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Epiroc establishes live work elimination program In line with the Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Epiroc has set long-term 2030 sustainability targets within the areas of people and planet. Under the People – Health and Safety target, Epiroc is aiming to have no work-related injuries and to contribute to this, it has established a live work elimination (LWE) program. Epiroc live work elimination program manager Lori-Anne Fleming commented on the program. “The goal of our LWE program is to make sure that when people work on our equipment, they are not exposed to any energy...

WA EPA green light for South32 expansion The WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has recommended the proposed expansion of South32’s (ASX: S32) Boddington bauxite mine and Worsley refinery. But the recommendation is subject to strict conditions, including exclusion zones around rivers, streams and significant flora and fauna. This follows the WA Government’s recent decisions to allow Alcoa to continue bauxite mining and downstream alumina refining in the southwest of the State. Alcoa recently received an exemption allowing it to implement mining proposals while the WA EPA assesses...

Findings shared from Australia’s first hydrogen microgrid The WA Government has released findings from a public knowledge sharing report on the Denham renewable hydrogen microgrid. The first of its kind in Australia, the project includes a 703kW solar farm, a 348kW hydrogen electrolyser and a 100kW fuel cell in Denham, WA. It will provide an innovative alternative to diesel and is expected to offset 140klpa of diesel. The public knowledge sharing report will help to advance learnings in technology, costs, regulatory requirements and community sentiment around using hydrogen as a fuel source. WA Premier Roger Cook says the microgrid will...

South32 deploys innovative technology worldwide South32 (ASX: S32) is making progress across Australian and American mining operations with the development of automated exploration technology and energy efficient grinding plant equipment. In Australia, South32 has successfully completed the trial of its Evolution Drill Rig prototype. The prototype was trialled over three months at the Jessica and Cararra exploration projects in the Northern Territory, where South32 is in farm-in agreements with Encounter Resources (ASX: ENR). The drill rig, operated by contract partner DDH1 Drilling, improves safety performance without reducing productivity by removing the manual rod handling process during drilling. It...

Sandvik’s $42m order from Evolution Mining Gold miner Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) has placed a major underground equipment order from Sandvik, worth about $42m (SEK 300m). The order was booked in the second quarter this year, with deliveries scheduled to begin this third quarter and continue over the next 12 months. The order includes Sandvik’s advanced underground loaders, trucks and development drills to be implemented in different mine sites around Australia. Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions president...

AGR sodium cyanide plant expansion receives additional funding Australian Gold Reagents (AGR) has received the next stage of funding to expand the capacity of its sodium cyanide plant. Three years in the making, the expansion will increase AGR’s production capacity by around 28ktpa from its existing production to more than 90ktpa. This expansion will position AGR as the world’s third-largest sodium cyanide produce for gold mining operations across Australia, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. First sodium cyanide production from the expanded plant is expected in late 2025 with additional capacity progressively coming online through to 2027. AGR general manager Barney Jones says funding...

$393m deal pushes Hillside copper forward MACH is set to acquire all remaining shares of Rex Minerals (Rex) (ASX: RXM) in a new scheme implementation deed. The Rex board has unanimously recommended the transaction. The offer follows a competitive global partnering process which identified a $854m funding and development pathway for mining operations at Rex’s Hillside copper-gold project in South Australia. Rex Minerals chief executive Richard Laufmann says this option provides certainty for stakeholders in Hillside, including the local community, the South Australian Government and Rex employees. “The Transaction provides certainty of value and a significant premium representing a...

Kairos Minerals appoints GRES for Mt York scoping study Kairos Minerals (ASX: KAI) has awarded GR Engineering Services a contract to complete a scoping study on its Mt York gold project in WA’s Pilbara. The study will assess an ore process of 4mtpa with modelling variations at 3mtpa and 5mtpa. Mt York has total gold resources of 49.24mt @ 1.02g/t gold for 1.61moz, with attention to grow the resources above 2moz. An internal valuation by Kairos, under the guidance of GR Engineering Services (GRES), indicated that the best commercial outcomes for the project were delivered using process rates higher than 1mtpa. Testwork of fresh...

Alkane’s golden year: strong production for FY24 Alkane Resources (Alkane) (ASX: ALK) Tomingley gold operations in New South Wales has closed FY24 with 57,217oz of production to meet its updated guidance. Production in the June quarter of FY24 accounted for 17,319oz of gold. Preliminary all in sustaining costs (AISC) are expected to fall within updated guidance ($2,150/oz to $2,350/oz) for FY24 The Group’s unaudited cash, bullion and listed investments position at the close of FY24 totalled $54.5m, comprising $45.5m cash, $8.7m of bullion on hand and $0.3m of listed investments. Alkane managing director Nic Earner says the Roswell underground ramp-up is the primary...

MinRes becomes first WA resources company to deploy in-house mental health services Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) has become the first resources company in WA to deploy a team of in-house mental health counsellors to its mines across the State. This investment ensures that all MinRes employees — including its 7500 fly in, fly out (FIFO) staff — have the opportunity to talk about mental health and...

BHP goes green at Escondida Norte BHP (ASX: BHP) is going green at its Escondida Norte project in Chile with the implementation of a mining truck electrification system. An environmental impact statement has been submitted to the Environmental Impact Assessment System to advance the “implementation of the mining truck electrification system in Escondida Norte project”. This seeks to assist the movement of this equipment inside the mine by means of a trolley system. Work includes the construction of a new electrical substation and transmission lines both inside and around the Escondida Norte pit. The substation and transmission lines will electrically assist the movement of the trucks inside the mine in...