Tag: Rio Tinto

IT’S full steam ahead for Rio Tinto’s $2.6b Amrun bauxite mine on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. The mine and associated processing and port facilities will replace production from Rio Tinto’s depleting East Weipa mine, and increase annual bauxite export capacity by around 10mt, at a time when higher-grade bauxite is becoming scarcer globally. It’s a major milestone for the operations, which were approved in 2015, with its March commissioning this year well in advance of the target starting date. Rio Tinto made Amrun’s first shipment in December 2018, six weeks ahead of schedule, and at full production, Amrun is expected to dispatch 22.8mt a year, with options to expand. At the peak of construction, 1200 people worked on…

Image: Glencore BY EMMA DAVIES AFTER pressure from investor signatories of the Climate Action 100+ initiative, global miner Glencore has announced its decision to cap coal production at current levels. In a statement, the Swiss-based coal giant said that it recognised climate change science as set out by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and realised it had a key role to play in enabling transition to a low carbon economy. “To deliver a strong investment case to our shareholders, we must invest in assets that will be resilient to regulatory, physical and operational risks related to climate change,” Glencore stated. “To meet the growing needs of a lower carbon economy, Glencore aims to prioritise its capital investment…

Image: Pilgangoora Minerals BY AMY BLOM AS mining takes off again in WA’s Pilbara region, communities are bracing for another boom and working to ensure locally-based service providers have a share in the sector. With three new major iron ore mines on the cards and the increasing prominence of lithium, gold and copper in the area, the Pilbara could be set for another mining boom. But in the hopes of mitigating the highs and lows of the past, community leaders are encouraging a greater focus on awarding contracts to local service providers within existing hubs and a strategy of diversification. Most of the services necessary for new developments were already in place in the Pilbara, thanks to the region’s rich…

Image: Australasian Railway Association. BY AMY BLOM RAIL is set to boom in mining, with several rail-reliant iron ore and coal mines schedules for development in WA and QLD, and a renewed focus on innovation. However, the industry continues to be challenged by a skills shortage. Rail has entered a golden age, particularly within the mining industry, but it is still struggling to attract young talent, according to Australasian Railway Association (ARA) chief executive Danny Broad. Mr Broad, who has previously warned of a skills shortage, said there had been a huge increase in rail investment, which was good for the country, but presented challenges if the industry was not prepared. “It’s the golden era of rail at the moment, there…

BY ELIZABETH FABRI RIO Tinto subsidiary Kennecott Exploration (KEX) has inked a Joint Venture option deal with ASX-listed Valor Resources over its Berenguela copper-silver-manganese project in south-eastern Peru. Initial terms of the agreement included a payment of $US700,000 before February 2019, and further $US2million spend on exploration over the next 12 months. At the completion of initial expenditure, Kennecott would be entitled to form a 50:50 incorporated joint venture by paying an additional $US3million to Valor, and increase its stake to 75 per cent by spending an additional $US5million within three years. Valor Resources executive director Nicholas Lindsay said bringing Kennecott in as a partner to the project was a significant and exciting step forward in its development, and endorsed…

BY REUBEN ADAMS RIO Tinto is looking to offload its interest in the troubled Grasberg copper-gold operations for $US3.5 billion to an Indonesian State-owned entity. Rio confirmed ongoing discussions between the company, partner and mine operator Freeport McMoran, and potential State-owned buyer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium in May, but said no agreement over the sale had been reached, and there was “no certainty that binding agreements will be signed”. The Indonesian Government has been ramping up pressure on US-based Freeport to sell its majority stake in its Grasberg operations, which is expected to produce about 1.15 billion pounds of copper and 2.4 million ounces of gold for the 2018 calendar year. “We continue to engage in negotiations with the Indonesian…

All images: Rio Tinto. BY ELIZABETH FABRI IT capped off a strong 2017 calendar year with $US8.8 billion in profit, but Rio Tinto is increasingly focussed on reputation and its social license to operate, both here and abroad. Rio Tinto is riding high on the back of a 90 per cent increase in net profit compared to 2016. It was a successful year on many fronts, with Rio Tinto’s iron ore division celebrating the opening of the $US338 million Silvergrass mine. Iron ore prices were also working in its favour, as China’s increased appetite for higher grade ore continues following the nation’s winter steel curtailment policy. However, like many of its peers, the company’s global ‘social license to operate’ has…

BY ELIZABETH FABRI BRITISH steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance will pay $US500 million for Rio Tinto’s Aluminium Dunkerque smelter as part of a planned expansion into central Europe. Rio Tinto announced it had received a binding offer from GFG Alliance’s industrial arm Liberty House, which it expected to complete in the second quarter of 2018, subject to final adjustments. The deal followed GFG Alliance’s acquisition of Rio Tinto’s Lochaber Smelter and assets in Scotland in December 2016; however this would be the group’s first significant step into continental Europe. GFG Alliance executive chairman Mr Gupta said Liberty planned to develop the 570-worker plant, and potentially create thousands more jobs on-site and for the wider community. The company also hoped…

Rio Tinto’s Silvergrass iron ore operation. Image: Rio Tinto. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND IT’S been tough – but things are looking up for the Pilbara mining region, as iron ore continues to rip higher on steady Chinese demand and exciting opportunities in lithium and gold come into play. Known as the engine room of Australia, the WA Pilbara is the largest iron ore producing region in the world, accounting for almost 37 per cent of global production and 52 per cent of seaborne exports in 2015. Iron ore mining in the Pilbara commenced in the 1960s, after the Australian Government lifted an embargo on iron ore exports in 1938 in the lead up to World War II. By the 1970s, pioneering…