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$37.7m to support NSW mining communities and protect workers The NSW Government is making additional investments in mine safety and rehabilitation in the 2024-25 NSW Budget. A total strategic investment of $37.7m will support mining communities, ensure rehabilitation of mines and support health and safety for mine workers in NSW. This includes $13.6m over four years for mine rehabilitation, a key priority for regional communities. This funding package increases dedicated regulatory resources to ensure compliance with rehabilitation requirements and provide support for local communities. Inspectors at the NSW Resources Regulator will oversee a projected increase in rehabilitation...

Low-carbon credentials for Lake Hope A preliminary study into the potential carbon dioxide emissions from Impact Minerals’ (ASX: IPT) Lake Hope high purity alumina (HPA) project in WA show Scope 1 and 2 emissions will be significantly lower than competing processes that produce HPA. The low emissions apply to both sulphate and low-temperature-leach (LTL) processes that are being considered by Impact to produce HPA as part of the pre-feasibility study for Lake Hope. The emissions study showed that using WA’s current electricity supply, likely emissions are 4.38t of carbon dioxide per tonne of HPA produced via the sulphate process and 3.44t of carbon dioxide per tonne...

Sandvik introduces AutoMine Interoperable Access Control System Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions has introduced the AutoMine Interoperable Access Control System (ACS) for autonomous underground mining. Designed to improve productivity and increase operational flexibility, the AutoMine Interoperable ACS builds on the AutoMine flexible safety zone by enabling non-Sandvik, third-party autonomous equipment to operate seamlessly in AutoMine access-controlled isolated zones. With AutoMine Interoperable ACS, a fleet of underground loaders, trucks, drills and auxiliary equipment can now be managed with one safety system. It increases the flexibility between Sandvik and third-party automated equipment by allowing access to a shared automated zone at different times. Each machine...

Thiess secures 4-year extension at Caval Ridge Thiess Group has been awarded a four-year contract extension with BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) for the Caval Ridge Operations in Queensland. With a revenue of $580m, the contract sees Thiess continuing to provide mining services at the Caval Ridge mine, operating and maintaining mining equipment to move overburden to support BMA’s production requirements. Thiess executive chair and chief executive officer Michael Wright says the extension is a contributing factor in Thiess’ continued success. “We are very pleased that our ongoing commitment to safe and sustainable mining has resulted in BMA awarding us a four-year...

Remote dozer operations embraced at Capcoal Dozer operators at Anglo American’s Capcoal Complex in Queensland are in training to embrace remote control technology to improve operator safety on site. A remote-controlled stockpile dozer is being trialled at the operation ahead of plans to retro-fit the entire fleet. Once this technology is fully deployed across all of Anglo American’s sites, in-cab dozer exposure time will be reduced by 45k to 75k hours a year. This remote control dozer trial has been named a finalist in the innovation and safety categories at the Queensland Mining Awards. Capcoal has also been named a finalist in the innovation category at...

Whitehaven transitions 100-year-old Werris Creek to full time rehabilitation Whitehaven Coal is winding down mining activities at Werris Creek mine in NSW to transition to full time rehabilitation which is expected to conclude in 2027. Last coal was extracted in April and the final train is set to depart the site by the end of June. The site has delivered over 26mt of high-quality thermal coal since Whitehaven commenced operations in 2005 while maintaining its position as Whitehaven’s lowest-cost producer. Werris Creek operations manager Murray O’Keefe praises the high standards set by Whitehaven’s personnel over a near-two decade run. “The...

Queensland SuperGrid soars thanks to renewable energy Powerlink, in partnership with Queensland startup Infravision, is using drones to string 50km of transmission lines to connect the Genex pumped storage hydro system to the Queensland electricity SuperGrid. The world-class powerline stringing system, which is developed, manufactured and assembled out of Coolum Beach, Queensland is the longest section of high voltage electricity transmission line strung by drones in the Asia-Pacific region. Infravision air operations global president Josh Williams says this system sets a new standard in renewable energy. "Infravision and Powerlink Queensland are setting new standards in the energy sector...

Solid rock home for Queensland water battery The Queensland Government reports promising investigative geotechnical drilling at the proposed Pioneer-Burdekin pumped hydro project which is expected to deliver the largest water battery of its kind in the world. Investigations drilled to 850m, yielding 3,800m of geotechnical cores, mostly extracted by local Mackay, Queensland drillers, Twin Hills Engineering. WSP and SMEC have identified very strong, coarse competent granite rock ideal for dam construction, tunnels and potentially multiple underground multi-turbine powerhouses. Queensland Government geologist Tony Knight says the samples are ideal for this project. “The samples I inspected from the site...

Aboriginal heritage survey scheduled at Wabli Creek An Aboriginal heritage survey has been scheduled at Reach Resources’ (ASX: RR1) Wabli Creek project in the Gascoyne region, WA. The survey has been booked with the Burringurrah Aboriginal Corporation for the week beginning July 15, 2024. The survey will focus on the priority geochemical targets identified by Reach’s consultant geochemist, Sugden Geoscience, and the margins of the late-stage intrusive feature which is considered the likely source of niobium-yttrium-tantalum-titanium-rare earth element enriched pegmatites at Wabli Creek. Additionally, recent geochemistry has indicated that a carbonatite association cannot be ruled out in addition to the pegmatites. Reach Resources chief executive Jeremy Bower commented...

Green is a go: WA initiative approves first project A solar project in the Pilbara, WA, is the first project approved under the WA Government’s Green Energy Approvals Initiative. The approved project of up to 150MW will be located within a 13,000km2 in the Pilbara and is part of Indigenous-led Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation’s (YEC) plans for one of Australia’s largest renewable energy developments intended to total 3GW of solar, wind and storage capacity. Pilbara member Kevin Michel says this project sets a new standard for renewable energy developments. “I'm thrilled the first project assessed under the Green Energy Approvals...

Large scale gold mining restarts in Tennant Creek Large scale mining is set to restart in Tennant Creek with Tennant Mining beginning construction on its Nobles gold mine project in the Northern Territory. Civil work is underway at Nobles with construction and commissioning to be completed in the second quarter of 2025. Gold production is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2025. The project is forecast to produce an average of 65,000ozpa of gold and it’s expected to contribute $69.9m to the Northern Territory economy each year. Initially, work will focus on mining stockpiles and tailings at the Nobles open pit mine...