Tag: mining australia

Water Management Breaks New Ground

Water Management Breaks New Ground

In tailings management, what happens below ground is equally important as what happens above ground. The Australian Mining Review spoke to Klohn Crippen Berger (KCB) principal hydrogeologist Chris Dickinson about the topic of hydrogeological best practice as it relates to modern tailings management. Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) The GISTM (and its accompanying compendium) represent a significant shift in the approach to tailings management worldwide, “striving to achieve the ultimate goal of zero harm to people and the environment with zero tolerance for human fatality”. Chris says the new standard is a “quantum step forward in the management of mine tailings” aiming to couple engineering and geoscience together in the design, construction, operation and closure of facilities in...

Dundas revives Avebury

Dundas revives Avebury

BY ELIZABETH FABRI DUNDAS Mining will reopen its mothballed Avebury nickel mine with production to resume in January 2019. The mine, purchased last year from MMG for $25 million, has been on care and maintenance since 2009 amid a downturn in the nickel market. Resurgent prices over the last 12 months encouraged Dundas to bring the mine back to life. “When we signed up to buy this place it (the nickel price) was $US7000 a tonne. It’s now $US15,000 a tonne,” Dundas Mining chief executive Geoff Summers told The Advocate. Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman said a recruitment process had begun, with more than 200 jobs to be made available across mining, processing, and administration. He said the...

Tasmania: Exploration Push

Tasmania: Exploration Push

Image: Grange Resources. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND GROWTH projects are underway across many of Tasmania’s larger operations, but greenfields exploration has remained stagnant. Now, the State Growth Department is investing $2m over four years in a drilling grant initiative, a move it hopes will help encourage a new minerals exploration boom. Tasmania's mining industry is starting to rebound, with several potential projects now in the pipeline. Mining is the Island State’s largest export industry, accounting for more than 50 per cent of earnings, or nearly $2 billion in the 2017 financial year. Tasmania’s three large operating mines include Rosebery (zinc, lead, gold, copper and silver), Savage River (magnetite, which is converted into iron ore pellets at Port...

Cobalt in focus: Electric Charge

Cobalt in focus: Electric Charge

BY REUBEN ADAMS THE price per tonne of cobalt – essential to EV battery production – rose to $82,000 on the London Metal Exchange in mid-February. This represents a tripling of value since the start of 2016, and a 147 per cent jump since January 2017. Burgeoning EV demand is already proving a disruptive force for both the mining industry and end users of metals such as lithium and cobalt. In order to meet this increasing demand for EV batteries, cobalt supply will need to reach 180,000 tonnes (t) by 2026 – up from 48,000t in 2016, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Platts expected a tripling in demand to more than 300,000tpa by 2030. This surge in demand...

Australia loses top spot

Australia loses top spot

BY ELIZABETH FABRI AUSTRALIA is no longer ranked the most attractive region for mining investment in the world after falling to second place in the 2017 Fraser Institute’s survey of mining and exploration companies. According to the Fraser Institute, Canada was now ranked the most attractive region in the world for mining investment, with Finland rated the top jurisdiction. WA was the only Australian jurisdiction to appear in the global top 10, however it fell for the third consecutive year, dropping from first place in 2015, to third in 2016 and now fifth place in 2017 out of the 91 jurisdictions. QLD fell from 10th to 12th place, South Australia from 13th to 14th place, the Northern Territory...