25Oct

Mining Innovation Hub For kalgoorlie

WASMA October 25, 2017

Ground-breaking Mining Innovation Hub set to accelerate regional growth and innovation in Australia’s minerals industry

A major new mining innovation Hub has been announced for the Australian minerals industry to ensure it remains at the cutting edge of profitable, productive and sustainable minerals production. To be based in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, this new initiative developed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE) will bring together some of Australia’s best scientists, engineers and mining experts on co-collaboration projects to innovate and add significant value to our burgeoning minerals industry.
Launched today in Kalgoorlie-Boulder where the Hub will be headquartered, the initiative is set to translate leading Australian mining research into real economic outcomes for the region and the country.

Driven by the leaders in Australia’s minerals industry, the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innovation Hub will nurture and progress new mining technologies to revolutionise the way gold and other mineral deposits are exploited for maximum profitability and minimum environmental impact.a

The collaborative approach being taken by the Hub will see a solid pipeline of projects developed and deployed to deliver real value to current operations.

For an initial establishment period (an estimated two years), the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mining Innovation Hub will run as a node of CRC ORE. CRC ORE will provide close oversight and an existing governance structure while allowing time for the development of a sustainable long term operating entity. The development of the Hub and the bringing together of collaborators to progress innovative technology fits soundly into CRC ORE’s remit.

“The Hub will develop and test novel ways to optimise the extraction of precious minerals,” explains Dr Luke Keeney, a key driver of the Hub’s development.

“It will boost the industry and regions economic prosperity, as well as its environmental sustainability. This work is essential in ensuring Australia retains its credentials and remains competitive as a world leader in the production of minerals and associated technology,” he says.

The location of the Hub was carefully selected for its proximity to several operating mine sites. The area is home to a range of geological and mineralisation styles. Access to this diversity is a real plus for technology development and application tailored to Australian conditions. It allows for the direct linkage of the innovative technologies being developed to operating sites in Australia.
There has been good support for establishment of the Hub from industry. Early priorities will be the appointment of a Hub Director and the establishment of an Advisory Committee with strong industry representation. The Hub will be housed in the Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy (CME) office in Kalgoorlie.

Importantly, the Hub also provides a vehicle to train professionals to further grow capability and capacity within Western Australia and Australia. With foundation partners in Curtin University’s Western Australian School of Mines (WASM) and the Central Regional TAFE, it is envisaged that the Hub will become a centre of excellence for technical knowledge transfer.

There is a strong team of inaugural partners, including WASM, the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA), METS Ignited, an Industry Growth Centre funded by the Australian Government, CME, the Central Regional TAFE and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

“The strong support from the resource sector and government illustrates its importance for the future of the industry,” Rowena Olsen, CME’s Manager – Eastern Region says.

“This sets up a strong platform for finding better ways of extracting minerals from rock and processing them efficiently. We are looking to ensure Australia produces the highest quality product at the lowest cost with minimal environmental impact.

09Oct

Gold Rally

WASMA October 9, 2017

Gold workers to rally at Parliament

We invite you to join us as we rally at Parliament House to send a clear message to local politicians to put jobs first.

Please gather with us from 9am, Tuesday 10 October outside the main entrance. This is the day that Parliament resumes

04Oct

BHP Delivers Gender Diversity

WASMA October 4, 2017

BHP adds 1000 women to workforce

September 19, 2017 News Ben Creagh

BHP’s workforce has grown to be more than 20 per cent female.

The company, which set an ambitious target of making half of its workforce women by 2025, increased its female representation by 2.9 per cent in the 2017 financial year, just below a 3 per cent goal.

BHP chief executive Andrew McKenzie said the company hired 1000 more women in fiscal 2017, lifting its female presence to more than 20 per cent.

The company also halved its female turnover rate during the financial year, from 8.4 per cent higher than men the previous year to 4.7 per cent.

“These numbers are important. If we achieve balance in and balance out then we can move towards our goal more quickly,” McKenzie said.

“This year the number of female leaders rose to 18 per cent. There are 100 more female leaders in our company today than a year ago. It makes a noticeable difference to how we make decisions and how it feels to work in our teams.”

McKenzie reinforced the strong commercial reasons for targeting diversity, including a safer, more innovative and productive workforce.

He said BHP’s most diverse sites outperform the company average on many measures, such as lower injury rates, and greater adherence to work plans and production targets.

“There’s also a moral imperative for diversity. As a father, I believe my children should be able to succeed because of their skills and achievements – the fact that they are women should not make a difference,” McKenzie said.

“An increase in the participation of women will also make a difference that benefits the communities in which we operate.”

While BHP’s target is to have 50 per cent of its workforce women in less than a decade, it has exceeded this proportion at its new Brisbane logistics control centre.

At the centre, which is made up of 53 per cent women, BHP recruited people based on matched skills rather than mining experience.

07Sep

PM Promises New Tax Incentives to Encourage Investment

WASMA September 7, 2017

Reuters

The poor economic outlook and gripes over WA’s share of GST income saw the state’s opposition this week discuss a “WAxit” option to break from the Commonwealth of Australia.

Speaking at the Western Australian Liberal Party conference in Perth on Saturday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced new tax incentives for junior exploration companies in a move he said would encourage investment and “risk taking” Turnbull said the new Junior Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (JMETC) would allow the tax losses in greenfield exploration companies to be distributed as a credit to Australian resident shareholders.”These tax incentives will encourage ‘junior explorers’ to take risks and to have a go at discovering the next large-scale mineral deposit,” Turnbull said.

“We want to back enterprise. We want to turn around the greenfields minerals exploration expenditure that has declined by almost 70 percent over the past five years.”

Under the scheme, Australian resident investors of junior explorer companies will receive a tax credit where the exploration company chooses to give up a portion of their losses relating to their greenfields exploration expenditure in an income year. Resource Minister Barnaby Joyce said the credit would make it more financially attractive for mineral explorers to find resources in untapped regions. “Despite good prospects, Australia has not had a world-class mineral discovery in more than twenty years,” Joyce said. Only newly-issued shares relating to capital raising for investment in new greenfields exploration activity will be eligible for these tax credits.

07Sep

Australia Must Get Serious About Investing in Asia (It’s no longer an option)

WASMA September 7, 2017

by Daniel Moss Bloomberg

6 September,2017, 4:00 am AWST

Sure. It’s impressive. No wonder Australians like to boast about their 25 years of uninterrupted economic growth.

But the achievement masks a deep complacency and risk aversion that could ultimately undo those gains.

A large part of Australia’s economic success reflects a huge expansion in trade with Asia, particularly China. Corporate Australia is quite willing to sell to Asia, especially commodities. The nation’s direct investment tells a different story. It is focused instead in the U.S., the U.K. and New Zealand.

Selling commodities to China makes sense. Australia would be crazy to not take maximum advantage of its bounty of natural resources. And China’s years of double-digit growth were an opportunity with few historical parallels. That boom has subsided, and China’s economy is increasingly dominated by services and consumption. Australia is crazy not to take advantage of that as well.

More Australian money was invested in Papua New Guinea last year than in China, my colleagues Michael Heath and Enda Curran wrote after crunching numbers from the International Monetary Fund.

Some of this can be attributed to barriers to direct entry thrown up by China. And yes, investing there might be hard. The field might not be level. One can understand why this imbalance evolved: It’s a lot easier to dig stuff out of the ground, stick it on a ship and send it off to China than it is to navigate the state-dominated economy and negotiate with local partners in order to invest.

But it’s about more than just China. Relatively few Australian firms bother to invest directly in Asia, according to a study from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Institute for Managers and Leaders, and Asialink Business.

The report showed the top destinations for Australian corporate investment in 2015 were the U.S. with 19.4 percent, the U.K. at 15 percent, New Zealand at 11.2 percent and Singapore at 3.9 percent. Papua New Guinea, Germany and China come in equal fifth.

No knock on Papua New Guinea. It was governed by Australia until 1975, and the country is rich in minerals, which matches Australia’s long history as a leader in that industry. Australians also feel some responsibility for the nation’s development, given historical ties and deep bonds forged during World War II.

But Papua New Guinea is, and probably always will be, a tiny economy. For Australia to favor it over China would be like the U.S. investing more in the Philippines than in, say, Canada, Mexico or Germany. Something is seriously out of whack here.

The PWC report goes on: Sixty-seven percent of board members of companies listed on Australia’s benchmark stock index show no evidence of extensive experience in Asia, and 55 percent “demonstrate little to no knowledge of Asian markets.”

Study of foreign languages seems to be going into reverse as well, with a pronounced slide in study of Asian tongues, the Sydney Morning Herald reported in June.

Australia must decide whether it is part of the Asia region or it isn’t. The imbalance between trade and investment is just one symptom: If the corporate life of a nation is an insight into society more broadly, Australia seems to be clinging to its old connections at the expense of opportunity. Can Australia deepen its involvement with its neighbors while retaining its outdated constitutional links to Britain and its joined-at-the-hip military ties to the U.S.?

The cost of failure is marginalization and a serious brain drain.

17Aug

AMEC Updates

WASMA August 17, 2017

MEDIA RELEASE
Association of Mining & Exploration Companies Inc.
17 August 2017 2017 – 41
AMEC CEO Appointed

AMEC is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Warren Pearce as its new CEO.

Mr Pearce was most recently the CEO of Local Government Professionals Australia WA (LGP). During his time at the LGP, Mr Pearce earned a reputation for forthright and effective advocacy on behalf of members, strong stakeholder engagement and sound policy development credentials.

Mr Pearce steered the LGP and its members through the metropolitan local government reform process, and under his leadership the LGP has experienced considerable growth of its member base, built new revenue streams and enhanced their members’ influence in public policy development.

Prior to running the LGP Mr Pearce gained broad exposure to resources industry advocacy in his role as Manager – North West & Pilbara Industry’s Community Council for the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME).

Mr Pearce has also worked as a Manager at the Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) and as a Principal Policy Adviser for the WA Minister for Planning and Infrastructure.

Mr Pearce completed a Bachelor of Laws at The University of Western Australia and attained an Advanced Diploma of Management from the Australian Institute of Management.

Commenting on the appointment AMEC President, Will Robinson said “Warren is a high calibre individual with a track record of achieving outcomes for members. He has demonstrated his credentials with strong and successful advocacy, member engagement and in developing new and effective communication strategies.”

Mr Pearce is looking forward to commencing his role leading the professional and dedicated team in place at AMEC in November 2017 and to engaging with the members of AMEC and advocating on their behalf.

10Aug

Keeping the Incentive Scheme top of the regions priority

WASMA August 10, 2017

Image: Raglan Drilling owners Hugh and Gus Lacey, Nationals deputy leader Jacqui Boydell and Bob Fagan.

Christy Taylor Kalgoorlie Miner Wednesday 9 August

National Party WA deputy leader Jacqui Boydell met with miners from Raglan Drilling and small-scale mining companies in Kalgoorlie yesterday to hear concerns over the continuation of the $130 million Exploration Incentive Scheme.

Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Ms Boydell said the EIS initiative was “exceptionally important right across the State”.

“To see the minister (Bill Johnston) attend the Diggers and Dealers forum on Wednesday night, I would hope that he could give them some assurance that the scheme would continue,” she said.

“Australia needs some assurance and confidence from the Government that we can see some continued investment through Royalties for Regions, because regional WA contributes greatly to the State’s economy and we want to see that continue obviously.”

Under the EIS, the Government co-funds up to 50 per cent of greenfields drilling by exploration companies around WA up to $200,000 and $30,000 for prospectors, and has been credited with playing a role in the Nova nickel discovery on the Fraser Range and Guyere in the Yamarna Belt.

Eastern Goldfields Prospectors Association president Cranston Edwards has applied for funding for the first time and believes the EIS is necessary for prospecting, exploration and drilling.

“I have actually seen this work for prospectors. I think it’s actually paramount that it continues,” Ms Boydell said.

The EIS is a State Government initiative, supported under Royalties for Regions and supports innovative drilling projects to continue driving the discovery of new mineral deposits in WA.

Uncertainty lies ahead until all is revealed in September’s Budget.

05Jul

Reviving a historic Western Australian gold mine

WASMA July 5, 2017

Ben Creagh Mining News June 30

Strong gold prices and a general improvement in market conditions have ignited a wave of activity across Western Australia’s Goldfields region.

The value of gold has held firm in 2017 and remains strong in Australian dollar terms, at times rising to around $1700 an ounce depending on its strength against the US dollar.

WA’s Goldfields region is on the verge of notable growth from a range of mid-tier companies that are advancing projects towards production.

Eastern Goldfields, which is chaired by experienced mining executive Michael Fotios, is contributing to the expansion through the Davyhurst project about 120km northwest of Kalgoorlie.

Fotios, who played a key role in building Northern Star Resources into one of Australia’s largest gold miners, has guided the revival of the Davyhurst operation after its 1.2 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) processing plant was placed on care and maintenance in 2008.

First ore was crushed at Davyhurst this month, with Eastern Goldfields hopeful it will become a 200,000 ounce a year operation in the coming years.

The company raised $25 million this year, which followed a $27 million share placement in 2016, to complete funding for the commissioning of Davyhurst, which has historically produced close to one million ounces of gold from a mix of deposits.

Fotios said there was a perception in the gold mining industry that Davyhurst had a “chequered history” following the activities that led to the operation closing in 2008.

However, he explained that Eastern Goldfields would re-launch the operation by taking a different development and mining strategy to what had been used historically at the site.

Fotios said the mine’s previous owners had targeted the site’s lower-grade open pits, a strategy that broke down during a period of much lower gold prices compared with today.

“We are looking more at the high-grade potential of the project, which we think is vastly underestimated,” Fotios told Australian Mining.

“Our strategy is lower tonnes and higher grade in the open pits, and then we are pushing hard on the undergrounds, which historically no one has looked at.”

To reach production, Eastern Goldfields has refurbished and recommissioned the plant to process ore from sources within the Davyhurst hub. The company has also built a new raw water dam and installed a 5.5MW diesel-fired power station to support the existing grid power supply.

Eastern Goldfields anticipates that the September quarter will be the first full three-month period of production at the site.

During the commission phase, Eastern Goldfields will focus on low and medium-grade stockpiles at the site, Fotios explained.

“We will run the mill up to its rated capacity on that stuff…maybe see how fast it can go as part of the commissioning process,” Fotios said.

“We have budgeted the mill at 1.2Mtpa, but we plan to run it at 800,000tpa through until December this year.”

Davyhurst processing plant

The company will then move on to processing high-grade ore as it ramps up operations at the processing plant

“We will see a significant amount of high-grade input from July onwards,” he said.

Fotios said the Davyhurst strategy shared similarities with how Northern Star expanded over the past decade. He believes this approach has helped the company secure ongoing support and funding for its plan at Davyhurst.

“A lot of it has to do with the track record of our group being involved with the early days of Northern Star – we had success there and it is a similar strategy to be honest,” he said.

“A lot of our investors have been with us since Northern Star, and then were with us at General Mining in the lithium space. We had a good track record for delivering strong returns – I see Eastern Goldfields to be the same.”

Fotios is also hopeful that Eastern Goldfields will share one more similarity with Northern Star – growth.

“We will look at organic growth with the project we’ve got first, but we will always look at other opportunities we think will complement what we’ve got around Davyhurst,” he concluded.

Eastern Goldfields has a joint venture with explorer Intermin at the Menzies and Goongarrie gold projects which has potential to deliver this growth in the years to come.

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