Category: Technology & Innovation

Caterpillar first for Collie LEADING Caterpillar dealer WesTrac is to build a technology training facility in the WA town of Collie focused on providing courses in autonomous operations. The centre will be the only Caterpillar Autonomous Training Facility in the world apart from Caterpillar’s own testing and training ground in Arizona, USA. The facility will be developed on land owned by Bluewaters Farm Holdings in Collie’s Coolangatta Industrial Estate. The project is supported by a grant through the Collie Futures Fund, awarded to WesTrac by the State Government’s Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation. The announcement was made at a ground-turning event in Collie attended by WA Premier Mark McGowan, Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan, Collie-Preston MLA Mick Murray...

Lithium Australia teams up with CSIRO ASX company Lithium Australia’s subsidiary VSPC has been selected to be part of the Australian government’s $5m research program to develop fast-charge lithium-ion batteries for use in transportation. VSPC will develop advanced cathode materials with research partners CSIRO, The University of Queensland, and Soluna Australia. Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said the research aims to deliver an Australian product that puts the country at the forefront of battery development. “This is an unparalleled opportunity to combine VSPC’s battery-materials technology with some of the world’s leading research,” Mr Griffin said. For participating in the Co-operative Research Centres project, VSPC will receive grant funding of $1.6m, with similar amounts going to the other research partners....

LITHIUM Australia has secured up to $6.3m funding from New York-based institutional fund manager, The Lind Global Macro Fund, under a convertible security and share purchase funding agreement. The initial $3m investment and a $100,000 share placement will help fund growth of the Soluna Australia battery business, commercialisation of the company’s cathode business (owned by its subsidiary VSPC) and growth of the company’s battery recycling business (owned by its subsidiary Envirostream Australia) and costs of the funding, as well as general working capital. Lithium Australia also has the option to repay the convertible security in cash, subject to Lind Partners’ buyback conversion rights for up to 30pc of the outstanding Face Value. Lind managing director Jeff Easton said the fund...

AUSIMM has launched an International Women's Day campaign to celebrate the successes and raise awareness of the challenges women face in the resources sector,  in the lead-up to International Women's Day in March 2020. The campaign will culminate in an event series in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart. Expected to attract more than 2000 participants, the luncheons will bring together keynote speakers including former Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and ABC deputy chair Dr Kirstin Ferguson. AusIMM chief executive Stephen Durkin said that as the peak body for resources professionals, AusIMM understands that being a champion of change is about more than one week a year. “At AusIMM we are committed every day throughout the year, to creating...

IT seems Rio Tinto is getting into the Christmas spirit, announcing a $749m (or A$1b) investment in its existing Greater Tom Price operations to help sustain the production capacity of its world-class iron ore business in the Pilbara. The hub includes Tom Price, Western Turner Syncline Phase 1 (WTS1) and Western Turner Syncline Phase 2 (WTS2) satellite hubs, with main investment in WTS2 expected to facilitate mining of existing and new deposits, and includes construction of a new crusher as well as a 13-kilometre conveyor. The new conveyor system will help lower greenhouse gas emissions from the mine by 3.5pc compared to road haulage and, pending final government approvals, is expected to start construction in early 2020 with first ore...

WA Premier Mark McGowan has jumped on board the Prime Minister’s plans to fast track environmental approvals for resource projects. In his recent speech at the Business Council of Australia annual dinner on November 21, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said environmental approval processes for major projects are overly complex, duplicative and they take too long. “We will partner with the Western Australian Government to develop a system that will reduce approvals times, allow project proponents to submit a single application via a single online portal, track its progress and access a database of biodiversity studies relevant to their project,” Mr Morrison said. “It takes approximately three and a half years for a complex major project to navigate the State and...

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...

RIO Tinto, in collaboration with the WA government and South Metropolitan TAFE, has launched Australia’s most advanced automation qualification to date. The Certificate IV in Autonomous Control and Remote Operations was approved by the Training and Accreditation Council (WA), and aims to teach students the knowledge and skills to work at facilities such as Rio’s remote operations centre in Perth. The Resource Industry Collaboration is led by WA state training board chair Jim Walker and includes Rio Tinto, Santos, Yara, Komatsu, BHP, FMG, South32, Roy Hill, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia, TAFE WA, the University of Western Australia and Scitech. The Certificate IV follows the two courses launched earlier this year, the Certificate II in Autonomous...

LITHIUM Australia (ASX: LIT) has confirmed an offtake deal with Korean battery recycler SungEel Hitech Co via its 24pc-owned subsidiary Envirostream Australia. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the exclusive supply of metals extracted from recycled lithium-ion batteries ('LIBs') out of Australia, specifically of mixed metal dust (MMD) containing the energy metals cobalt, nickel and lithium. Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said the MoU provides for immediate refining of the MMD that Envirostream produces. “Expanding Envirostream’s processing capacity to keep spent LIBs from landfill and export the energy metals they contain is an Australian imperative,” Mr Griffin said. “Closing the loop on the production of battery materials reduces the environmental footprint of the mining and processing...

ACCORDING to Anglo American’s chief executive officer metallurgical coal business Tyler Mitchelson, the mining industry needs to present a sustainable future to ensure continued stakeholder support. “There is no doubt that societal expectations are shaping the future of our industry,” Mr Mitchelson told attendees at the 2019 International Mines and Resources Conference (IMARC) in Melbourne. “The mining industry must present a compelling picture about its future to its workforce and communities to continue to grow and prosper. “In the future, when someone refers to ‘mining’ I hope they see a picture of people doing valued work in a cleaner, smarter and more socially responsible way, providing the essential ingredients for modern life.” Mr Mitchelson said the stakeholder ecosystem is becoming...

BHP (ASX: BHP) has signed four new clean energy contracts for power at its Escondida and Spence copper mines in Chile as it continues its push toward 100pc renewable power in the mid 2020’s. While the company will cop US$780m in cancellation fees for dropping coal contracts, it said that it would be value-accretive in the long term. The transition came as the result of separate tenders for both Escondida and Spence, with BHP signing on for two separate 15-year contracts for 3TW hours per year, and 10-year contracts for 3TW hours per year with ENEL Generacion Chile and Colbun respectively. BHP said that the contracts would reduce energy prices at the mines by about 20pc, provide operations flexibility and...