Category: Features

Alcoa commits to building on 60-year success in WA 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...

Australia's newest lithium miner: Core Lithium 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...

Capricorn Metals breathes life into Newman gold exploration 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...

Mt Gibson Iron celebrates 40 years of operation at Koolan Island 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....

Independence Day - The time for a proven, alternative autonomous haulage system is at hand 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...

UNSW School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering: Leading the Way in Education and Innovation   The UNSW School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering (MERE) is a leading provider of innovative world class engineering education and research, and a proud sponsor of the 2023 Oral Presentation Prize at this Year’s World Mining Congress in Brisbane. Operating for over seventy years, the School continues to thrive with highly sought-after undergraduate and postgraduate programs, alongside an increase to its internationally acclaimed research output. In the latest global rankings, MERE was ranked both 4th in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2023), and 10th in the world (Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2022). The School prides itself on creating and nurturing industry...

SciAps Lands Down Under   Boston-based instrumentation company SciAps recently opened a location in Australia. The company specialises in handheld portable analytical instruments that measure any mineral, any element, in any place on the planet. It’s industry-leading X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and laser-based (LIBS) analysers are hard at work across every major industry, including the new specialty field of geochemistry. As the only handheld instrumentation company to offer both XRF and LIBS for the geochemistry and mining industry, SciAps gives asset owners complete visibility when it comes to research, exploration, grade control, block modeling, process optimisation, and much more, all via a handheld device. SciAps has 35 years of combined experience with elemental handheld technology across the United States and Australia....

For the first time in over sixty years one of the world’s most prestigious international mining events will be held in Australia for the first time

Expansion at KCGM super pit The KCGM Super Pit, located in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, is one of the largest open-pit gold mines in the world. This iconic gold mine has been in operation for over three decades and is currently owned and operated by Northern Star Resources Limited (ASX: NST). The Super Pit has produced more than 21moz of gold since it began operation in 1989. The mine is located in the heart of the WA Goldfields and is a significant contributor to the regional economy. Northern Star Resources is now preparing for a growth project at KCGM operations called ‘Fimiston South’, which will extend the life of the mine to 2034. Overview of KCGM Since start of operation, KCGM...

A one stop shop for mechanical power transmission products RINGSPANN is a leading technology manufacturer of power transmission products such as freewheels, backstops, brakes, clamping fixtures, shaft-hub connections and overload clutches. It also leads in precision clamping fixtures and remote controls. The company has nine manufacturing facilities in Germany and across the globe. With almost 500 employees in more than 25 countries through dedicated offices and distributing companies, RINGSPANN prides themselves on providing the latest and reliable high tech products to an abundance of customers worldwide in the field of industrial gears and geared motors, mining, machine tools, food and packaging machines, energy generation, material handling, marine, rail, aerospace, vehicle construction, pulp and paper as well as in general machine...

Decarbonisation in Australian mining New and advanced technologies are making low emissions mining and energy generation commercially viable and mining companies and electricity providers across the nation are moving forward and being encouraged to move forward to decarbonise their operations. Australian miners are now profiting from the clean energy transition while accelerating national decarbonisation efforts, according to a report produced by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) in September last year. According to the report, titled ‘The compelling case for decarbonisation: Mining in a low emissions economy’, Australia is among the top producers of the world’s...