Tag: WA mining

WA tops for mining dollars

WA tops for mining dollars

WA tops for mining dollars WITH a record $219b invested in resource exports in WA in 2019, the state is the world leader in attracting mining investment. This is reflected in the record number of workers currently employed by mining and resource companies as exploration and production ramps up. Fraser Institute senior policy analyst Ashley Stedman said that a sound regulatory regime coupled with competitive taxes are key to making a jurisdiction attractive to investors. The comprehensive Fraser Institute mining survey assessed 76 jurisdictions across the world, with WA coming out on top on the Investment Attractiveness Index. “We consider both policy and mineral potential in the Investment Attractiveness Index,” Ms Stedman said. Apart from NSW, Australian states and territories...

South32: Fresh Development

South32: Fresh Development

All images: South32. BY REUBEN ADAMS AS South32 enjoys strong margins for all of its key commodities in 2018, the global miner is making good on promises to invest capital into savvy brownfields and greenfields opportunities. The June quarter was a good one for South32, which has finished FY18 on a strong note. In Australia, the miner reported record production from its manganese operations, as the world’s number one producer of the steel ingredient lifted output to take advantage of better prices. Progressing through a higher grade stope sequence at the world-beating Cannington silver-lead mine in QLD in the quarter saw payable silver, lead and zinc production increase by 37 per cent, 33 per cent, and 45...

Northern Star: A Year of Exploration

Northern Star: A Year of Exploration

All images: Northern Star. BY ELIZABETH FABRI NORTHERN Star’s 600,000 ounce per annum production target rate was ticked off the list in June. Now, the miner’s focus turns back to exploration to firm up reserves and – with luck – find the next big Goldfields deposit. Four years ago, Northern Star was fresh from completing its landmark Jundee and Kalgoorlie operations acquisitions. At the time the miner only had one producing asset to its name, the 100,000ozpa Paulsens mine. In a few short years Northern Star has spent $200 million on exploration, adding 5 million ounces of reserves and more than 9moz of resources; and its market cap has responded in kind, growing from $424 million in...

BCI Minerals: A new Direction

BCI Minerals: A new Direction

All images: BCI Minerals. BY ELIZABETH FABRI WA-based BCI Minerals – formerly BC Iron – has a new name, a new focus, and a suite of high-quality projects in the Pilbara that will be hitting key development milestones over the coming year. BCI Minerals managing director Alwyn Vorster sheds light on the miner’s recent diversification strategy beyond iron ore to salt and sulphate of potash (SOP). Q. The company changed its name last November. Was diversification the key driver of the rebrand? The decision to diversify beyond just iron ore was a very deliberate one. BC Iron had just emerged from a fight for survival due to operating a single, higher cost iron ore mine (Nullagine)...

Gascoyne Resources: Ramping Up

Gascoyne Resources: Ramping Up

All images: Gascoyne Resources. BY ELIZABETH FABRI THE lights turned on at Gascoyne Resources’ Dalgaranga project earlier this year; now, the miner’s focus is on achieving commercial production and continued exploration to extend mine life. It's been two months since first gold was poured at Gascoyne Resources’ $100 million Dalgaranga project in the Murchinson region, WA. Bringing any new project into production is a milestone, but for Gascoyne Resources, this represented something bigger. First gold marked the beginning of the company’s transition from explorer to a producer among the ranks of ASX-listed gold miners. Gascoyne Resources managing director Mike Dunbar said to say that he was pleased “would be a massive understatement”. “The company has managed...

Kwinana Industrial Area: Adding Value

Kwinana Industrial Area: Adding Value

Kwinana Industries Council director Chris Oughton. Image: KIC. BY REUBEN ADAMS TIANQI'S decision to establish a lithium downstream processing facility at the Kwinana Industrial Area (KIA) was a watershed moment. It not only flagged a new wave of growth for the KIA, it was synonymous with a broader step change for WA’s resources sector – from ‘dig and deliver’ into value-added processing. The Kwinana Industrial Area is the heart of the Western Trade Coast (WTC), WA’s premier industrial area which pumps about $15 billion into the State economy each year. The KIA could see its current $11 billion per annum contribution to the WA economy skyrocket as this push toward secondary processing and battery manufacturing gains...

Silverlake: A Growing Resource

Silverlake: A Growing Resource

All images: Silver Lake Resources. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND BOOSTED by a cash balance of $87 million, junior gold producer Silver Lake Resources is poised to add a fourth mining centre, Aldiss, to its Mount Monger operations after successfully executing a three year strategy to optimise value from existing production. Mount Monger, south of Kalgoorlie in WA, is home to a highly-endowed gold camp with multiple mines and a history of replacing reserve life. Following the major gold discoveries at Kalgoorlie in 1893, prospectors found gold 50km southeast of the town near Mount Monger in 1896. The main production period started in 1916, when several mines were developed close to the Mount Monger homestead. Some of these were...

Pilbara resource rockets to 643,000oz

Pilbara resource rockets to 643,000oz

The upgraded 486,000oz Mt York deposit remains open in most directions, with potential to add further ounces both along strike and at depth. Image: Kairos Minerals. BY REUBEN ADAMS DRILLING at Kairos Minerals’ Pilbara gold project 100km south of Port Hedland has delivered a massive 290 per cent resource increase for the Mount York deposit resource to 486,000oz – with strong potential for further growth. The updated indicated and inferred resource for Kairos’ Pilbara gold project, including Mt York, Iron Stirrup and Old Faithful, has been boosted by 150 per cent to 14.4 million tonnes at 1.3g/t gold for 643,000oz. Each of the deposits remain open both along strike and at depth, providing outstanding opportunities to...

Newmont: Race to the Top

Newmont: Race to the Top

BY ELIZABETH FABRI ALL signs indicate Newmont Mining could dethrone Barrick Gold as the world’s largest gold producer this year. Newmont’s Australian division has been a key player in the race, kicking goals across its three operations – KCGM, Tanami, and Boddington. Back in 2007, Newmont’s vice-chairman at the time, Pierre Lassonde, told reporters at the Kalgoorlie Diggers and Dealers conference that he hoped Newmont would overtake Barrick Gold (its joint venture partner in KCGM) in the gold space. In 2016, Newmont president and chief executive Gary Goldberg told Bloomberg this wasn’t an area of focus; instead the value that is added to projects and growing margins. “We’re not about getting bigger, it’s about growing margins,” Mr Goldberg...

Doray Minerals: Turnaround Success

Doray Minerals: Turnaround Success

Doray managing director Leigh Junk. Images: Doray Minerals. BY CAMERON DRUMMOND A YEAR on from taking the reins at Doray Minerals, managing director Leigh Junk has overseen a well-executed turnaround strategy, with the company shifting its focus to the ramp up of its new Deflector operation and extending its resource base. Q: What changes have you made at Doray since taking over as managing director? When I started as managing director a little over a year ago, the company had almost $70 million in debt and two operations that were not performing to expectation. The growth and drive for the company in the short term had to come from its operations. For the company to be...

Rio backs automation course

Rio backs automation course

Copyright © 2018 Rio Tinto. Image: Christian Sprogoe Photography. BY REUBEN ADAMS AUSTRALIA’S first nationally accredited courses in automation will be delivered for the first time in 2019. This is the next step of a landmark partnership between South Metropolitan TAFE and Rio Tinto announced in October last year, with the miner contributing $2 million towards a new curriculum including robotics, data analytics and digital inclusion education. Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said the new wider curriculum being developed would enhance capabilities of those in the mining sector and form part of the learning pathways for those seeking to enter a range of industries applying automation and technology. The proposed curriculum will be completed...