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It’s been revealed that mining giant BHP (ASX: BHP) contributed $52.9b in economic value to Australia in FY24 through wages, dividends, payments to suppliers, investments, taxes and royalties. Of this $52.9b, $22b was spent with suppliers and $110m went to social investment across BHP’s Australian communities. BHP-operated projects spent around $700m with 240 Indigenous suppliers, a 75% increase year-on-year, and these projects are well on track to meet its commitment to procure $1.5b of goods and services from Indigenous and Traditional Owner businesses by FY27. These projects contributed 9% and 11% of all government revenue (excluding grants) in Queensland and WA, respectively. This is being supported by BHP’s initial commitment of $20m over two years for major Indigenous initiatives from…

Australian Mining Companies are genuinely concerned about workshop hygiene and personnel exposure to dusts. Ironically, some practices that have been introduced to help minimise dust are often counterproductive and result in the need for additional primary filter services. Today’s modern diesel engines can consume up to 20,000 litres of heavily contaminated air for each litre of diesel fuel burned, mining air intake systems can be overwhelmed by the volume of dust threatening high performing diesel engines. In the laboratory, a dual SSG Radial Seal™ housing will separate and filter out more than 200kg of test dust prior to reaching the maximum allowable intake restriction common to modern engines. It’s a reasonable assumption that the filter housings on your heavy mining…

The Federal Government has granted environmental approval for BCI Minerals’ (ASX: BCI) Optimised Mardie project (OMP) in the Pilbara region of WA. The OMP will be the largest solar salt project in Australia and the third largest globally, producing 5.35mtpa of high-quality industrial salt for export with an operating life expected to exceed 60 years. The approval allows operations to commence and enables further construction in the northern area of the project footprint. BCI Minerals will commence operations by filling evaporation ponds one, two and three with seawater from September 10. Once the initial three ponds are filled, BCI Minerals will update its Groundwater Monitoring and Management Plan (GMMP) using real-time data from the company’s extensive network of monitoring bores…

Kincora Copper (ASX: KCC) has been awarded the Nyngan West, Nyngan South and Nevertire South projects in central west NSW. These new projects double Kincora’s position on the Macquarie Arc’s Northern Junee-Narromine Belt (NJNB) and provide continuous landholding along more than 100km strike of the Arc. This consolidates the immediate extensions of the Nyngan and Nevertire projects held in partnership with AngloGold Ashanti Australia. Kincora president and chief executive Sam Spring says the company’s strategy to create shareholder value is through obtaining the best ground, concluding commercial deals and making large scale copper-gold discoveries. “Recently we have attracted four industry partners and unlocked up to $60m of multi-year funding,” he said. “We are very pleased to have opportunistically secured three…

An Electric Automotive Vehicle Training Centre has been added to North Metropolitan TAFE’s Joondalup campus to deliver skills training across clean energy vehicles. WA Premier Roger Cook and Training and Workforce Development Minister Simone McGurk officially opened the new centre at the Joondalup Learning Precinct and met with students undertaking training to maintain electric and hybrid vehicles. This centre will provide a hub for people to train in electric vehicle (EV) technologies and help develop the next generation of automotive workers to service vehicles that are key to WA’s clean energy future. Mr Cook says WA’s clean energy transition is offering up a range of job opportunities. “These workers will be crucial to ensuring electric and hybrid vehicles remain reliable,…

Bellevue Gold Limited (ASX: BGL) reports that the underground decline development has started at the Tribune portal, established in August this year, with the aim of providing a second independent mine access route. The Tribune decline, which will be the sixth independent mining area, is being developed by an additional fifth jumbo and is expected to access ore from the Tribune lode in the December 2024 quarter. The new jumbo is a fully-electrified Sandvik 422iE battery electric vehicle. Bellevue Gold managing director and chief executive Darren Stralow says these key works are part of the company’s plan to increase production to 250,000oz a year. “The commencement of the Tribune is important as it not only provides an additional mining area…

Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) managing director Stuart Tonkin spoke on the company’s record FY24 at the WA Mining Club August luncheon. The gold producer saw record cash earnings in FY24 of $1.8b plus revenue of $4.92b, crediting these results to the strong operational performance across its Kalgoorlie and Yandal production centres in WA, plus its Pogo production centre in Alaska. Looking forward, Mr Tonkin says one of the biggest threats to the Australian mining sector is the global risk of the flight of capital. “You need business planning runway,” he said. “As start to modify and change, companies need time. “What the nation doesn’t quite realise is that the money will go. “It will leave Australia and it…

In what has been a tumultuous few weeks for Regis Resources (ASX: RRL) over the McPhillamys project, good news has risen from the west with the Tropicana joint venture (AngloGold Ashanti 70%; Regis Resources 30%) approving the Havana underground project in WA. The project will establish an underground mine beneath the currently producing Havana open pit and deliver incremental gold production of 55,000oz above the existing planned Tropicana production between 2027-2029. Regis Resources managing director and chief executive Jim Beyer comments on this. “The approval of the Havana underground project is further demonstration of the underground growth optionality across Tropicana,” he said. “Tropicana has consistently replaced underground ore reserves at levels beyond depletion, and the approval to develop the Havana…

A differential fee model for lodging mineral title objections before WA’s mining wardens will take effect on September 16. The introduction of the fee follows a significant increase in the number of objections to mineral title applications brought before the mining wardens over the past three years, which required the appointment of a second Perth mining warden. The new general fee of $430 will effectively support partial cost-recovery to fund the second warden and additional administrative staff. Like other courts and tribunals in WA, concession card and pension card holders will incur a $100 fee. Registered Native Title Bodies Corporate and freehold landowners that overlap the application for a mining tenement will have a $0 fee. Under amendments to the Mining…

Rugby league’s biggest stars have thrown their support behind the mining industry in a bid to promote the benefits mining jobs have on local communities and the economy more broadly. Jobs for Mining Communities (JMC), a new advocacy body headed by Grant Wechsel and Darren Lockyer, has launched a Queensland-wide campaign to promote mining’s role in powering Australia’s industrial strength and economic prosperity. JMC founder and managing director Grant Wechsel says JMC provides a new platform to promote the interests of those living in mining communities by advocating for job creation, economic development and investment in amenity. “I’ve been involved in the mining industry for over 20 years,” he said. “I’m passionate about our industry and the benefits it provides…

On September 23, the S&P/ASX 200 will welcome two more companies with Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX) and Yancoal (ASX: YAL) set to join. Yancoal will also be added S&P/ASX 300 and these additions follow the company being added to the Hang Seng Composite and inclusion in the list of stocks eligible for trading under the Stock Connect program with the mainland Chinese stock market in March 2023. Yancoal chief executive says this is exciting news for the company, especially in its 20th anniversary year. “We were encouraged to see the notable increase in the company’s market valuation, average daily turnover and shareholder base during recent years as we recovered from extended rain disruptions and our free float increased,” he said.…