News

Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show profits for metal ore miners in Australia dropped by more than $20bn in the 2012/13 financial year.   Key stats on mining operations released yesterday by the ABS reveal that after recording $50.6bn in operating profits before tax in the 2011/12 financial year, metal ore miners

Just when the Australian coal industry thought things couldn’t get any worse, renowned China expert and economist Ross Garnaut has predicted that China’s coal consumption will fall at an average annual rate of 0.7% from now to 2020.   The Australian Financial Review contrasted Garnaut’s gloomy forecast to China’s previously booming demand, which saw its

A new waterproof, hard-wearing safety boot manufactured specifically for the mining industry has taken out the NSW Minerals Council’s health and safety innovation award.   Manufactured by Hobart-based footwear specialist Blundstone, the 980 Underground Mining Boot is a 350mm-high waterproof mining boot which was designed through consultation with workers at Centennial Coal. The manufacturer explains:

Positioning and machine control systems specialist Position Partners has announced an exclusive alliance with the Australian Unmanned Systems Academy (AUSA) to deliver Remote Pilot Aircraft System training.   Unmanned aerial systems are used in mining for a number of purposes, but most prominently are used in exploration and planning. To operate an unmanned aerial system

WA-based plant hire business Plantman Equipment has launched a semi-autonomous drill rod handler, which it says significantly reduces one of the biggest safety risks in blast hole drilling operations. Plantman’s Mack Metroliner 8×4 Crane Truck is fitted with a semi-autonomous drill rod handler, eliminating the need for any manual handling of drill rods. The system

It’s one of the mining industry’s dirty little secrets. Away from the self-congratulatory puff of their sustainability reports, miners burn millions of litres of used lube oil every year, lube oil that could be re-refined and re-used. Waste oil refiner Southern Oil and its partner J.J Richards & Sons, which have just spent $55m on

Glencore Xstrata has sold its Peruvian copper mine project Las Bambas for US$5.85bn, after the Chinese government compelled it to do so following the merger of Glencore and Xstrata in 2013. A consortium consisting of MMG Limited (62.5%), GUOXIN International Investment Corporation Limited (22.5%) and CITIC Metal (15.0%) has agreed to buy Las Bambas for

Centrex Minerals is likely to choose transhipment over a deepwater jetty at its Port Spencer export project in South Australia, chief executive Ben Hammond has told AJM. After initially planning to build a 500m jetty and shiploader out to water deep enough to handle a large bulk carrier, Centrex had a re-think in November last

As BHP’s financial adviser Goldman Sachs beavers away on possible structures for the mooted spin-off company that will contain the Big Australian’s grab bag of unloved and secondary assets, AJM takes a look at the pick of the litter. In most reckonings, the Worsley alumina refinery is the number one asset in the New BHP.

While we are decades away from developing the technologies needed to commercially exploit the moon’s resources, some experts are saying that we should already be thinking about lunar property rights. When China’s lunar robot, Jade Rabbit, ground to an unexpected halt in January, it temporarily put paid to that country’s plan to drill moon rock