Tag: Minerals Council Australia

A SPATE of deadly tailings dam accidents and the identification of two BHP tailings dams as being at “extreme risk” have prompted Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) members to release the Australian Mining Tailings Communique, aimed at addressing tailings best practice in Australian industry. The document comes months after Rio Tinto and BHP both identified risks relating mines at home and abroad, and after the first wave of criminal charges were laid against Vale executives following the Brumadinho disaster that killed more than 200 people. The Communique consolidates the industry’s view around best practice of a particularly sensitive issue, and was developed after discussions by MCA members at a workshop earlier in the year which focused on training, research and...

A drill rig at Mount Peake mine, under development in the Territory. Image: TNG. BY ELIZABETH FABRI THE resources industry has given the Northern Territory’s revised mining royalty plan the thumbs down, claiming a new system will jeopardise future investment and put jobs at risk. Introduced as part of the 2018 Territory Budget, the new hybrid royalty scheme, effective from 1 July 2019, will force all operating mines to pay increased royalties. This includes paying the greater of the existing 20 per cent profits-scheme or a minimum value-based royalty on their gross mineral production revenue as soon as they start operating – 1 per cent in a mine’s first year, 2 per cent in its second, and 2.5 per cent...