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The Australian Government opens the Resources Methane Abatement Fund The Australian Government has opened the Resources Methane Abatement Fund to fund research into reducing methane emissions across the resources sector. Federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Madeleine King said the fund would provide around $8.5m in grants to universities and research institutions to develop projects that will cut methane emissions from the country’s coal and gas industries.    “The Australian government is committed to lowering emissions and playing a lead role in helping the world to decarbonise and fight climate change,” she said. “Fugitive emissions from coal and gas projects are responsible for around 29% of Australia’s methane emissions. “The Albanese...

Rio Tinto increases production from Pilbara operations Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) has seen a 3% increase in production from its Pilbara operations for the second quarter of 2023 compared to the same time last year. Pilbara operations produced 81.3Mt in the quarter as the Gudai-Darri mine achieved sustained nameplate capacity during the period. Shipments totalled 79.1mt, 1% lower than Q2 2022, reflecting the impact of planned major maintenance at the Dampier port and a train derailment. With operational improvements across the system and implementation of the safe production system, full-year shipments are expected to be in the upper half of the 320-335mt range. With a focus on continuously improving...

BHP achieves annual production records across operations Mining conglomerate BHP (ASX:BHP) has achieved annual production records at Western Australia iron ore (WAIO), Spence and Olympic Dam for the 2023 financial year. For the year, WAIO produced 285Mt of iron ore, the Spence mine in Chile produced 240,000t of copper and Olympic Dam produced 212,000t of copper and 186,000oz of refined gold. As a result, full-year production guidance was achieved for copper, iron ore, metallurgical coal and energy coal, while nickel achieved revised guidance and finished in line within the lower end of the original guidance. Chief executive Mike Henry credited the strong year to the company’s fourth quarter. “BHP finished the year...

Tivan initiates environmental works program for Speewah Tivan (ASX:TVN) has initiated a desktop and site-based works program to accelerate the environmental approvals process for the Speewah vanadium-titanium-iron project in WA. Perth-based environmental consultancy Animal Plant Mineral (APM) was engaged to undertake an environmental approvals scoping study for Speewah. This allowed APM to begin early engagement with key regulatory stakeholders, confirm environmental approval pathways, identify knowledge gaps in existing environmental data and develop scopes of work for baseline technical studies. The scoping study has now been completed and informs the baseline and technical studies required to support the environmental impact statement for Speewah. Tivan has now commissioned a number of desktop...

Bellevue Gold set for production at namesake project Bellevue Gold’s (ASX:BGL) namesake gold project in WA remains on budget and is set for first production in the December 2023 quarter. The first toll treatment material from the Vanguard open pit has been trucked to the Gwalia plant, enabling Bellevue to generate early cash flow ahead of processing at the Bellevue gold mine plant. Completion of the mill and gravity circuit structural steel and the conveyor structures has been achieved ahead of belt installation next week while painting of the fine ore bin has begun and positioning of the mill shell sections and bolting...

Group 6 Metals dispatches first shipment of tungsten concentrate from Dolphin Group 6 Metals (ASX:G6M) has dispatched its first shipment of tungsten concentrate from its Dolphin tungsten mine (DTM) on King Island, Tasmania. The shipment was loaded at the Port of Grassy on King Island and contained around 13t of tungsten concentrate with an average grade of 69% tungsten trioxide. The shipment is valued at $300k cost, insurance and freight (CIF) with 85% of the proceeds expected to be received next week. Group 6 managing director and chief executive Keith McKnight said the first shipment is a major achievement for the...

Northam to become home to one of the first end-to-end green hydrogen production systems in WA Northam is set to become home to one of the first end-to-end green hydrogen production systems in WA following a $5m investment. The system — named the MEG HP1 Hydrogen project — will be built in partnership by Infinite Green Energy, Korean Samsung C&T and Doral Energy Group. The $5m funding comes from the WA Government’s investment attraction fund and will go towards two 5MW electrolysers to establish a hydrogen production eco-system, hydrogen storage compression technology and general construction. Green hydrogen produced by the project aims to be a cost competitive, environmentally friendly alternative to other forms...

Western Green Energy Hub and Korea Electric Power Corporation sign MoU for green hydrogen energy hub The Western Green Energy Hub and Korea Electric Power Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of one of Australia’s largest green hydrogen energy hubs. The project which will be located in WA’s Goldfields-Esperance region on mining country, will cover 15,000km2 and require around 3000 wind turbines and 25m solar panel modules. These turbines and modules generate energy for electrolysis which converts water into hydrogen. Once complete, the project will become one of the largest of such green energy hubs in the world and generate 3.5mt of zero-carbon green hydrogen per year. Construction...

VRX Silica secures $2m government grant VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) has secured a $2m grant from the Western Australian State Government’s Investment Attraction Fund (IAF). The IAF is part of the Sate Government’s Diversify WA initiative, a collaboration between government, industry and the community supporting the focus on creating secure, quality jobs, growing and diversifying the economy and attracting new investment. The grant is being awarded on a matched funding, dollar for dollar basis, where IAF will provide a financial contribution to VRX, up to $2m. VRX will use the grant for test work and construction of a pilot plant for the high purity quartz flour project. The company intends to develop a high purity...

Mineral Resources installs 2.1MW solar-battery system at Wonmunna Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) has successfully installed a 2.1MW solar-battery system at its Wonmunna iron ore project in WA’s Pilbara region. Installation of the 4000 solar panels is now complete and following testing and optimisation, the technology is providing significant benefits for site operations and reducing dependency on diesel fuel. The solar-battery system will produce more than 30% of the mine’s power requirements and cut diesel consumption by roughly 760,000l per year. It will also reduce the site’s carbon emissions by around 2000t of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. Additionally, the crusher is 100% powered by the solar-battery system during the middle of the...

Rio Tinto makes $40.4m investment in Sovereign Metals Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) has made a $40.4m investment in Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) for an initial 15% shareholding. The mining giant has agreed to initially subscribe for and purchase 83,095,592 new fully paid Sovereign shares at a price of 48.6¢ per share. The subscription also involves Rio being granted options to acquire 34,549,598 further shares in Sovereign within 12 months of the initial subscription to increase its shareholding to 19.99%. Sovereign will use the proceeds from Rio to advance the Kasiya rutile graphite project, including progressing a definitive feasibility study focused on developing a world-class, low carbon dioxide mine capable of supplying...