The Australian Mining Review April 2026 Edition

Epiroc purchases RC drilling manufacturer Schramm Australia Epiroc has agreed to purchase the key assets of Schramm Australia, a leading Perth-based mining equipment manufacturer, particularly reverse circulation (RC) drilling products. Schramm Australia has been in voluntary administration since February 2023, with assets including intellectual property, two production facilities near Perth, WA, and two service centres located in Queensland and South Australia. Epiroc president and chief executive Helena Hedblom says Schramm Australia's approximately 80 employees will be offered employment at Epiroc. “The Schramm products and brand are well known as a global leader in reverse circulation technology," she said. "We look forward to welcoming the strong team at Schramm Australia to the Epiroc...

Barminco awarded $393m mining contract Perenti’s (ASX: PRN) underground mining business Barminco has been awarded a $393m contract for mining services at Regis Resources’ (ASX: RRL) Duketon operations in WA. Under the three-year contract, Barminco will provide underground development, production and support services for Duketon. Perenti managing director and chief executive Mark Norwell says the company is pleased to continue the partnership with Regis. “We’re very pleased to continue our partnership with Regis Resources at the Duketon operations where Barminco has been providing value to our client through both development and production works since February 2019,” he said. “This award adds Australian-based underground earnings to our portfolio, which is...

Image: Tesla. By Cameron Drummond ONE of the best performing commodities of 2016 was undoubtedly lithium, burgeoned by Tesla Motor’s construction of a lithium-ion battery gigafactory in the Nevada desert, which it fired up in the first week of this year. Tesla, partnering with Japanese electronics company Panasonic, predicts that the factory will be producing 35 gigawatts (GW) of lithium-ion batteries each year by 2018 for use in electric vehicles (EV’s) and energy storage systems – double the rest of the world’s current production rate. Lithium has a range of commercial and industrial uses, such as the manufacture of glassware and ceramics; though by far the fastest growing application is for batteries. Technological advancements in battery-making had seen the spot...

DIVERSE metals explorer Phosphate Australia has reported strong results from the second phase of drilling at its Tuckanarra gold project. The Tuckanarra mine lies within WA’s Murchison goldfield, and has historic production of about 125,000 ounces. The Phase 2 aircore (AC) drilling program at Tuckanarra comprised 215 holes for a total of 5070m of drilling, primarily targeting shallow laterite mineralisation at the project’s Cable East, Cable West, Drogue, Bollard and Anchor deposits. Drilling was completed in February, and identified mineralisation in all of the targeted deposit areas. Drilling at Cable East upgraded the strike length of the deposit to about500m, open at depth, with drilling returning results including 12m at 3.28 grams per tonne gold from 16m to end-of-hole. The...