Category: Features

The Workplace Health and Safety Show is a free annual two-day event providing occupational health and safety (OHS) professionals with the latest information, products, equipment and innovations to make compliance easier. The show was first held in 2018 and focuses on psychological safety, safety technology, major hazards, personal protection, height safety, health and wellbeing and cleaning and hygiene. With constantly changing safety and wellbeing legislation, it can be difficult for employers to stay up-to-date. The show is the perfect opportunity for OHS professionals to gather under one roof to find all the resources they need to help keep their workers safe. The Workplace Health and Safety Show comprises conference presentations delivered by industry leaders, interactive forums, panel discussions and a…

As Chair of the Gold Industry Group and a graduate of the AICD, Kelly’s achievements have been recognised as one of the 2018 BMO “100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining”, a winner at the 2018 Business News 40 under 40 Awards, and as a finalist in the 2017 CME Women in Resources Awards.   The Australian Mining Review’s Kathleen Southway speaks with Kelly about the importance of stakeholder value creation in reaching Gold Fields’ 2030 global ESG targets. AMR: What does stakeholder value creation mean to the Gold Fields? Who are the stakeholders and what value is Gold Fields creating?  KC: I think it really talks directly to our purpose, which is to create enduring value beyond mining. What is critically…

The most modern type of lithium processing plant in the world, Kemerton, in southwest WA and owned by Albemarle Corporation, has undergone significant expansion to double its production capacity. Albemarle vice president of capital projects in Australia, Josh Rowan, says production at Kemerton is about to significantly increase. “Albemarle is Australia’s largest producer and manufacturer of lithium and our Kemerton plant is about to get a whole lot bigger,” he said. “The Kemerton expansion is a boon for the economy and construction of trains 3 and 4 is set to create over 1000 new jobs across all our major contractors – in construction, engineering, support services and more.” From humble beginnings more than 100 years ago, Albemarle is now Australia’s largest…

With bilateral trade of over $6b in 2020, Australia is Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) biggest trade partner. Australia is also a major investor in PNG, with investment valued at around $248b in 2021. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has indicated more than 4000 Australian companies export to PNG and according to the Federal Government’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Department, Australia is PNG’s largest development partner and main economic and security partner. Its major export markets include Australia, China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea with leading products including petroleum gas, gold, copper ore, crude petroleum and rough wood. Gold mineralisation was discovered at the Lihir gold mine in 1982. A major exploration campaign was then undertaken between 1982 and 1992 by a joint venture between Kennecott Explorations Australia and Niugini Mining. The Lihir…

Located only 55km from Adelaide, Kanmantoo Underground was operated by Hillgrove Resources (ASX:HGO) as a series of open pits from 2010 to 2020, producing around 140kt of copper and over 55koz of gold.  Over the past three years, Hillgrove has been drilling to prove up an underground extension which ended in the release of a feasibility study highlighting that Kanmantoo could generate over $200m in free cash flow for a capital requirement of $25m.  This makes Kanmantoo one of the lowest capital-intensive copper development projects anywhere in the world. Mining Begins Mining began in May 2023 with first copper production on track for early 2024.  As anticipated, the underground conditions proved to be very capable, assisting in turning the development faces over quickly and getting to the planned production straight away. Ore on the run-of-mine is being stockpiled for…

After closing the Dolphin tungsten mine in 1992 due to prolonged low tungsten prices, Group 6 Metals (ASX:G6M) has restarted operations and began commercial production of tungsten concentrate earlier this year. Located on King Island between Victoria and Tasmania, the Dolphin tungsten mine is known for hosting the highest-grade tungsten deposit of significant size in the western world. It has a JORC 2012 compliant mineral reserve of 4.43mt at a grade of 0.92% tungsten trioxide. From 1917 to 1990, Dolphin operated on and off before being rehabilitated then ultimately closed, leaving only the old open pit which filled with water. Group 6 Metals managing director and chief executive Keith McKnight spoke with the Australian Mining Review on the decision to restart…

Aluminium producer Alcoa is celebrating 60 years of operating in Australia this year. In 1963, the company started mining bauxite near Jarrahdale, refining it into alumina nearby at Kwinana, and smelting alumina to make aluminium in Victoria. This was the nation’s first integrated bauxite, alumina and aluminium industry. Today, Alcoa Australia operates two bauxite mines and three alumina refineries in the south-west of WA and an aluminium smelter in Portland, Victoria. Rehabilitation and Restoration The shallow, mosaic nature of bauxite mining means a moving footprint and progressive rehabilitation and restoration of forest environments. Alcoa does not mine in old growth forests or areas of high conservation value. About 80% of all areas Alcoa has cleared for mining have been rehabilitated and are at different stages of development. Alcoa Australia president…

With its Finniss lithium project situated on the outskirts of Darwin, Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) is Australia’s newest lithium miner. Finniss lies within the Bynoe Pegmatite Field — one of the most prospective areas for lithium in the Northern Territory — and covers over 500km2 of granted tenements. Finniss hosts a JORC 2012 compliant mineral resource of 15mt at 1.3% lithium oxide and the definitive feasibility study (DFS) in 2021 highlighted an average production of 173ktpa of high-quality lithium concentrate and total ore reserves of 7.4mt. In early 2020, the Northern Territory Government formally approved the final regulatory hurdle required for the commencement of site activities — the mine management plan. An extension scoping study then outlined lithium production over 10 years comprising open pit production from reserves and resources at the Grants and Hang Gong prospects and underground production at the…

Located in a largely unexplored and recently recognised belt of Archaean- aged greenstone rocks lies the Karlawinda gold project (KGP). Situated approximately 65km south of Newman in the Pilbara province of WA, gold mineralisation at Karlawinda lies underneath laterite gold mineralisation in clays rich in kaolin and smectite. Over its 12-year mine life, the advanced gold project is expected to produce about 1.2moz of gold. Project background After acquiring 100% of the project in 2016, Capricorn Metals (ASX:CMM) began construction of Karlawinda in December 2019 with work completed in June 2021. First gold was poured a few weeks later with a 12kg (386oz) bar produced. With a strike length of 2.5km and a downdip length of 2.5km, the main gold…

Boasting hematite ore grades of 65%,  Mount Gibson Iron’s (ASX:MGX) flagship Koolan Island operation has celebrated four years of operation. 1900km north of Perth, Mount Gibson acquired Koolan Island in 2007 through the takeover of Aztec Resources. Production from the satellite pits began in 2007 and a seawall was constructed to enable the dewatering of the high-grade Main Pit orebody. Work began in 2011 and three years later, in excess of 20mt of ore had been produced and sold under Mount Gibson’s ownership. Seawall reconstruction Mining was suspended temporarily in October 2014 to monitor and repair an unstable area in the upper part of the southern pit wall. A month later, high tide caused the wall to slump even further…

The Roy Hill project in Western Australia, is about to become the site of the world’s largest single autonomous haulage fleet, once all of its 96 trucks are converted to operate within this revolutionary new system. This globally significant autonomous control system is the result of a collaboration between ASI Mining in the USA, Epiroc in Australia and the Roy Hill mine itself. Each partner has brought a significant contribution to the whole and the end result is a scalable autonomous solution that is OEM agnostic (ie: it can be applied to most OEM brands and models of mobile mining equipment). It has now been proven and field tested to operate at the highest level in one of the harshest…