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Alcoa’s record-breaking rehabilitation effort Alcoa (ASX: AAI) planted a record number of nursery-raised native seedlings across sites as part of its annual planting season.  The 745,000 seedlings were hand planted across 619ha at its Huntly and Willowdale bauxite mines in WA and 2.1t of zamia palm seeds were spread over the same areas.  The increase from about 500,000 plants and 1.6tof zamia seeds last year is part of a concerted effort to increase total areas under rehabilitation and ensure optimum density of planting.  Planting is one of the final steps of...

Australia and Canada target ‘high standards’ critical minerals Australia and Canada signed a joint declaration of intent on critical minerals collaboration at the G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting. The agreement will see the countries promoting and strengthening cooperation and trade in critical minerals value chains. Other objectives include advancing projects of mutual interest, encouraging commercial partnerships and research collaborations and addressing policy challenges faced by producer nations. This follows last week’s announcement of a US-Australia Framework for Securing Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths, which will support a $13b (US$8.5b) pipeline...

New hub commences production at Onslow Iron Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) has safely commended production at the Upper Cane and Cardo Bore East hub, high-grade deposits located about 16km south of the Ken’s Bore mine. Part of the project’s Stage 1 mining activities, the hub is just the second area to be mined at Onslow Iron. Ore is now being hauled on the intra-mine haul road to crushing and processing facilities at Ken’s Bore. MinRes executive general manager Onslow Iron Mike Tonkin says bringing the...

Australian mine rescue teams go head-to-head Yesterday, Queensland Mines Rescue Service (QMRS) and Coal Services NSW Mines Rescue hosted the 61st Australian Underground Mines Rescue Competition at BMA’s Broadmeadow coal mine in Queensland. The event brought together eight of the nation’s best mines rescue teams from Queensland and NSW, showcasing their skills, teamwork and commitment to safety in a series of challenging underground emergency response scenarios. Teams were tested on firefighting, search and rescue, first aid, hazard awareness and team management across realistic and high-pressure...

Hundreds of jobs on the line as AGL retires coal-fired power AGL Energy (ASX: AGL), one of Australia’s largest energy providers, will cut hundreds of jobs as it retires ageing coal-fired power stations and replaces them with renewable assets. The Mining and Energy Union (MEU) representatives were informed that 300 jobs, including management and operational roles, would be cut across AGL’s business in meetings held at AGL’s Bayswater and Loy Yang A power stations in NSW this week. MEU general secretary Grahame Kelly says the news is devastating for workers. “Coal-fired power station workers around the country are already facing stress and uncertainty with moving timelines for...

Resolution positioned for US DoW funding following acquisition Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) will acquire 100% of the shares in Remington Capital Corporation which holds an option to acquire the Johnson Creek tungsten and antimony mill and antimony camp properties in Idaho, US. This acquisition would cement Resolution as one of the few US-based antimony, tungsten and gold companies with its own in-house processing capability. The timing of the acquisition, alongside the US’ aggressive strategy towards critical minerals, is no coincidence. Resolution sees this as a “springboard” for solving the Pentagon’s need to secure immediate US supply of...

BHP and POSCO partner up on ‘near zero emissions’ tech BHP (ASX: BHP) and POSCO have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) advancing POSCO’s hydrogen reduction ironmaking technology (HyREX). The technology eliminates the sintering and coking processes used in conventional integrated steelworks operations. It consists of a hydrogen-based direct reduced iron (DRI) production process using fluidised bed reactors (FBR) and an electric smelting furnace (ESF) process for melting the reduced iron. Trials are planned to be undertaken utilising BHP’s Pilbara iron ore at POSCO’s HyREX demonstration plant in Pohang, South Korea — which,...

Onslow Iron backs strong Q1 results for MinRes Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN) is on track to reach its full-year guidance driven by the ramp-up of Onslow Iron to its nameplate capacity and a lithium market rebound in Q1 FY26. Total quarterly iron ore production across the company’s Onslow Iron and Pilbara Hub operations reached 10.9mt with record shipments of 11.4mt, 8.6mt of which were shipped from Onslow Iron — a 50% quarter-on-quarter increase. Costs at MinRes’ Wodinga and Mt Marion lithium projects were lower than expected with the weighted average realised price achieved rising 31% quarter-on-quarter to about $1280/t . Total...

CME calls for power relief, uranium mining and speedier approvals  The WA CME has warned that WA and Australia’s investment fundamentals have become increasingly uncompetitive in its FY27 pre budget submission (PBS).  Restoring the state's standing as an internationally competitive resources jurisdiction is the key theme of the PBS, which identifies timely and efficient approvals processes, project-ready strategic industrial areas and delivery of low emission, reliable and globally cost-competitive energy systems as priority areas for the WA Government.  The mining industry has afforded WA significant economic benefits. In FY24, WA households enjoyed disposable income per capita 9% higher than the national average,...

Anglo American raises iron ore guidance  Anglo American saw steady performance across copper, iron ore and manganese ore in Q3 CY25 as the company continues with its portfolio simplification.  The company says it is well positioned to meet 2025 guidance, with the miner maintaining production and unit cost guidance with the exception of the Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil.  In Q3, Minas-Rio benefited from strong operational performance and a successful pipeline inspection, allowing Anglo American to increase guidance from 22-24mt to 23-25mt.  Iron ore production for Q3 dropped 9% from Q3 CY24 primarily driven by anticipated lower production from Minas-Rio due to the...

Transgrid securing NSW energy future Major construction works have commenced on the HumeLink in NSW — one of Australia’s biggest electricity transmission infrastructure projects.  The delivery of this project will reinforce NSW’s southern electricity grid and enable the integration of more renewable generation into the National Electricity Market (NEM), forming the backbone of the power transmission network from South Australia through to northern Queensland. The link will connect at Wagga Wagga with EnergyConnect and form the energy infrastructure needed to help bring cheaper, cleaner renewable energy online from solar and wind generators in south-west NSW.  It...