Bruce Avery Transport

Q. Can you please tell me the reasons behind the decision to acquire 51pc of the high-grad Munglinup Graphite Project? The acquisition of Munglinup is part of a strategic commodity and jurisdictional diversification. The mine is one of the highest graphite deposits in the world and had enormous latent potential. Moreover, it offered a unique entry point into a Tier 1 jurisdiction, on a fully granted mining lease, 105 km from Esperance and close to excellent local and regional infrastructure. The decision to acquire 51pc was the initial Farm-In and part of a larger staged transaction to acquire a further 39pc on completion of a feasibility study and the option to move to 100pc at the vendor's election. The company...

WA & Indonesia talk for renewable energy initiatives WA’s energy minister Bill Johnston has met with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia to talk renewable energy. Earlier in the week, Mr Johnston led a WA delegation to host talks around opportunities for cooperation and the challenges facing WA and Indonesia as the countries transition towards net zero, including energy distribution to remote communities and carbon capture and storage. Discussions focused on identifying new sources of energy and the actions required for the transition. Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of coal, however, they have significant potential to generate renewable energy through geothermal, hydropower, solar and...

FMG’s West Pilbara Fines product at its Pilbara operations.   BY ELIZABETH FABRI   FORTESCUE Metals Group (FMG) has waved off its first shipment of higher grade 60.1 per cent West Pilbara Fines iron ore to customers in China.   The maiden shipment left Herb Elliott Port in Port Hedland on 17 December and was bound for Hunan Valin Steel Co. The new product is a higher iron, low alumina ore blended from its Firetail mine and the western pits at its Cloudbreak mine in the Pilbara. FMG said it planned to ship between 5 and 10 million tonnes of the WPF product in FY19, which will grow to 40mtpa once its Eliwana mine enters production in December 2020. At...

A self-commissioned assessment of Newcrest Mining’s disclosure and investor relations practices has cleared the company of selectively briefing analysts in June. Former ASX chairman Dr Maurice Newman AC – who was appointed by Newcrest to conduct the independent review – reached his conclusions despite an ongoing ASIC investigation limiting access to key analysts or critical emails. Newcrest’s share price plummeted days before its 7 June market update, leading to allegations of selective analyst briefings and triggering an ASIC investigation and two potential class actions. In his report, Dr Newman concluded that the volatility in Newcrest stock between 5 and 6 June appeared to follow a ‘sell’ recommendation by UBS on 4 June. “Five other brokers also published broker reports on...