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DECEMBER 4, commemorated in many countries as Saint Barbara’s Day, celebrates Saint Barbara of Nicomedia (Turkey), the patron saint of miners and geosciences in general. It’s commemorated by the British, Australian, and New Zealand armed forces, and by the United States army and marine corps. Several mining institutions also honour it, such as some branches of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and the WA Mining Club. Accounts place the early Christian Greek martyr in the third century in Heliopolis Phoenicia (present-day Baalbek, Lebanon), where she was regarded as one of the 14 Holy Helpers –  a group of saints venerated together in Roman Catholicism because their intercession was believed to be effective, especially against various diseases. Often portrayed…

TERRESTRIAL Ecosystems was the sole provider of terrestrial fauna management services for the construction of the $35b on and off-shore Wheatstone LNG project. Working between November 2011 and July 2018, the company had to remove or “deconstruct” more than 100 large termite mounds that were scattered across the landscape. In doing so, it recorded 34,646 individual vertebrate fauna – including a diverse range of reptiles, an abundance of frogs and a smaller but important number of feral and pest species – that had made the mounds their own micro-habitat. Terrestrial Ecosystems partner and principal zoologist Scott Thompson said the work had been highly varied, including catching and relocating fauna during the vegetation clearing programs, removing fauna from the village and…

CHARLIE’S ANGELS Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott The newest revival of Charlie’s Angels seems an unnecessary commodity, one no-one really asked for. That being said, the movie pleasantly surprises and entertains, and is notable for being directed by a woman, Elizabeth Banks, who stars as one of the agency’s management team of Bosleys. The plot, unfortunately, is a trite hackneyed, involving once again some eager scientist developing modern technology which will be used against humanity. But we can forgive that for the rollicking romp that follows. Lead scientist of The Calisto project, Elena Houghlin (Scott), has serious concerns about a flaw that could weaponise the self-contained energy source that was aimed at revolutionising clean energy. After being disappointed that her superiors…

MINING giant Rio Tinto has announced it will invest its considerable resources in a new approach to tackle a looming skills gap in the nation’s future workforce. The company will invest $10m in a four-year national program targeted at school-age learners, that aims to fast-track the development of skills needed for the digital future, including critical thinking, problem-solving, automation, systems design, and data analytics. Developed in partnership with leading education and innovation start-up accelerator BlueChilli and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the program will crowd-source and fund ideas from start-ups and schools – identifying existing EdTech projects aimed at enhancing future skills, that can be scaled up quickly for the use of students, teachers and parents. EdTech refers to software designed…

STAGE one of Gold Fields’ Agnew hybrid renewables project, just out of Lenister in WA, has been officially opened. The hybrid micro grid is owned and operated by energy producer, EDL, and required a $112m investment, which was backed by the Federal government’s Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) $13.5m contribution for construction costs. EDL will be delivering the project, which will use wind and solar power generation to provide hybrid renewable system for mine site energy. Stage one consisted of an off-grid 23MW power station, 4MW photovoltaic solar, 16MW gas and 3MWdiesel generation. Stage two, expected to be completed in 2020, will provide additional 18MW wind generation through five turbines, a 13MW battery and an advanced micro-grid control system. It…

CLIVE Palmer’s company Mineralogy has announced the expansion of operations in Western Australia – entering into a long-term lease of a 1100sqm commercial property in Perth. Mr Palmer said Mineralogy has received vast wealth from WA, and it was now looking at expanding operations and reinvesting funds back into the state. The company’s George Palmer Deposit (part of the Balmoral magnetite deposit) hosts the Sino Iron Project, one of the world’s largest magnetite iron ore projects, operated by Citic Pacific Mining. “Nobody expected back in 1985 that this project would be so successful and create so much wealth for this country,” Mr Palmer said. “The Sino operation profits in Australia and China grew by 88pc in the last 12 months…

INDEPENDENCE Group (ASX: IGO) has increased the pressure in its takeover bid for Panoramic Resources (ASX: PAN), after Savanah downgraded its FY20 guidance at the Savannah nickel project in the East Kimberley, WA. Citing ongoing difficulties at the Savanah project, including underperformance of the paste filling system that impacted the stoping sequence, low nickel grade due to hanging wall failure, and continuing equipment availability, IGO has requested expedited and thorough due diligence to be completed. Panoramic had indicated it would need to raise additional capital, potentially through an entitlement offer in the near term, and that there would likely be a breach of several conditions of the off-market takeover offer bid made on November 4. “Given the material change to the…

THE Federal Government has announced new financing measures for the rare earths and critical minerals sector – particularly those strategically important for defence end-use. Projects which boost our ability to extract and process critical minerals in Australia will be eligible for financial support through Export Finance Australia (EFA), including the Defence Export Facility. Projects will also have access dual funding through the EFA and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), as well as a dedicated project facilitation office within the Department of Industry. Resources and Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan said the financing options would secure the future of rare earth and critical mineral projects and would allow Australian companies to maximise access to existing government support to expedite new…

MIKE Henry will replace Andrew Mackenzie as chief executive of BHP on January 1, 2020. Canadian-born with Japanese heritage on his mother’s side, Mr Henry joined BHP in 2003 to work on a range of marketing roles, and in trading a range of mineral and petroleum commodities while based in The Hague. He brings more than 30 years experience, and has been on BHP’s executive leadership team since 2011. He was appointed to his current role as president operational minerals Australia in 2016, covering iron ore, coal, copper and nickel assets. Mr Henry delivered major projects such as South Flank iron ore in the Pilbara, implemented BHP’s first full-scale autonomous haulage system at Jimblebar, and has overseen the turnaround of…

CARAWINE Resources (ASX: CWX) has entered into a farm-in and JV agreement  with Fortescue Metals (ASX: FMG) to explore eastern Paterson copper, gold and base metals project tenements in WA. Carawine’s Lamil Hills, Trotman South tenements, near Newcrest’s Telfer gold and copper mine, and Sunday tenement, next door to Metals X’ Maroochydore copper-cobalt deposit, are still in early stages of exploration, with Carawine’s work to date mostly comprising target generation activities based mostly on work by previous explorers. FMG will pay $125,000 cash up front and have a minimum obligation to spend $500,000 within the first 18 months of the agreement. The agreement gives FMG the right to earn up to 75pc interest by spending $6m over two stages. Stage…