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The merger between Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) and Saracen Mineral Holdings (ASX: SAR), announced in early October, has sent ripples through the Australian gold mining industry. The friendly alliance between the Australian owners of the Super Pit, managed by Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM), will effectively create a new Top 10 global gold major with a $16b market capitalisation. The completion of the merger, anticipated around February 2021, will target new production levels of 2mozpa by FY27 from its Tier 1 locations at Kalgoorlie, Yandal and North America. Northern Star Resources executive chairman Bill Beament, who will transition to Non-Executive Chair in July 2021, says the company has only ever pursued growth that will create value for its shareholders....

South32 remains in a strong position with the release of its September quarterly report today, maintaining its FY21 production guidance across all operations. The company also delivered a US$70m increase in its cash position to reach a net cash balance of US$368m, a 23% lift from its FY20 US$298m. South32 chief executive Graham Kerr said this quarter shows strong operating performance and a further strengthening of the company’s financial position despite the continued health crisis. “We delivered a 19% increase in manganese ore production and a 22% increase in metallurgical coal production,” Mr Kerr said. “During the quarter we continued our work to reshape and improve our portfolio, progressing the divestment of South Africa Energy Coal and entering into a...

Nickel may have been fickle, but it’s one of the few commodities around which is performing solidly in the wake of COVID. The fact was highlighted by WA Mines, Energy, and Petroleum Minister Bill Johnston as he opened the 2020 Paydirt Nickel Conference held in Perth in October. He said WA, in particular, was in good stead when it came to the metal as a result of growing demand for lithium ion batteries, Indonesia’s nickel ore export ban and the impact of the global pandemic. “WA has the second largest nickel reserves in the world and some of the highest-grade deposits,” he said. “These deposits are clearly ideal for production of nickel sulphate, one of the mineral components that’s used...

The Australian Government’s 2020-21 federal budget has prioritised the development of northern Australia and Australia’s gas and resources sector by focusing on training and education, research and development in manufacturing and supporting industries. As part of its COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan, the Government has announced a series of reforms to the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) aimed at improving the speed and scope of projects to be funded, that will further unlock economic opportunities and more jobs across the north. The 2020-21 Budget also contains measures to support a gas-fired economic recovery, as well as initiatives to strengthen the resources and exploration sectors, and investing in regional communities undergoing water reform. Employment A new JobMaker hiring credit will aim to accelerate employment...

Rio Tinto has showcased one of its last collections of rare Argyle pink, red, violet and blue diamonds to a select group of collectors, jewellers and investors. The 2020 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender was previewed virtually by the exclusive group of buyers due to COVID-19, with viewings planned for later in the year at the Argyle mine, Perth, Singapore and Antwerp. The yearly tender is a collection of the rarest diamonds from a year’s production at the Argyle mine in the remote east Kimberley region of WA. One Lifetime, One Encounter is the title of this year’s historic collection and comprises 62 lots of single diamonds, weighing 57.23 carats, with an additional 12 lots known as The Petite Suites, weighing...

Australia is in the midst of a greenfields discovery boom as investors plough their money into exploration projects across the country. That was the general consensus at the ‘Explorers on the Move’ panel discussion featuring four well-respected mining company executives at the WA Mining Club recently. But not all of them agreed on the extent of the labour shortage facing the resources sector. Chalice Gold Mines managing director Alex Dorsch said Australia was experiencing a "new wave" of discoveries being driven partly by increasing demand for technology minerals. “The last 10 years have been dominated by brownfields discoveries and what we are seeing just in the last year or so is some fantastic greenfields discoveries all around Australia,’’ he said....

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that the company is officially entering the mining business. Making the announcement at Tesla’s Battery Day, Mr Musk said the rights to a 10,000-acre lithium clay deposit in Nevada had been secured. The possibility had been flagged at last year’s shareholder’s meeting, when it was teased that Tesla “might get into the business of mining minerals used in electric vehicle batteries”. The lithium mine not only lets Tesla build a cheaper, more efficient battery that will ultimately allow it to lower the price of its vehicles, but also will bring its supply chain closer to its home. Mr Musk and Drew Baglino, the SVP of powertrain and energy engineering at Tesla, laid out the...

Directional drilling success takes meticulous planning and attention to detail. With unplanned and unseen underground obstacles conspiring to thwart even the best drilling plans, there is always plenty riding on the outcome, including reputations, and potentially millions of dollars to be made or lost. But what if lives, not money, were riding on the outcome? If standing on the sidelines were not disappointed geologists, engineers, and drilling crews but families desperate for news of miners trapped kilometres underground. And what if, when you broke through to an area confident of finding those trapped miners, you found only rubble? The San Jose copper and gold mine in Chile is 800km north of Santiago, in the Atacama Desert which sits between the...

Commercial production has been declared at the Boston Shaker underground gold mine at Tropicana, located near Kalgoorlie in WA. The joint venture is managed by AngloGold Ashanti Australia (AGAA) with a 70% interest, and the remainder to IGO. The first production stope was fired in June, with underground mining now reaching a rate of 700,000t a year. Development of the Boston Shaker mine was approved in March 2019, and the mine transitioned into commercial production this month on schedule, below the $105.7m budget and with no recordable safety incidents. The mine will deliver about 1.1mt of ore per annum at an estimated grade of 3.5 g/t, contributing approximately 100,000oz per annum to gold production over a seven-year mine life.

When Adelaide glass blower Karen Cunningham made art using diamond and glass, she had no idea it would inspire a new kind of hybrid material. Now a consortium of scientists, including from RMIT University and University of Adelaide, are using the technology to make a new class of quantum sensors. The study, published in APL Materials, reveals how high-performance diamond sensors can be made using conventional glass fibres. By embedding micron-scale diamond particles within the cross section of a silicate glass fibre, the team has demonstrated the use of a robust fibre material capable of sensing magnetic fields. Study lead author and RMIT School of Science’s Dr Dongbi Bai said it was an exciting achievement that opened the door to...