Latest News

Decmil, a subsidiary of Macmahon Holdings (ASX: MAH), has secured new civil contract awards with HanRoy, Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) and Glencore. HanRoy has awarded Decmil a $104m contract for HanRoy’s Marble Bar Road Upgrade Project in WA. The contract for sections 5 and 2B covers about 46km of road construction upgrade works to Main Roads WA standards on Marble Bar Road. Works are expected to commence in August 2025 for an eight-month period. Decmil managing director and chief executive Michael Finnegan comments on the award. “We are very pleased to have been awarded additional works at the Marble Bar Road Upgrade project where we have been working closely with the HanRoy team for the past eight months on section…

The NSW Resources Regulator has published its compliance priorities for July to December 2025. These priorities are aimed at achieving ongoing safety and sustainability of the mining industry in NSW. NSW Resources Regulator executive director Jamie Tripodi says these priorities are evidence-based and respond to incidents and emerging risks. “The compliance priorities for the Regulator will continue to have a strong focus on safety and environmental risks, which is critical for all mine workers and their communities,” she said. The NSW Regulator’s safety compliance priorities will focus on four key concerns across mining and quarry industries: Mitigating the risk of conveyor-related fire incidents in underground coal mines Ensuring the safety and accessibility of underground emergency exits Effective management of…

Australian researchers have applied cancer therapeutic techniques to recovery of critical and rare earth minerals with a new peptide-targeting mineral recovery method. The researchers, based at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Enabling Eco-Efficient Beneficiation of Minerals (COEMinerals), achieved more than 98% silver purity and more than 95% recovery using the innovative recovery method. Led by the University of Adelaide’s Chemical Engineering School researcher Professor Chun-Xia Zhao, the centre has applied learnings from multiple scientific disciplines to mimic how a cancer-targeting drug finds cancer cells and apply it to finding a one-in-a-billion peptide molecule targeting a given mineral or metal. The breakthrough has the potential to revolutionise minerals processing and represents an opportunity for Australia to unlock…

The WA Government has passed laws to revise the tax status of miscellaneous licenses to ensure they do not attract local government rates. While land held under miscellaneous licences has long been understood to not be rateable under the Local Government Act 1995, the Supreme Court of WA has recently ruled local governments can levy rates on land held under these licences. This ruling has the potential to incur millions of dollars in additional costs for mining and exploration companies throughout the state. As a result, the WA Government is moving to amend the Act by clarifying that land held under these licences is exempt from local government rates. Miscellaneous licences are generally used, alongside underlying mining or exploration tenure, to…

BlueScope (ASX: BSL) will lead an international consortium with global steelmakers to participate in the sale process of Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia. Under a collaboration agreement, BlueScope will work with Japan’s Nippon Steel Corporation, India’s JSW Steel and South Korea’s POSCO. Collectively the companies boast a steelmaking capacity of more than 130mt and have a $115b value in market capitalisation. BlueScope will leverage its extensive knowledge of the Australian steel industry as the consortium reviews potential options, opportunities and capital requirements. The consortium has identified Whyalla as a prospective location for future production of green iron in Australia, for both domestic and export markets, with the potential to be a key player in the decarbonisation of the global steelmaking…

Australia’s mining exports is one of many industries relying heavily on the stability of coastal infrastructure such as ports, terminals and transport corridors that connect mines to global markets. As coastal erosion, sedimentation and extreme weather events increase, maintaining these assets has become a strategic priority. Central to this effort are high performance dredge pumps, which support reclamation and dredging works that protect and preserve essential infrastructure. KSB’s GIW® range of dredge pumps is widely used in applications where durability, reliability and high throughput are critical. These pumps are built to handle abrasive slurries in harsh environments, making them well suited to coastal protection, tailings transport and desedimentation activities linked to mining operations. Why Beach Reclamation Matters to Mining Beach…

Students at The University of Western Australia (UWA) are using the Swan River to advance renewables technology and drive the state’s transition to clean energy. Since 2016, RiverLab, a partnership between UWA and Woodside, has connected engineering students, world-leading researchers and industry partners to tackle emerging challenges in offshore engineering. Students have the opportunity to design and test prototypes quickly and cost-effectively in Perth’s Swan River Estuary. Last year, students gained hands-on skills in wave energy technology as a commercially viable clean energy solution. As part of the project, UWA Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) and physics student Megan McDougall examined how to improve wave energy capture efficiency in variable wave conditions. “The variability of ocean wave conditions presents a challenge…

Magmatic Resources (ASX: MAG) and Fortescue (ASX: FMG) have set a $3.5m exploration budget for their Myall project in NSW for FY26. Work will be focused on a significant air core and diamond drill program, with drill planning in progress. The first stage of the joint venture involves Fortescue earning up to a 51% initial interest in the Myall project. This is subject to Fortescue fulfilling its minimum obligation to spend $3m on exploration including 3000m of drilling within the first two years of the agreement. Fortescue must also spend an additional $3m on exploration in the first 4-year period of the joint venture. Magmatic Resources managing director David Richardson comments on the agreement. “The agreed 12 month $3.5m budget…

The Mount Isa copper mine closed on Thursday, ending more than six decades of operations and prompting a united North Queensland delegation of business, government and community leaders to travel to parliament. The Keep Our Copper delegation lobbied Australian Parliament for a national solution to keep the copper industry alive in North Queensland. The group is supported by Member for Kennedy Bob Katter who asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in question time if he could reassure parliament that the copper smelter is to be owned by an entity answerable to the Australian people. “Mount Isa, which I visited with the member for Kennedy on at least five occasions, is too important to Queensland and to the nation for there not…

The University of NSW (UNSW) Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering School has received $5m in funding, from the Federal Government, to establish its ARC Research Hub. The funding will aid in the development of the hub for next generation mining methods (NextGenMIN), which will focus on delivering innovative and sustainable approaches to extracting critical and strategic minerals. The Federal Government, as part of the industrial transformation research hubs scheme, announced funding for 13 new research hubs and training centres this week, focused on strategic national priorities. To be based at UNSW, the NextGenMIN Hub will develop and advance mining processes that reduce environmental impact and waste, improve safety and increase efficiency using state-of-the-art machinery controlled by intelligent digital systems. UNSW…

Liebherr Mining has commissioned a full trolley solution at Collahuasi copper mine in northern Chile. The entire solution, from infrastructure to the four T 284 trucks retrofitted with pantograph connections, was supplied by Liebherr and marks the first fully operational trolley line in Chile. Four Liebherr T 284 360-tonne mining trucks are now operating under the project’s one-kilometre trolley line. The Collahuasi site posed unique challenges when it came to designing the trolley line as it is situated at 4,500m above sea level, where it is subject to extreme environmental factors including high winds and seismic activity. The scope of the complete trolley solution included the engineering and manufacturing of the infrastructure, power system and the trucks’ onboard hardware, implementation…