMARC, held in 2014, aimed to unite mining leaders, policy makers, financiers, technical experts, innovators, collaborators and educators. The five-day event attracted 200 speakers from across the globe to deliver presentations, share their insights, address challenges and look ahead, IMARC event director Anita Richards said. “Thought leaders in innovation, investment, workforce strengthening, policy, safety and more were positioned front and centre, presenting to...

By Courtney Pearson October 7, 2015 THE Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET) is officially open for business three years after construction began, providing the coal industry with 27mt of export capacity per annum from the port of Gladstone. Queensland's newest export terminal shipped its first 1 million tonnes of coal at the start of September. The privately-funded Wiggins Island Coal Export Terminal (WICET) is owned by eight Australian and international resources companies including Glencore, Aquila Resources, Caledon Coal and Yancoal. The consortium celebrated mechanical completion and its first shipment of 73,000t of coal towards the end of April and hasn’t looked back since. The terminal is...

By Rachel Dally Watkins AUSTRALIA’S leading coal export terminal operator is pushing ahead with plans for a new facility in a bid to secure the future of the Hunter Valley region’s coal industry. Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS), the operator of the Kooragang and Carrington coal terminals at the Port of Newcastle, has bounced back from its early 2015 lows, indicating that the Hunter Valley coal chain is holding up well during this uncertain economic climate. The Port of Newcastle is one of Australia’s largest ports by throughput tonnage, and, with coal comprising 97 per cent of its trade, the world’s largest coal...

By Samantha James September 11, 2015 After more than four years of community consultation, steel giant POSCO’s Australian subsidiary Hume Coal is designing “the lowest impact coal mining operation in the country”. HUME Coal has been working since its inception in 2011 to ensure its namesake project remains environmentally viable and economical. The company is developing a 3.4 million tonne per annum underground coal mine in the Southern Highlands of NSW and has received state government environmental assessment requirements set out under the project’s State Significant Development status. The Hume project was originally operated as a joint venture between POSCO Coal and Cockatoo Coal, until...

By Emma Brown September 11, 2015 The Shire of Cobar is often referred to as the ‘Copper City’, thanks to its extensive history of copper mining that stretches back to 1869. However with highly-prospective poly-metallic operations currently underway, the area is proving a life outside of copper is possible. TODAY Cobar, which lies in the centre of NSW at the crossroads of the Barrier Highway and the Kidman Way, is a major NSW metalliferous centre, ranking second only to Broken Hill in renowned and continuing importance. Cobar continues to be a major exploration zone targeting copper, gold, silver and zinc. Cobar mayor...

By Courtney Pearson September 11, 2015 The story of Newmont Mining’s Tanami mine is one of rags to riches; clawing its way back from the brink of shutdown to become a core asset. IN 2012 the Tanami underground gold mine in regional Northern Territory, acquired by Newmont in 2002, was producing just 178,000 ounces per annum. Three years later, the mine has doubled production and continues to steadily lower its costs. Newmont expected that, by the end of this year, the mine would produce more than 407,000oz of gold – a continued improvement on the 2014 result of 354,000oz and the 2013 result of 343,000oz. Newmont Tanami operations general manager...