Monthly Archives: May 2017

WASMA Alumni > Resources > News > 2017 > May
26May

Jobs of The Future

Author WASMA Posted on

 

While there has been a lot of focus on data scientists at the moment, there are some other jobs the industry is seeking.

During the recent Austmine conference in Perth there was a lot of focus on the amount of data miners were collecting and how to make use of it.

Data scientists are a key part of that.

However, there are also massive changes coming to the way mining is being done.

There is going to be an increasing push to automate a number of roles being done by people. There are several reasons behind that and not the least is safety. If people can be removed from dangerous situations safety will have to improve.

Another reason is to increase consistency in operations.

Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said one of the benefits of the autonomous haulers the company was using came from their consistency of operation. They do the same thing the same way every time.

This frees humans to concentrate on more valuable activities, such as making decisions based on the streams of data being analysed by the data scientists.

Communicating this change and the benefits of it will be a challenge.

Barrick Gold chief technology officer Michelle Ash said change management would be a crucial factor in how successful the adoption of new technologies and mining methods.

“Miners will be working through difficult and tough issues with people,” she said.

“We’re not talking about the possible ramifications of this.”

Ash said ethics was another area miners needed to look at.

“What is that we want to do it and how are we bringing people along for the ride,” she said.

Petra Data Science managing director Dr Penny Stewart said another change miners were going to have to come to terms with was the increased need for collaboration.

“We need to be able to organise our work a little bit differently,” she said.

“In the past we’ve needed to work in domain expertise silos.

“In the future we need to be able to collaborate internally as well as externally.”

This change will increase the need for miners to expand their skills.

Glencore Copper asset management adviser Karl Roes said his team in Queensland developed an app that was essentially an expansive management system.

As a result of that change a number of other mining professionals in the operation started to consider what they could do in their own parts of the business along similar lines.

“We’ve started teaching them how to code on site,” Roes said.

“Whenever they have an idea in mind, now they can start building it.”

Sandvik sales and business development manager Dr Kwan Lee said competence development would be very important to employment in and to operate the mine of the future.

His view was shared by Barrick Gold senior director innovation Andrew Scott.

“We’re seeing a number of comments about the rate of change,” he said.

“I think the key competencies will be around that.

“Roles will change more frequently. We need to make sure people have the skills to adapt to that change.”

26May

THE MINING INDUSTRY’S SKILLS NEEDS IN RESPONSE TO THE GREEN ENERGY ECONOMY

Author WASMA Posted on

Professor S. T. Hall, Executive Director

Mining Education Australia, Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University

There is a naivety within the general public that the move to a green energy economy signals the end of the mining industry, in particular, the coal industry. The lack of knowledge that the green energy economy is going to rely on an expanded skill set for the mining engineer has significant implications and provision of quality graduates stands out as the most visible. These graduates will need a broad knowledge of the mining value chain covering exploration, mining and processing in addition to well-developed awareness of the speedy innovations in materials science that are driving the green energy economy. Graduates will also need an understanding of global political and business situations as well as strong community engagement skills to promote resource extraction.

The current renewable energy sector (hydro, solar and wind) is dependent upon products of the mining industry such as copper windings in turbines, high-purity silicon in photovoltaics and steel/concrete support structures. Steel production requires metallurgical coal together with the myriad of alloying elements including nickel, molybdenum and chromium. The move to battery storage technologies and electric-powered transport expands the range of mineral commodities that must be supplied. Among them are rare earth magnet materials, copper and nickel. The average battery-powered electric vehicle will contain 80 kilograms of copper, four times as much as an internal-combustion engine (1). Coal-generated electricity might reduce as a percentage of total power generation; however, it is likely to provide important base load generation for many years. Further, there is an opportunity for important resource recovery from ash residues, e.g. magnesium, gallium, and germanium.

The speed of innovation driven by materials science, introduces a greater risk of commodity substitution than in the past. This further supports the requirement for rapid delivery of commodities to market in mine developments. Conversely, the necessary exploration, planning, construction and associated environmental approvals can take 10 years or longer and the whole process can be delayed, or even prevented, through community opposition to mining activity.

Mining industry is well accustomed with the business reality of commodity price cycles and supply-demand relationships. Nevertheless, management of these factors remains challenging for the industry and all stakeholders experience their impacts. Greater ownership of external environmental and social impacts will be necessary in future.

MINING INDUSTRY SKILLS NEEDS

The supply of graduates to the mining industry has become siloed, like the industry itself. Geology is taught as a separate university program that might or might not teach in detail “mining geology” topics. Mining engineering, where taught, is often within the engineering faculty with limited geology and extractive metallurgy content. Extractive metallurgy teaching has often been morphed into materials science offering little direct relevance to the mining industry. Teaching of mineral economics within these programs is generally non-existent. Hence, the development of graduates with an understanding of the value chain required to bring a successful mine servicing the green economy is very limited. This reflects loss of the “School of Mines” philosophy from many developed and developing countries.

Mining engineering student numbers are increasingly coming from the developing world, though the quality of many programs in highly variable (Cedron, 2007). Closures of mining schools and the impact of a highly cyclical industry and anti-mining NGOs across the developed world has resulted in smaller number of graduates from their mining programs despite industry-supported initiatives (Hall, 2016). Further expansion of the accreditation processes worldwide will assist with graduate mobility and a proposed UNESCO Centre for Mining Engineering Education will support greater uniformity in graduate quality. Postgraduate studies as conversion courses for geologists and graduates of other branches of engineering are likely to be increasingly necessary, as will be courses in mineral economics and specialist mining-related postgraduate courses (e.g. geostatistics, geotechnical engineering, mine planning).

The situation in mineral processing and extractive metallurgy is more concerning with even fewer university programs. The move to incorporate these studies with chemical engineering has had some success; however graduates have relatively limited content relevant to the mining industry, poorer mineralogical knowledge and generally less mining industry exposure through site visits and work experience. Where programs link with materials science valuable cross-disciplinary knowledge can result; however the distance from the mining industry will typically further widen.

The global nature of the supply of many commodities on which the green energy economy relies means that the graduate must be comfortable in multicultural environments, in often remote or regional primary production sites to centres for international trade. The careers can be exciting and potentially highly lucrative, but are not obvious to the average high school student.

CONCLUSIONS

The rapid development of the green energy economy is going to further broaden the supply requirements for mineral commodities. This will provide employment opportunities for mining industry professionals (mining geologists, mining engineers, extractive metallurgists and mineral economists).

Diversity of mineral commodities, increased demand and the desire to secure supply from jurisdictions where sovereign risk is low will benefit countries such as Australia. The re-opening of former mining regions, in particular across Europe, is possible and could increase stable supplies; however community opposition might be anticipated and will have to be overcome.

The supply of high-quality graduates in mining geology, mining engineering and extractive metallurgy is limited. The training of such graduates should cover the entire value chain of mineral commodity production, community engagement skills, leadership, entrepreneurship and financial skills. Global mobility will require greater multicultural understanding within graduates and early career mineral industry professionals. The impact of innovation, both technical and in business models, should be appreciated and championed.

 

23May

Road map to drive growth from Australian METS

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CSIRO has released a technology roadmap to underpin growth in Australia’s $90 billion mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector, urging companies to take action to unlock five key opportunities.

The Mining Equipment, Technology and Services Roadmap highlights the vital role that the METS sector will play in the nation’s innovation ecosystem in order to drive change to meet future global mining challenges and metal supplies.

It was developed in collaboration with the METS Ignited Industry Growth Centre, as well as government, industry and researchers.

“This roadmap is a great example of Strategy 2020’s Customer First work, which aligns our science to Australia’s needs,” CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said.

“In a sense we use science to anticipate the future and help us navigate to a better outcome.

“METS is an important Australian sector and a global leader, but it can’t rely on past successes in a rapidly changing global landscape.

“The sector must continue to innovate and take advantage of enabling technologies and new business models which are causing disruption across industries.”

The Roadmap identified five key growth opportunities to support the continued success of the METS sector, these are:

  • Data driven mining decisions
  • Social and environmental sustainability
  • Exploration under cover
  • Advanced extraction
  • Mining automation and robotics.

Underpinning the success of each of these opportunities is a raft of new technology developments, as well as critical changes to people, skills, culture, collaboration, processes and business models.

In addition to this Roadmap, CSIRO has collaborated with METS Ignited on the METS Sector Competitiveness Plan – a complementary piece of work that outlines the strategic foundations for success over the next decade.

“Mining productivity is increasingly dependent on integrating specialist technologies such as real-time sensors, mineral analysers and complex data, and the METS sector is vital in shaping mining’s future,” CSIRO Mineral Resources Director Jonathan Law said.

“Collaboration will be key to success, which is why we’re working with METS and mining companies, as well as organisation such as METS Ignited and Austmine to develop and accelerate the commercialisation of new advanced technologies.

“Innovation is providing METS companies with competitive export opportunities, while delivering benefits to Australia’s mining industry and the nation’s economy.”

The Mining Equipment Technology and Services Roadmap is the third in a series of Roadmaps being produced by CSIRO Futures, each aligned to the Federal Government’s Industry Growth Centres.

23May

Belles from the bush find fashion calling

Author WASMA Posted on

Founded by WA School of Mines Mining Engineer and WASM Alumni member Holly Kiely, her mother Jennine and best friend Jessica Mckenzie, Bel Capello are invited to New York by Oxford Fashion Studio.

The label’s growth continues the creative industry boom in the WA mining town, which is better known for its blokey image.

Ms Mckenzie said the regional designer was punching above its weight, having showcased at London Fashion Week earlier this year.

“I think the mentality where you need to leave the country to achieve anything is just wrong,” Ms Mckenzie said.

“Holly and I both grew up in Kalgoorlie and we’ve started a fashion label here in the heart of the desert which is going to be showcasing at New York Fashion Week.

“New York is definitely the hub of fashion, and Paris is on the agenda for us as well

  Photo: Bel Cappello founders Holly Kiely and Jesica Mckenzie. (ABC Goldfields-Esperance: Jarrod Lucas)

23May

Things are not that bad!!

Author WASMA Posted on

Kristie Batten Mining News

Just before Easter, the ASX 300 Metals & Mining index was sitting at 3082.9 points after peaking at 3237.4 points in late January.

But by May 5, the index had dropped by more than 11% to 2727.2 points, a six-month low.

The investors and companies MNN has spoken to blamed the combination of Easter, ANZAC Day and school holidays for the waning investor interest.

And despite the “sell in May and go away” adage, things are slowly improving.

The ASX 300 Metals & Mining index has been steadily increasing since May 5, and is up more than 5% since then.

Despite the flat spot, the sector is in far better shape than this time last year.

While base metals have come off the boil in recent weeks, copper is still up by 20.3% over the past 12 months, zinc is up by 35.5%, and even nickel is up by 5.7%.

Cobalt and lithium prices remain strong, and even the iron ore price is still around US$6 above where it was in May 2016.

Gold is lower than where it was this time 12 months ago, but at the current gold price of around A$1660 an ounce, producers are making strong margins and generating buckets of free cash.

Capital raisings so far in May have also highlighted that investors haven’t shunned the mining sector completely.

Despite the declining iron ore price, Fortescue Metals Group raised US$1.5 billion in US bond markets last week after initially seeking only $1 billion.

Salt Lake Potash secured A$17.6 million for a WA pilot plant, Kin Mining secured $10 million for ongoing Leonora gold drilling, and Mali gold explorer Oklo Resources raised nearly $9 million from institutions, including BlackRock.

Nickel explorer Buxton Resources raised $4 million for drilling yesterday, while cobalt player Celsius Resources raised $3.5 million last week.

Late last month, Eastern Goldfields raised $25 million for the completion of the refurbishment of its Davyhurst mill, while lithium hopeful Tawana Resources secured $15 million.

Far East Capital chairman Warwick Grigor said sentiment remained low with no buy signal yet.

“Having said that, the mood at the RIU Resources Roundup in Sydney last week was surprisingly positive,” he said.

“Perhaps there is just a level of acceptance out there that stocks go up and down, and at the moment it is going down.

“Why worry about that over which we can exert no control? It is not the end of the world.”

The RIU Sydney Resources Round-Up attracted more than 700 delegates, with healthy investor interest both in the presentations and around the exhibition.

One of the delegates included 14-year-old Angus Ferguson, who was seen working the booths asking questions.

He told MNN he was attracted to mining because it was “digging Australia out of debt”.

Ferguson started investing in mining stocks when he was 13, after learning from his grandma, who had brought him to the conference.

Among the companies he spoke to, Ferguson was particularly excited by Cobalt Blue, Broken Hill Prospecting and WPG Resources.

Westpac Institutional Bank chief economist Justin Smirk said the market would remain volatile this year, but the outlook was “reasonably constructive”.

Both Smirk and CRU head of Australia, consulting Alex Tonks told the conference that this year wouldn’t bring big gains in pricing, but rather a continuation of the recovery that started in 2016.

“We do expect 2016 to be a marginally better year than 2017,” he said.

Meanwhile, other conference organisers are reporting stronger interest than last year.

Resources Rising Stars organiser Read Corporate has reported more than 600 registrations for its annual conference, which kicks off on the Gold Coast in two weeks.

The program, which includes Northern Star Resources, Sandfire Resources and Dacian Gold, is also one of its biggest in years.

And Diggers & Dealers organisers have reported a big spike in the demand for accommodation ahead of its August event in Kalgoorlie.

“Numbers for Diggers and Dealers to be held in Kalgoorlie in August are significantly ahead of the same time last year,” Diggers chairman Nick Giorgetta said last week.

“We will meet again and our industry will again proudly present achievements for the year and strategies for the future.

“Seriously, the rumours of the death of the Australian resources industry is again greatly exaggerated!

17May

Heed The Words of Nick Giorgetta

Author WASMA Posted on

Last year I sent a note out expressing some frustration that all I seemed to be reading in the media was negative articles about the resources industry and that this negativity had permeated to the general community who believed that the resources industry was effectively no longer significant. I made the case that our industry was in fact in great condition and was achieving significant performance goals and operationally the industry was in fact strong. The 2016 Diggers and Dealers event was a robust endorsement of how effective the industry was with 45 presentations demonstrating what was being achieved and three days of great networking and significant business being negotiated.

This year, the situation seems a little worse. This year our industry is largely being ignored as the media moguls continue to reduce general reporting and in particular business focused reporting. We know from discussions that the journalists are keen to report what is happening and we know from the quarterly reports that the resources industry continues to deliver impressive operational performance.

I have had a look at our main gold producers profile compared to five years ago when the perception of the resources industry was still the focus of many headlines as Australia’s leading economic indicator. In 2012, 2407 people attended Diggers and Dealers. Below are a couple of tables that clearly indicate that our main gold producers have not only substantially improved the production profiles but have also maintained or significantly enhanced their resource bank profiles. Some of this has been through asset acquisitions and an encouraging contribution has been achieved through internal exploration success.

In 2012, Sandfire was just commissioning De Grussa and now is one of Australia’s respected copper producers and the company has also experienced strong exploration success securing the future of production.

In 2012, Fortescue was shipping 58 million tonne of iron ore. Many in the investment and general community were mocking the outlandish production estimates that the company was suggesting of 140-160 million tonnes per annum. General perception was that the company was debt laden to the extreme and the risk profile suggested that the company had a short-term future. The company is now delivering 165 million tonnes per annum, has one of the most conservative balance sheets and is one of the most respected companies in not only the resources industry but within the general Australian business community.

Seriously, the rumours of the death of the Australian resources industry is again greatly exaggerated! Our industry remains one for us to be rightly proud of.

Numbers for Diggers and Dealers to be held in Kalgoorlie in August are significantly ahead of the same time last year. We will meet again and our industry will again proudly present achievements for the year and strategies for the future. Let’s hope this does not become the annual industry reporting and that out media moguls again allow our talented journalists to regularly profile our industry achievements as they occur.

See you in Kalgoorlie in August.

17May

MM’ But, you’re not a miner!!

Author WASMA Posted on

George Hemingway

Growth Strategy & Innovation Executive | CxO Advisor | Columnist

Spend enough time in any industry and you’ll hear some version of the following: “You’re clearly not a (fill in the blank). You see, we’ve always done it this way.” Ring any bells yet…..

The implication is clear; you don’t know what you’re talking about and here’s why it won’t work. After all, you’re not a MINER

The voices of experience and authority are difficult to challenge, especially in mature industries fraught with risk. The price of taking that risk and being ‘wrong’ is generally considered too great. The result? Comfort with the status quo overrides fear of change and leads to roadblocks and, eventually, failure.

This ‘industrial xenophobia’ sends a message to many; “Your skills aren’t valued the same way that mine are.” Try moving up in a chemicals company without a chemistry degree. Put another way, how many mining CEOs came from the marketing department?

There’s a reason why this is relevant today. Like so many others, the mining industry is going through a massive transformation driven by digital. Our research has shown that the greatest hurdle to this is not technology but implementation, and that the greatest impediment to implementation is unclear leadership, resistant cultures and a lack of the needed skills.

In mining, new skills will be required around data analytics, software programming, advanced manufacturing and scenario planning, to name a few. Companies that fail to develop these will not make the shift. Success requires a recognition that “we are all miners”; technologists as much as geologists, data miners no less than hard-rock.

Culturally, digital transformation requires a willingness to collaborate to take risks, embrace failure and learn quickly from past mistakes. This will be a challenge, but it has been done before.

When Lou Gerstner took over IBM in 1993 it was fading into history; an individualistic dinosaur focused on hardware manufacturing and sales. Today, the business is primarily a team-driven software, IT and consulting company. Gerstner said “culture was everything” in achieving the transformation.

Microsoft might be the next IBM; a company trying to pivot its business through new leadership focused on changing the cultural dynamic.

Steve Ballmer, in his last interview as CEO, stated that he focused on “how do you make money?” – lots of it, preferably yesterday. Compare that with Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s current CEO: “Something that’s worth $1 million can feel irrelevant. But that $1 million business might be the most relevant thing we are doing.”

What makes such a huge pivot possible isn’t just a clear vision or good technology. To bring it to life, Nadella echoes Gerstner, with “culture is everything”.

Part of what will make the transformation of mining possible are cultures that recognise and elevate the new skills needed to transform the industry. We must recognise that the leadership of the future may not be composed solely of engineers, but also of computer scientists. Their backgrounds may not be in resources, but in retail. When you say ‘mining’ they may think ‘bitcoin’.

Many would nod their heads in agreement, but caution on an over-emphasis of the shiny and new over the industry core. After all, mining is breaking rock and extracting minerals; it’s always been that way. But change is coming. Just this week, Vale chose a new CEO who comes from the world of pulp and paper. One has to wonder what his response will be when someone finally breaks the news to him: “Psst…you’re no miner.”

One can only hope that he responds: “Yes. That’s exactly the point.”

16May

Curtin University gains global acclaim for mining research

Author WASMA Posted on

In the 50 years Curtin University has housed the over 110-year-old WA School of Mines in the city of Kalgoorlie, the industry has taken a leap into a brave new world and many of its alums have been leaders in modern day mining innovation.

The region, situated just shy of 600km north-east of Perth, is a “global centre” for mining related tertiary education and research according to its peers – where new technologies have paved the way for students taking a modern approach to the study of mining engineering and metallurgical engineering.

Now, in a landmark year for the campus, the school has been recognised for its contributions to the mining community having been ranked second among 53 of the best schools of mining and mineral engineering around the world and the best in Australia.

“Ours is one of the oldest mining programmes around and, certainly within the School of Mines, the university has developed an international reputation over its past history,” professor Sam Spearing, director of the WA School of Mines, said.

“But it is also pleasing, considering Curtin University is only 50 years old, to see the university is also going toe-to-toe with some of the world’s oldest and most renowned universities and is a credit to the whole staff we have here.”

Originally set up in 1902 in the town of Coolgardie, the school was moved the 40km trip to Kalgoorlie a year later where it has remained ever since.

In the WA School of Mines, there are several courses for bachelors, masters and PhD students to take in the Departments of Applied Geology, Spatial Sciences, Exploration Geophysics, as well as Mining Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering.

Among its fellow schools across Australia, Curtin University was joined by the University of Queensland (third) and the University of New South Wales (fifth) in this year’s rankings and came second to the Colorado School of Mines in the United States.

The ranking system is based on four criteria including academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations and the H-index citations, which measures productivity and impact of the school’s published work.

Last year was the first in the QS Mining and Minerals ranking’s history and saw Curtin University placed 19th. In the past decade, Curtin University has been part of the same Mining Education Australia curricular also implemented by The University of Queensland, University of New South Wales and the University of Adelaide.

“To show an example of mining related technology changes, 50 years ago, surveying was all done manually and calculations done using log tables,” Prof Spearing continued. “Whereas now, we are using drones, lasers and automatic system-measuring equipment with amazing accuracy and our Spatial Science researchers are using this technology in the medial health field measuring facial features etcetera.

“A lot of it is centred around that buzzword ‘big data’ so, as our industry progresses it is going to perhaps involve less in the overall workforce but many more highly-skilled technicians, engineers, scientists focussing on safety, efficiency and sustainability.

“Engineers Australia requires all engineering students to have a certain number of workplace related hours before they are allowed to graduate and, being in Kalgoorlie – which is one of the few significant mining centres in the world – has big advantages.

“On the mining side, we are very well known in rock mechanics and metallurgical research work around hard rock mining and, in geology, we are very highly ranked for a huge range of work including planetary science, of which a lot takes place collaboratively outside of Australia.

“Within the WA School of Mines, everything we deliver is certainly well regarded, which is very pleasing for us and is obviously a useful asset for Curtin University itself.”

As well as mining, the university’s Faculty of Science and Engineering is making strides in other sectors including agriculture, marine geology and planetary science.

Around 30 per cent of the university’s overall student-base comes from abroad while half of the students in the WA School of Mines are international.

Professor Andris Stelbovics, Curtin’s Pro Vice-Chancellor of Science and Engineering, believes the ranking will further establish the university as an industry leader in mining.

“This is the highest ranking the university has received and, as part of a fiercely competitive industry, recognition like this will attract more students from around the world,” he said.

“Going on the ranking, it gives us more visibility internationally as we continue to aspire to be a global university. This is an incredibly good advertisement for our School of Mines and the Faculty of Science and Engineering.” 

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