Category: Features

The rapid growth of the Mardie salt and potash project In April 2023, the Australian Mining Review spoke with BCI Minerals (ASX:BCI) managing director David Boshoff about the rapid growth and success of its Mardie salt and potash project on the West Pilbara coast in WA. This month, we will look at the progress undertaken since then and what other developments are in the pipeline for the company. Mardie Salt and Potash Project 100% owned by Mardie Minerals, a wholly owned subsidiary of BCI, the Mardie salt and potash project represents a rare and sustainable opportunity to develop a large-scale, multi-generational solar evaporation operation...

Upstream zinc-ing for energy transition One of the world’s largest zinc mine is located in the Northern Territory at Glencore’s McArthur River Mine, about 700km southeast of Darwin. Along with zinc, the mine also produces lead and silver, both in concentrates. Zinc produced there is used in steel products, such as white goods, to preserve and extend the life of steel products, and also in renewable technologies like solar panels and wind turbines for steel and corrosion protection. McArthur River Mine was originally an underground mining operation, with the mine converting to open cut in...

Ramelius Resources: Staking its claim on WA's gold sector Australia has a long history of gold mining which has helped shaped the country and economy in many ways, with gold exports generating revenue of $25.8b in FY22. Gold not only led Australia’s first mining boom, but it also triggered the 19th century gold rush with people travelling from all over the world to the goldfields of Kalgoorlie, Ballarat, Bendigo and Bathurst. As the country with the largest known gold resources in the world, Australia has a significant opportunity to supply the world’s gold demand. ASX200-listed company Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) has taken advantage of Australia’s gold...

Illawarra Metallurgical Coal: Premium Quality Hard Coking Coal Producer Steeped in coal mining history dating back more than 150 years, the first coal mines in the Illawarra and Macarthur regions of NSW opened in the early nineteenth century. Soon after this, collieries were developed to mine coal for the growing local steel industry and labourers settled into the area, bringing their families with them. Roads, schools and hospitals then popped up and communities flourished. South32’s (ASX:S32) Illawarra Metallurgical Coal operation is located in these regions in the southern coalfields of NSW, around 75km south of Sydney. Illawarra Metallurgical Coal operates two underground metallurgical coal mines — Appin and Dendrobium —...

Fenix rising from the ashes Fenix Resources'(ASX:FEX) flagship Iron Ridge iron ore project is a high grade, high margin project located in the prolific Midwest mining region of WA. With a JORC 2012 compliant resource of 9.8mt at 64.4% iron, Iron Ridge has some of the highest-grade iron ore in WA. The iron ore product is high grade with low dangerous elements and is highly sought after by steel mills for environmental and blast furnace productivity reasons. Following a rapid three-month development period, production began in December 2020 with first sales generated two months later in February 2021. Iron ore production milestone In June 2023, Fenix produced and...

Workplace Health & Safety 2023 Event Wrap Up 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...

Q&A with Gold Fields executive vice president legal & compliance Kelly Carter 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...

Kemerton: Australia's Largest Lithium Hydroxide Processing Plant 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...

Going For Gold In Papua New Guinea 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...

Hillgrove Resources: Australia's Next Copper Producer 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,...

Group 6 Metals - The Dolphin Tungsten mine restart 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...