Category: Legacy

“I have the profound hope that we can not only put this industry on its feet but we can make it…profitable in the sense that it will pay the nation.” By Mark Scott 20 April WHEN the British Government took over the country’s coal mines on 1 January 1947, it temporarily ended decades of debate about private versus national ownership of the mining industry. Coal was a vital part of the British economy for centuries, fuelling the Industrial Revolution and employing more than a million workers at its peak in the early 1920s. However from the early twentieth century, Britain’s coal industry began a drawn-out decline. Strikes among its heavily unionised workforce had the capacity to bring the nation to…

“Our approach has been to meet market demand; our history of production clearly reflects that we do not seek to push product into the market if there’s no demand.” By Mark Scott 17 April 2015 AFTER a soft few years in the mineral sands market, producer Iluka Resources is set to boost production in 2015 in a sign of confidence in renewed demand. Iluka produces two titanium dioxide feedstocks – rutile and synthetic rutile – as well as zircon from its operations in WA, South Australia, Victoria and the US. The company’s results took a hit last year amid weak demand for mineral sands and following an $86.5 million non-cash impairment charge related to plans to close its US operations…

By Rachel Dally-Watkins 17 April, 2015 FORTESCUE Metals Group will increase output by as much as 10 million tonnes by the end of the 2015 financial year, just weeks after publicly calling out majors BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto for flooding the market. In its March quarter report, Fortescue’s shipping guidance was upgraded to between 160mt and 165mt, to reflect “the strong operational performance for the year to date”. The new target would result in a substantial increase to the 124mt shipped in the previous financial year. The move prompted criticism, given Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest’s recent infamous call for iron ore majors to cap their production to ease the pressure of plunging iron ore prices. “Rio is competing with…

By Mark Scott 13 April 2015 “The biggest challenge for Pilbara Cities at the moment is dispelling the myth that it’s become a ghost town and there’s tumbleweeds rolling down the streets…” IT was February 2011 when the spot price for iron ore surged to an all-time high of almost US$200 per tonne. Dozens of new mines had popped up across the iron-rich red dirt of WA’s Pilbara region, Australia’s undisputed iron ore heartland; old hands Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were expanding their already colossal hubs, while new players Fortescue Metals Group, Atlas Iron and BC Iron were making their presence felt in the global market. The region’s population centres – Karratha, Port Hedland and Newman – were booming.…

By Courtney Pearson 7 April, 2015 THE iron ore price crash may take a high profile victim, with Atlas Iron suspending its shares from the ASX to review its future. The price fell to US$47.50 during the Easter weekend – well below the company’s all-in cash cost guidance of between $60 and $63/WMT predicted for the second half of FY15 – prompting a “comprehensive review”, the company announced. “The voluntary suspension is requested pending the outcome of an extensive review of the company’s operations, financial outlook, asset sale opportunities and capital structure in the light of the recent rapid fall in the iron ore price,” Atlas said in a statement. Atlas is in talks with shareholders in an attempt to…

By Mark Scott THE controversial expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal will go ahead under a new agreement between the recently elected Queensland Government and major proponents Adani and GVK. Under previous state government plans, dredge spoil from the expansion project was to be dumped either at sea, near the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, or in the environmentally sensitive Caley Valley wetlands. A third option, announced last month by newly elected Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, would see spoil dumped on unallocated industrial land adjacent to the existing coal terminal, at a site named T2. Adani and GVK would pay for the dredging program and approval costs under the new proposal, which requires Federal environmental approval before it can…

By Mark Scott WA has lost its title as the world’s most attractive place for mining companies to invest, with the mining sector under pressure from slow bureaucracy, government policies and a drop in commodity prices. Canada-based The Fraser Institute’s annual Survey of Mining Companies, released in February, named Finland as the world’s most attractive investment destination in 2014, with WA slipping to fifth place after claiming the top spot in 2013. The report’s investment attractiveness index combines a mineral potential index, which rates regions based on their geological attractiveness, and a policy perception index, which measures the impact of government policy on attitudes to exploration investment. On policy perception, WA dropped from sixth to 10th place, while on mineral…

By Mark Scott & Jane Goldsmith March 2015 AN “iron clad” guarantee from Queensland’s newly elected government not to touch mining royalty rates has prompted calls in WA for Premier Colin Barnett to follow suit. The Annastacia Palaszczuk-led Labor Party picked up 33 seats in the January election to form minority government after pledging to leave royalties on coal, minerals, petroleum and gas unchanged. The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (CME) applauded a commitment by the two major Queensland parties to not increase royalties and has pushed for similar action in WA, where the state government is undertaking a review of its mineral royalty system. “The commitments on royalties made by the Liberal National Party and Labor Party…

By Mark Scott March 2015 WA’S biggest copper mine will soon be powered by the country’s largest integrated off-grid solar array under an agreement signed by Sandfire Resources and juwi Renewable Energy last month. Sandfire’s DeGrussa copper mine, near Wiluna in the northern Goldfields, will become home to a 10.6 megawatt solar power station that will be fully integrated with its existing 20MW diesel-fired power station. The $40 million project will involve 34,080 solar photovoltaic panels that track the sun and a 6MW battery, constructed on 20 hectares of land near the DeGrussa underground mine. Funding will be coordinated by juwi, which will own and operate the facility, with Sandfire to contribute less than $1 million. Once operational, the solar…

By Jane Goldsmith March 2015 ACTIVITY at Sirius Resources’ world-class Nova nickel project has begun, with formal mining operations ramping up alongside major construction works. Sirius managing director Mark Bennett said it was “very satisfying” to break ground at the Nova project, just two-and-a-half years after the deposit’s discovery. “We have started the project on time, on plan and significantly within original CAPEX budget estimates,” he said. According to the conditions of a $129 million, three-year contract, Barminconder will complete initial surface mining in three months, and then segue immediately into underground operations. Nova’s existing exploration camp is being expanded into a 200-person temporary construction camp, to house the workforce while the main accommodation village is being built. The temporary…

By Jane Goldsmith March 2015 WA resources companies need to reassess their business strategies and operations in the wake of China’s slowdown, according to an international advisory and procurement firm. The Beijing Axis founder and managing director Kobus van der Wath said WA industry had already felt the impact of China’s slowdown with plunging commodity prices and mass layoffs, but new opportunities could be leveraged in a post-mining boom era. “The beginning of 2015 has already seen significant bilateral developments in the agriculture, air services and property sectors,” Mr van der Wath said. “With the milestone achievement of the Australia-China free trade agreement last year, one can certainly expect an expansion and a shift in the strategic relationship between these…