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Geraldton Port: Ready for the boom

FeaturesRegional Focus

Geraldton Port: Ready for the boom

THE Mid-West Ports Authority is playing the long game, increasing throughput by maximising its existing infrastructure, ensuring that when mining projects in the region come online, the Port of Geraldton will ready and waiting to be that vital link in the mining supply chain. Mid-West Ports Authority chief executive officer Rochelle Macdonald said there was a huge amount of opportunity that the port can realise in the next 10-15 years. “In the past 10 years we’ve actually seen a doubling of the trade going through the port of Geraldton so it’s not unrealistic to see the trade increasing quite significantly going forward,” Ms Macdonald said. “We’ve got iron ore, base metal concentrate, mineral sands, and some new products, rare earths…

Whitehaven Coal: Growth spurt

Whitehaven Coal: Growth spurt

All Images: Whitehaven Coal. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND ON the back of increased seaborne coal prices, Whitehaven banked record revenue during the first half of the 2017 financial year which enabled the company to pay down more than $300 million of debt. Whitehaven Coal is Australia’s largest independent coal producer, with five operating mines in North West NSW. The operations have a combined annual output of 20.1 million tonnes per annum (mtpa); however Whitehaven is undertaking expansion works at its flagship Maules Creek operation to increase its saleable coal output to 23mtpa by the 2019 financial year. Thermal and metallurgical coal is produced from one underground mine, Narrabri, and four open cut mines at Maules Creek, Tarrawonga, Werris Creek and Rocglen…

Bald Hill: Fully Charged

FeaturesProjects

Bald Hill: Fully Charged

All Images: Alliance Mineral Assets BY EMMA DAVIES DECEMBER was a big month for the owners of the Bald Hill lithium Joint Venture –Tawana Resources and Alliance Mineral Assets Limited – with a merger finalised between the two companies that is set to take the mine into its next phase of growth. Bald Hill – 50km south east of Kambalda in the Eastern Goldfields region WA – entered commercial lithium concentrate production in mid-2018. To date, the mine has been operated under a 50:50 Joint Venture between Tawana Resources and Singapore-based Alliance. However a merger has been in the works since April that will simplify the mine’s ownership and management, as well as place the merged group on the radar…

South32: In high demand

CompaniesFeatures

South32: In high demand

SOUTH32 is walking the fine line between increased production at Illawarra Metallurgical Coal and reassuring climate conscious shareholders it is closely monitoring trends in consumer and market behaviour around coal. Releasing a report titled Our Approach to Climate Change 2019, the company has completed decarbonisation concept studies at Illawarra Metallurgical Coal, with the aim of identifying potential decarbonisation initiatives, which can be progressed into prefeasibility planning during FY20. However, metallurgical coal demand is set to skyrocket from 275mt (in 2017) to 372mt by 2030 – according to the NSW Minerals Council – and Illawarra is expected to increase production to around 7mt by the end of financial year 2020 and 8mt by FY21. In the September quarter alone, the site…

Fuel tax rebates exceed cost of transition to renewables

Fuel tax rebates exceed cost of transition to renewables

More than $57b in fuel tax rebates have been banked by Australia’s mining companies since FY07 and according to a new analysis, this will exceed $84b by 2030. According to the Climate Energy Finance (CEF) analysis, the Fuel Tax Credit (FTC) has cost taxpayers $122.7b in total, and its primary beneficiaries include mining, agriculture and transport, with mining receiving nearly half of the total sum. BHP (ASX: BHP) was FY24’s largest FTC beneficiary, garnering a $627m rebate. Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) received $416m, and Glencore received $364m. CEF recommends a substantial reform of the existing scheme, capping Australia’s FTC at $50mpa per company with credits exceeding the cap retained only if reinvested into phasing out diesel. An analysis by Fortescue…

Northern Star doubles profit

Northern Star doubles profit

Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) reports a record-breaking FY25 marked by high gold prices, steady production and the acquisition of De Grey Mining’s (ASX: DEG) Hemi development project. FY25 has seen several miners report record-breaking years, thanks largely to similarly remarkable gold prices. Gold has surged multiple times throughout the year, thanks in part to global uncertainty around aggressive tariffs driving investment into the industry. Northern Star has reported $6.4b in revenue, up 30% from FY24’s $4.9b, as well as an underlying net profit of over $1.4b after tax, which has more than doubled from last year. The miner has also reported a record group underlying free cash flow of $536m, with shareholders seeing fully franked dividends of 30c/share. Whilst…

Engineers achieve record-breaking battery performance

Engineers achieve record-breaking battery performance

Engineers at Monash University have developed a new catalyst that could drive zinc-air batteries from hearing aids and watches to EVs and large-scale industrial applications. While zinc-air batteries are currently used in small devices, this opens the door to rechargeable, high-power applications, moving the technology closer to real-world, grid-scale and transport uses. Using microscopic heat treatment, the researchers have developed carbon sheets from 3D materials, adding a framework of individual cobalt and iron atoms to greatly increase reactivity and efficiency within the battery. Saeed Askari and Dr Parama Banerjee, lead authors from Monash University’s chemical and biological engineering department, say the breakthrough catalyst outperformed standard commercial catalysts made from expensive metals like platinum and ruthenium. “By engineering cobalt and iron…

Evolution mining doubles profit

Evolution Mining doubles profit

Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) has seen record high profit in FY25, driven by increased production alongside favourable commodity prices. The miner has reported a statutory net profit of $926m, up by 119% from FY24. Evolution Mining managing director and chief executive Lawrie Conway says the record financial performance was achieved through safely delivering to plan across all of its operations. “Our cost and production performance in the year saw our balance sheet continue to strengthen, with gearing levels falling while successfully delivering several major capital projects,” he said. “We have also been able to increase returns to shareholders with a record final dividend of 13 cents per share. “Evolution remains focused on continuing to generate high cash margins in FY26…