Quelling uranium fears
March 2 - 8, 2010
AS WESTERN Australia’s fledging uranium industry moves toward production, swinging public opinion towards the industry has never been more important as uranium hopefuls attempt to move into production. A cohort of Australian’s uranium players is touring a radiation safety expert around Australia with a view to challenging the orthodoxy of anti-uranium public opinion.
Shadows over new Indonesia mining laws
August 17 - 23, 2009
UPDATED mining legislation introduced in Indonesia early this year to keep up with the nation’s fresh zest for internal regional autonomy, and foreign investment, is proving a disappointment. As the deadline for implementation approaches a significant gap remains between the old and the new systems and there is genuine doubt over whether the changes will do anything to attract dollars from abroad.
Power chief browned off at carbon scheme
August 17 - 23, 2009
LOY YANG Power chief executive Ian Nethercote took a different tack to Victorian resources minister Peter Batchelor – and most of his more timid northern state coal industry executive peers – in attacking the Australian Government’s delayed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) at this week’s Paydirt 2009 Resources Victoria Conference.
Heads in the Gawler sand
July 27 - August 2, 2009
WE USUALLY ignore the friendly banter between the mining industry and organisations such as the Australian Conservation Foundation, but sometimes the boys and girls at the ACF just go that little bit too far.
Consul appointed for make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan
July 20 - 26, 2009
JASON Stirbinskis, managing director of Central Asia Resources, was playing a straight bat to questions about his appointment as the first honorary consul of Kazakhstan in Western Australia. On reflection, we agree there’s nothing funny about retired movie characters anyway.
Metal accounting best-practice: ‘tis written
July 13 - 19, 2009
ROB Morrison says his hair didn’t go grey editing the first metal accounting code “how to” book, which sets out the means of implementing what is expected to be the global mining industry’s compendium to JORC and NI 43-101 resource reporting standards.
Leaning towards behavioural change
July 13 - 19, 2009
WHILE David Noort is not a sceptic, he does think the heat in a key debate about mining’s future has been turned up too high.
Sir Arvi urges industry to find new voice
May 18 - 24, 2009
ONE of Australia’s great industry leaders, now 10 years into retirement, does not get bogged down in modern spin when describing what he sees as the monumental challenges still facing the industry in the communications arena.
Two approaches to performance improvement
February 23 - March 1, 2009
TIMES change and many businesses are now at a point where running faster isn’t the best strategy any more. They need to improve in some other way, whether that improvement means slimming down, changing direction, or just thinking differently.
Survey points to more volatile world
February 2 - 8, 2009
MINING executives delving into their frequent flyer points to save on overseas travel costs could just give Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Russia, Bolivia and the DRC a miss (many will anyway; some won’t), according to leading US-based mining consultancy Behre Dolbear, which has put out its 11th annual guide to global investment risk for exploration and mining companies. The investment climate in Argentina is also increasingly uninviting, it says, while somewhat surprisingly America’s “economic system” retains a big tick.
Steel counting on a revival
February 2 - 8, 2009
THE steel industry late last year was plagued with production cuts and questionable demand. Stimulus packages – past and on the horizon – were to have an unknown effect and the World Steel Organisation canned October’s six-monthly outlook because of “the uncertainty of the economic situation and rapid changes [in] the third quarter of 2008”. Now, six weeks into the New Year, things have changed (dare it be said, improved) and the steel industry is taking on direction once more.
Nine thoughts to start 09
January 19 - 25, 2009
THE top nine issues of 2009 for the mining sector as assessed by a major multinational investment bank raise more negatives than positives and highlight further risks for the sector.
Thinking about tomorrow
December 8 - 14, 2008
DEC 1: INVESTORS torched by recent corporate failures in Australia’s junior mining sector might not have agreed with Michael Kiernan’s spirited defence of corporate governance standards and the need for company executives in the sector to over-sell projects and deals to a largely unappreciative local investment community.
Smoke and mirrors of global warming
September 29 - October 5, 2008
RUDD and Wong stand defiantly on the edge of the Australian seashore to command the incoming carbon tide. The prime minister proffers aloft a copy of the Garnaut Report but its pages are being blown disconcertingly by a cooling breeze.
Productivity push falls flat
September 15 - 21, 2008
LOW productivity levels that contributed to the generally miserable investment returns of Australian miners in the 1980s and early 1990s are back and this time the fix might not be as straightforward as ejecting archaic work practices and buying bigger trucks and shovels.
After the party's over
August 25 - 31, 2008
IF THE unthinkable happens and the mining boom that will never end does in fact “recede, retract, recoil ...”, to borrow an Owen Hegarty euphemism, will a surfeit of partly trained workers create a massive after-party headache requiring painful social re-engineering? That is a question that has already been floated in Canada and, more recently, Australia.
Wolf steps down, but not out
August 25 - 31, 2008
HE’S been in the news again this week. While Clinton Wolf doesn’t court the level of media attention that Australian Aboriginal leaders such as Noel Pearson, Warren Mundine and others do, he has always been forthright with his views on the way forward for the country’s indigenous people. Now he realises that words will never be enough.
WA to fall further behind with uranium ban
August 25 - 31, 2008
URANIUM explorers (and investors) hopeful of a change of government in Western Australia will still have a big hurdle, or more aptly a hole, to jump if some of them ever get a chance to convert their exploration licences to mine plans.
The profit crunch
August 4 - 10, 2008
THERE has been much written in the media about the impact of skyrocketing labour and other input costs in mature metal mining markets. However, in this time of seemingly insatiable Chinese demand, high costs are not the concern; lost productivity is the concern.
Taxing times for miners
July 21 - 27, 2008
WINDFALL taxes on resource companies have been mooted by US presidential candidate Barack Obama and, in different guises, in mining hot spots from Mongolia to the Congo. The idea was recently floated in Australia and it stirred up plenty of passion out in blog-land, though not initially within the mining industry. However, the industry did find its voice over a coal royalty hike in Queensland.
Lucky miners can dig deep
July 21 - 27, 2008
WHEN British Labour assumed office in 1997, one of its first acts was to impose a one-off ‘windfall profits tax’. The rationale was simple - the previous Conservative government had undervalued and under-regulated the utilities, and the owners had made far larger profits than could have been reasonably expected. In a single budget, the government raised £5.2 billion, helping to fund its welfare-to-work reforms.
The importance of being consistent
July 21 - 27, 2008
OSCAR Wilde once remarked that he could resist anything except temptation. Unfortunately, recent events suggest that he is not alone.
New dogs and old tricks
January 14 - 20, 2008
A GENEROUS remuneration package and the odd pat on the back is not going to be sufficient to retain your young workers in a time where jobs are plentiful and the demands of employees are at an all time high.
No need to worry ... yet
November 26 - December 2, 2007
WATCH out ahead! Citigroup has come up with 10 environmental and social “hits” that strategists in the mining sector should currently be cognisant-of. Gold, platinum, coal, aluminium and steel producers, in particular, have plenty to think about.
Opening Pandora's Box
November 12 - 18, 2007
THE Australian federal election campaign is heating up. Coalition scaremongering threatens that the unions will cause industrial relations anarchy. But just how big an influence do unions have on the resources sector, and what'll be the likely industrial relations landscape if Labor wins the election?
Equipment queues won’t shorten next year
November 5 - 11, 2007
SUPPLY side constraints on the development of new production capacity in the mining industry will continue to hamper expansion in 2008, according to senior executives at leading equipment manufacturers who are faced with their own worsening bottlenecks.
Platinum - the new oil?
October 15 - 21, 2007
THE increasing pressures on oil reserves, coupled with the climate change movement, has led to greenhouse gas emissions and new fuel sources being among the main issues - possibly the main issue - for the 21st century. With myriad of clean options emerging such as renewables, carbon capture, nuclear power and fuel cells, it is both an exciting and confusing time.
Education initiative takes off
August 6 - 12, 2007
HAVING helped establish Queensland as a leading Asia Pacific region training base for a fast-growing aviation sector, the state’s Department of Education, Training and the Arts (DETA) is now teaching miners how to fish more effectively in Queensland’s young talent pool.
Old mines, new problems
July 30 - August 5, 2007
MANY old mines are being targeted for redevelopment in the current boom, partly because they offer a cheaper path to production than greenfields exploration. At least they should. “Premature remediation” is burying such opportunities under unnecessary layers of bureaucratic red tape, and cost, according to AMC Consultants managing director Peter McCarthy.
Time to talk tough on freight
July 30 - August 5, 2007
NEW RIO Tinto and BHP Billiton chiefs Tom Albanese and Marius Kloppers will get an early test of their mettle as 2008 iron ore price negotiations progress to crunch stage. Australian producers, argues investment bank Merrill Lynch, are in a position to finally capitalise on their geographic proximity to the booming Asian market by making a united grab for the increasingly lucrative freight differential in iron ore prices being paid by major steel producers.
Contractor to pick up training pace
July 9 - 15, 2007
SOUTH African construction, engineering and mining contractor Murray & Roberts expects a range of simulated mine and construction settings, and machines, to help it train recruits three times faster than it could at job sites, at an expanded training academy near Carletonville on the West Rand.
Qld leads recruitment drive
July 2 - 8, 2007
QUEENSLAND appears to be leading the drive to alleviate the Australian mining industry’s difficulties in attracting and retaining more women and improve a gender imbalance that has become more pronounced as the skills shortage has bitten harder.
Friedland's sunny tomorrow
June 11 - 17, 2007
ARMAGEDDON Bob breezed into Australia last week with his take on nuclear proliferation, resource terrorism, and sure fire opportunities for hedge funds such as going long on oil futures and then torching the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Lost and found
June 11 - 17, 2007
WHILE there is now a major focus on lowering childcare costs and boosting the availability of facilities to enable more women to re-enter the mining sector workforce, the new Federal Government/Minerals Council of Australia report on attracting and retaining women in the industry highlights far more significant cultural and other barriers to large-scale participation of women in the male-dominated mine work environment.
Women over-board
April 30 - May 6, 2007
WHERE are all the women making a fortune running exploration and mining companies, and mining services companies, during the resources boom? That question was raised again by the recent Business Review Weekly survey of Australia’s wealthiest public company executives.
New forum takes shape
March 19 - 25, 2007
A HISTORICALLY under-represented minority in the mining industry is only now on the verge of having a stronger collective voice. The group is not underpaid workers or disgruntled shareholders. It is expected to have a far bigger say in the future direction of the industry.
Coffey table chat sparks education initiative
March 1 - 7, 2007
WHEN Coffey Mining managers gathered around a table early last year to discuss business opportunities and challenges it wasn’t long before skills shortages became a focal point. High demand from groups such as Coffey was part of the problem, says the company’s chief operations officer Dan O’Toole, so they decided they’d be a big part of the solution.
Consultant sees bigger skills picture
February 22 - 28, 2007
MICHAEL Scott is good at his job. Sixteen years ago, working as a human resource consultant, he recruited a secretary for a Queensland-based mining consulting firm. She is still with the company, now one of Australia’s fastest growing mining service SMEs. A year ago Scott joined the firm.
First class beginning
February 8 - 14, 2007
STUDENT and teacher shortages? What shortages? A new mining engineering course at Adelaide University in South Australia has attracted double the number of first-year students expected and will have a full staff contingent for the start of the program, according to its engineering department head.
Youthful initiative
February 8 - 14, 2007
A NEW education initiative in Western Australia’s booming north-west is aiming to get more qualified tradespeople out into the industry at an earlier age. Backed by resources majors Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Woodside Energy and Chevron Texaco, the $A23 million Australian Technical College Pilbara (ATCP) is expected to begin later this year with about 50 student enrolments.
Changing course
January 25 - 31, 2007
MORE THAN a decade ago the former head of the University of New South Wales’ mining engineering school had a vision for a national strategy for educating Australia’s mining professionals. Watching now from the sidelines, Jim Galvin remains an avid supporter of the concept, which is finally at least partly taking shape.
The education challenge
December 21 - 27, 2006
THE incoming president of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy wants to galvanise the views and actions of the institute’s extended body of international members and their peers so that they become a more influential group at a time when there is a policy vacuum in Australia and elsewhere on vital issues such as education.
Hire pressure
December 14 - 20, 2006
EMECO Holdings Ltd’s EUR6.4 million acquisition of the Euro Machinery businesses of Dutchman Harry Haverkotte may help the Australian earthmoving equipment hirer get business flowing through a new workshop and sales yard at the “front door to Europe”, but the real significance of its latest purchase is that it adds another vital link in a machinery procurement and distribution chain that is snaking around the world.
Graduating to a new level
December 14 - 20, 2006
"STRUCTURAL adjustment" of Australia’s mining graduate salary levels, which has made engineering and other courses more attractive to secondary school leavers, is unlikely to be reversed in future, according to one of the country’s big universities. That is ultimately good news for the mining industry. On the flipside, demand is still outpacing supply, so there is no guarantee salaries will stay where they are.
Ship owners chart higher prices
December 14 - 20, 2006
OVER the past three years dry bulk charter markets have been characterised by unprecedented strength and volatility, driven by global commodity strength and by voracious Chinese demand for iron ore in particular.
Beating the skills shortage (Pt 1)
December 7 - 13, 2006
LURING people into the driver’s seat of a $A3 million dump truck or $A150 million dragline with fatter salaries is increasingly only half the battle for mine operators. The major challenge is to maximise the return they’re getting on the investment in both people and machines.
Beating the skills shortage (Pt 2)
December 7 - 13, 2006
A $A1.7 million project aimed at bringing a virtual coal mine into the classroom is expected to deliver to the industry significant safety training benefits and provide a focus for further development of world’s best practice simulator technology.
Mind out
October 19 - 25, 2006
ONE commentator had it right: It’s cost, not price, you clowns. He was ruminating on the incessant badgering of visiting Barrick Gold Corporation chief Greg Wilkins by journalists looking for the latest meaningless quip on the direction of the gold price.
Operator shortage looms large
October 5 - 11, 2006
A FLEET of more than 30 draglines helps move 1.5 billion tonnes of dirt a year to uncover 52 million tonnes per annum of saleable coal – worth more than $A4 billion – at BHP Billiton-operated coal mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
Ready to burst
September 21 - 27, 2006
HEAT and over-inflation spell danger for users of large earthmover tyres. With prices for scarce supplies of the largest mine truck and wheel loader tyres hitting $A200,000, newcomers in the market are facing inflationary pressure on a key mine consumable that they may find unworkable.
OTR tyre repair standard coming
September 21 - 27, 2006
THE FIRST Australian Standard covering the repair and maintenance of off-the-road (OTR) tyres used on earthmoving machinery is expected to be produced in draft form for public review by the first quarter of next year.
Treading warily
September 7 - 13, 2006
WE’LL get through it. That was the message on tyre shortages from a senior executive with the world’s largest supplier of mining equipment.
Brakes are on
August 21 - 27, 2006
NEED a dump truck, hydraulic excavator or electric rope shovel? Get in the queue. Yes, the long one.
Uranium: the great non-debate Pt I
July 10 - 16, 2006
THE public perception of nuclear science and engineering and the nuclear industry is today, primarily shaped by radical greens, pseudo-science, nuclear-opponents, media hype, socio-political opportunists and the ever-haunting spectre of nuclear weapon explosions.
Making the grade
July 10 - 16, 2006
PETER Ellery, the unobtrusive, resolute former chief executive of the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia, was a dedicated servant of the mining industry in that role for 13 years. Flamboyant Andrew Forrest, who built a giant nickel plant in the desert near Leonora in WA and is attempting to go one better with a multi-billion-dollar Pilbara iron ore venture, is a very different industry captain to Ellery.
Uranium: the great non-debate Pt II
June 12 - 18, 2006
THE debate on nuclear power and national energy policy is essential to the prosperity of the nation. This is why the decision by Kim Beazley to fight the next election on an anti-nuclear platform is so disappointing.
Uranium consolidation coming next
May 15 - 21, 2006
THE chief executive of high-flying new Australian uranium listing Toro Energy Ltd, Greg Hall, has told an investment conference in Adelaide the growing number of uranium explorers appearing on bourses in Australia, Canada and London will need to lift their output from 2010 to stem a major projected shortfall in yellowcake supply.
Taskforce to tackle mine deaths
April 13 - 19, 2006
CHINA will utilise Australian expertise to improve its mine safety practices under a deal signed recently which will also open doors to stronger trade ties between the two countries.
When wheels stop turning
March 30 - April 5, 2006
WHEN the world’s second biggest coking coal exporter, Canada’s Elk Valley Coal, announced it was cutting back its 2006 production forecast by a hefty 14% in the middle of a price and volume bonanza for metallurgical coal producers, the news genuinely caught coal market analysts by surprise.
Digging deeper
January 19 - 25, 2006
SOME mines cost $100 million to bring into production. That covers the process plant, the mobile equipment fleet, infrastructure and myriad development items. However, a large-scale coal mine might spend this much on one piece of earthmoving equipment: a dragline.
