Category: Legacy

A former economic adviser to US President Barack Obama has given Australian miners a beacon of hope, expressing confidence in the market’s recovery during a presentation at the 2013 Diggers & Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie last month. Amid tales of redundancies, cost cutting and mothballed projects, economic commentator Austan Goolsbee remained optimistic that Australia would return to a positive economic outlook in the long term, despite current tough conditions. “Once you get past the bumps of the next six to twelve months, countries like the United States, Australia and China have a case for optimism,” keynote speaker Mr Goolsbee said. There was no denying that many miners were doing it tough – if the 13 per cent drop in attendance…

RUNNING close behind its big brother region, the Pilbara, WA’s Mid West is a significant minerals and energy province. While the closure of several Mid West mines and the mothballing of Oakajee dealt blows to local industry, other projects achieved major growth, and in 2011 to 2012 the region contributed $2.4 billion to the Australian economy. Iron ore sales totalled more than $577 million in the period, and the $2.5 billion Karara iron ore project is set to further bolster the region’s output. Karara began ramping up production in January and is expected to deliver 8 million tonnes of product by the end of the year. In July, Geraldton Port Authority reported that iron ore mines had caused a record…

WITH gold coming off its worst quarterly loss in decades, the sector is racing to implement a slew of cost-cutting and efficiency boosting initiatives to stem the bleeding. Northern Star Resources managing director Bill Beament said that while structural changes across the mining industry were progressively reining in costs, much more would be needed before global investors returned. This capital drain from Australian resource stocks was also affecting the ability of mining companies to explore and create new mines. ‘‘We’ve got to get our cost base back to where it was in 2010, because that’s what we are dealing with; a gold price from 2010,’’ he told The Age. Mr Beament also said the refusal by most Australian gold producers…

IT has been a rocky 12 months for the global mining industry. Natural disasters, a high Australian dollar and a falling iron ore price hit many companies hard. Several juniors fell by the wayside. Even BHP Billiton – the world’s largest mining company – took some heavy hits. In its December 2012 half year results, released in February, the company announced a 38 per cent fall in earnings before interest and tax, down to US$9.8 billion. The company cited “substantially lower commodity prices, a weak US dollar and inflation” for offsetting stronger volumes and cost savings. “Commodity prices were particularly volatile in the December 2012 half year, consistent with the prevailing level of uncertainty in the global economy, although a…

EXISTING copper resources will sustain increasing world demand for at least a century, refuting claims that mineable supplies could run out within 30 years, according to new research. After compiling and analysing a database of current worldwide copper resources, Monash University researchers concluded there were ample resources within the reach of existing technologies. Published in two peer-reviewed papers, the database focussed on mining company resource estimates and included vital information for carbon and energy use modelling, such as the ore grade of the deposits. Monash University School of Geosciences researcher Dr Simon Jowitt said the database could transform the industry’s understanding of copper availability. “Although our estimates are much larger than any previously available, they’re a minimum,” he said. “In…

AUSTRALIA has maintained its position as the world’s sixth most assured market for foreign investment, for the second consecutive year. According to AT Kearney’s 2013 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, the nation’s natural resources attracted hundreds of companies with combined annual revenue of more than US$2 trillion. In a statement, AT Kearney said the survey of 300 company executives in 28 countries showed an increase in global market optimism. “Australia remains in sixth place in the Index as continued resource development drives economic growth,” the statement said. “This year, 70 per cent of corporate investors surveyed expect near-term recovery of their companies FDI levels. “Half see their budgets as already returned to pre-crisis levels and 20 per cent expect…

RESOURCE industry professionals and economic analysts are speaking out against allegations of an Australian ‘mining bust’, stating the claims are based on rhetoric rather than fact. The resources sector was a central topic of media speculation in early 2013, with reports analysing the scaling back of exploration activity, rising employment cut-back figures, a reduction in investor capital and confidence, and the delay or suspension of a number of key mining projects. An alleged overreliance on mining, combined with the nervous volatility of the wider international economy, led to calls for Australia to diversify its income into new market sectors. However, many in the industry argue that Australia’s resources sector is simply transitioning through the stages of an otherwise healthy industry,…

IN keeping with its growth strategy, Fortescue Metals Group has successfully completed an impressive upgrade to its bulk material handling facilities at Port Hedland that will pave the way for the company to reach its target export capacity of 155 million tonnes per annum. From humble beginnings in 2003 Fortescue has grown into the world’s fourth-largest iron ore producer. Its first mining operations began at its Cloudbreak mine in August 2007, with the constructionof all mine, rail and port infrastructure completed in 2008. A critical part of the company’s port infrastructure, a Metso TU601 twin cell tandem train unloader, was put into operation in April 2008 when Fortescue unloaded its first trainload of ore at its Herb Elliott Port, near…

WA-based Desert Mines and Metals has wasted no time in progressing with its newest acquisition, the Daehwa Project in South Korea. Diamond drilling at the project – one of the largest of its kind in the country – has intersected high grade molybdenum and a small amount of other precious metals including tungsten. Desert Mines and Metals has worked alongside government corporation Korea Resources (Kores) to assist in exploration activities. Initial results and several test points include 7m of molybdenum at 0.26 per cent from 97.3m; 5m at 0.13 per cent from 87m and 0.9m at 1 per cent from 23.7m. Desert Mines and Metals managing director Chris Rashleigh said the initial results were promising. “We are pleased with the…

QUEENSLAND thermal coal miner New Hope has scaled back production and initiated job cuts at its Jeebropilly open cut mine, in what economists have interpreted as a further indication of the deteriorating nature of Australia’s coal industry. The latest casualty of the market slump, the Jeebropilly thermal coal mine in Amberley, Queensland, is undergoing what New Hope terms “strategic downsizing” in response to the extenuating high costs of the current market conditions, compounded by the current weakness of commodity prices. The move was announced by the company in a recent quarterly activities report, stating that since April, Jeebropilly in which it had operated five days per week instead of six as a direct strategy to reduce costs. New Hope justified…

MENTAL health groups are calling for cultural and organisational change in employer training and employee support for fly in, fly out (FIFO) and drive in, drive out (DIDO) workers, after one of Australia’s largest ever FIFO-DIDO mental health studies highlighted the potentially harmful psychological and lifestyle stressors of this unique working arrangement. The study found there was a stigma attached to mental health problems in the FIFO-DIDO work culture, which inhibited employee’s acknowledgment of a problem and was one of three major barriers to employees seeking help. Compounding this problem was an underlying lack of support services and employer training, along with a general lack of employee knowledge of the services available. In a collaborative research project designed by suicide-prevention…