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RIO Tinto has unveiled its annual showcase of the world’s rarest pink and red diamonds in an exclusive preview at the Argyle mine site in the east Kimberley region of WA. The 64-diamond collection, including three Fancy Red diamonds and weighing 56.28 carats in total, make up the 2019 Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender. Rio Tinto Copper and Diamonds chief executive Arnaud Soirat said the diamonds, each “a natural treasure”, were a testament to the enormous range and depth of offering from the Argyle ore body, nearly four decades from when production commenced. “Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine is the first and only ongoing source of rare pink diamonds in history,” he said. “With the life cycle of this extraordinary mine approaching…

THE LION KING Chiwetel Ejiofor, James Earl Jones, Donald Glover IF this photorealistic version of The Lion King had been the original, replete with all its beautiful songs, it would surely have been lauded as one of the most innovative movies ever made, a David Attenborough documentary set to music with a cluster of crooning critters. As it is though, it’s essentially an almost direct copy of the animated classic, retelling the film and making it look as lifelike as possible while keeping the story and soundtrack relatively the same. The movie starts off magnificently. Little Simba is such an adorable cuddly cub that audiences will surely warm to him, and the visual spectacle of all the jungle inhabitants congregating…

THE Asia-Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition (AIMEX) is on track to deliver the largest showcase of supplier excellence when it returns to Sydney Olympic Park in August 27-29. AIMEX is an internationally renowned exhibition and conference that will showcase more than 500 leading companies from around the world. Joining these suppliers at AIMEX for the first time in the event’s history will be leading mining companies who are exhibiting at the event as part of the AIMEX Mining Pavilion. The Pavilion was created to provide mining companies with a platform to engage with the industry, promote their initiatives as well as drive recruitment. This year the pavilion will feature Centennial, Glencore, Mach Energy, Whitehaven Coal and Yancoal Australia, companies which all…

INTERNATIONAL instability, a strong Australian gold industry and a weak Australian dollar have sparked a a booming international gold rally, with the price jumping from $1770/oz in mid-April to over $2050/oz in June, surpassing the US$1400/oz mark and smashing the AUD$1900/oz record. According to Perth Mint chief executive Richard Hayes, the destabilising effects of the Trump administration, the Sino-American trade wars and, to some extent Brexit, have led the investment market to the point where gold has re-assumed its historical role as the tangible safe investment. Toward the end of May and the beginning of June, the US made two key announcements that helped to facilitate the precious metal’s rally. The first was that the US Federal Reserve signalled it…

ISOLATION, long swings, 12-hour shifts and a culture that shuns vulnerability are, according to FIFO Zero co-founder Blake Wood, the major contributing factors to the shockingly high levels of mental health and substance abuse problems among FIFO workers. Mr Wood faced his own demons when his nine-year FIFO career descended into chronic anxiety, panic attacks, depression and suicidal thoughts, and after losing a close friend to suicide, Mr Wood decided to get help. After taking George Helou’s EP7 seven-step program, Mr Wood and Mr Helou created an adaptation of that program – FIFO Zero – a targeted and practical way for FIFO workers to get the follow up help they need to stamp out suicide among FIFO workers. Mr Wood…

REVIEWS of the risks associated with tailings dams around the world have revealed that some structures built in Australia to store mining waste carry the highest possible risk classification under global standards, with catastrophic results expected if any of them collapsed. A BHP Dam Risk Review showed that Mt Whaleback iron ore mine in WA, and two at the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, were at extreme risk. Meanwhile, in a Rio Tinto audit of its global facilities, the miner assessed more than 20 Rio Tinto Australian facilities as being at high risk. The BHP review had been carried out to assess the management of its tailings facilities following the failure of the Fundão dam at Samarco, Brazil, in…

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison has announced plans to examine red tape in mining and other key industries as part of a push to ramp up Australia’s economy. In a speech to business leaders in Perth last week, Mr Morrison said he had charged his assistant minister Ben Morton with investigating the levels of existing bureaucratic hurdles, with the government’s previous red tape-cutting initiatives already creating savings of $5.8 billion. Addressing the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Morrison said he wants to go further, shifting the onus to business and industry to identify the delays, using Donald Trump’s economic plan as the inspiration. “This will be a renewed focus on regulatory reform but from a different angle,” Mr Morrison…

THE term “gold leaf” now has a whole new meaning. CSIRO research has shown that gold does grow on trees. Or perhaps it would be more correct to say that trees grow in gold. That’s the concept behind a mineral discovery technique CSIRO pioneered which is now being used successfully by gold exploration and mining companies. Marmota Limited, a gold mining company working out of South Australia, recently reported IT had identified new gold targets using biogeochemical sampling at its Aurora Tank prospect. Put simply, biogeochemical sampling involves taking samples of vegetation, such as leaves from trees and shrubs, and testing the material for the presence of gold or other chemicals that often associate with gold, so-called pathfinder elements. Using…

BRIDGING the gap between university graduates and careers in the mining industry was high on the agenda at the recent Association of Mining Companies (AMEC) conference in Perth. Student Edge head of research Cristiano Lima detailed the finding of two surveys of around 3000 young people (1000 between 15-29 years old and 2000 between 12-24 years old), in which questions were asked about their perceptions of mining as a career pathway. Around 60pc of students said they knew nothing about mining, and Mr Lima said the surveys showed the main reason for the decline in graduates pursuing careers in mining could be due to misconceptions around what jobs were available and concerns around automation and the boom-bust cycle. “Students said…