Evolution Mining Limited has entered into two new earn-in agreements over early stage exploration projects in Western Australia and Queensland. Evolution will add two new projects to their portfolio which have the ability to generate new drill results that extend previously identified mineralised zones. Evolution’s Vice President Discovery and Business Development, Glen Masterman, said the earn-in agreements are consistent with the company’s strategy of focusing on orogenic and epithermal deposit styles that can create value through future discovery. Cue Project earn-in joint venture The first ea... more

Pembroke Resources has received the Environmental Authority (EA) by the Department of Environment and Science for its Olive Downs Coking Coal Project in Central Queensland. The EA authorises activities for Olive Downs’ 79 year mine life and provides the conditions, including environmental obligations, for the operation of the mine. Pembroke Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Barry Tudor said the grant of the EA represents the most important milestone for the project so far and provides a clear pathway towards commencement of construction and first coal. Mr Tudor also said while the project pathway bene... more

The NSW Resources Regulator has finalised its investigation into a heavy vehicle collision earlier this year involving automated machinery at a coal mine near Mudgee. The casual investigation was undertaken in conjunction with mine operators, equipment manufacturers and worker representatives and identified several safety improvements. Resources Regulator Chief Inspector of Mines, Garvin Burns, detailed that a bulldozer operating in semi-autonomous mode collided with an excavator during operations at the Wilpinjong Coal Mine on 27 May 2019, shunting the excavator and leaving the driver trapped. Thankful... more

On Friday 4 October the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) granted consent for the Rix’s Creek South Coal Mine Continuation Project and published this outcome as well as an official 'statement of reasons' on its website, only to withdraw the consent within a matter of hours due to an administrative issue relating to the assessment process. The current Rix Creek Coal Mine has been operating since 1990. Its consent was initially set to expire on 24 June 2019 but was extended until March 2020, providing the IPC with additional time to complete its assessment of the mine’s long-term continuation consen... more

Australian Industrial Energy (AIE) has announced another important milestone in the development of its Port Kembla Gas Terminal (PKGT) with the award of the key wharf facility and pipeline construction contract for the LNG import facility. New South Wales currently imports over 95 per cent of its domestic gas from other states. This means that local industries, business and households can be impacted by supply or price shifts occurring in other states. AIE states that LNG will be sourced from international suppliers and transported by LNG carriers to Port Kembla, where it will be transferred to a floating,... more

The 440-kilometre Tanami Natural Gas Pipeline, which will transport gas to Newmont Mining’s Granites gold mine, located approximately 540 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs in the Tanami Desert, has been completed. The pipeline is part of Newmont’s $346 million Tanami power project which is expected to provide the mine with a safe and reliable energy source that lowers power costs and carbon emissions by 20 per cent. The power project involved the installation of two power stations, a 66 kilovolt interconnected power line and the approval to operate the natural gas pipeline. Historically, mining op... more

A seismic survey program has commenced on QEM Limited's (QEM) 100 per cent owned Julia Creek project, covering approximately 496 square kilometres in the Julia Creek area of North Western Queensland. Julia Creek is located over the vast Toolebuc Formation, which is the host to widespread vanadium mineralisation, and is considered an ‘oil shale’, meaning it has the potential to hold significant petroleum resources. QEM announced in February this year that it had engaged geological service company, Velseis Pty Ltd, to conduct the 26-kilometre 2-D seismic survey which would outline the geological structur... more

EPIK Co. Ltd. has executed an agreement with Watpac for the provision of  design, engineering and construction services for the onshore infrastructure components of the Newcastle LNG floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) import terminal at the Port of Newcastle. Situated at the back-end of the existing gas transmission network, the Port of Newcastle is one of Australia’s largest ports and a major trade and logistics hub, making it an ideal area to develop an LNG import terminal. The potential investment for the Newcastle LNG project is estimated to be approximately $AU547 million and is set to inc... more

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced $4 million in funding to Wave Swell Energy Limited to install a pilot-scale wave energy converter off the coast of King Island, Tasmania. The $12.3 million project will involve the design, construction, installation and operation of the UniWave 200, a 200-kilowatt wave energy device off the coast of King Island. The UniWave 200 King Island Project is being developed in collaboration with Hydro Tasmania, and will be integrated with the Hydro Tasmania-operated King Island microgrid. The device will be partially submerged as it sits on the seabed... more

A new renewable hydrogen production and refuelling project in Queensland is expected to demonstrate the production and use of renewable hydrogen in refuelling, and in existing gas production and supply chains. The $3.1 million pilot project will involve the installation of a 220 kW electrolyser and a 100 kW solar array at BOC’s Bulwer Island gas facility to produce green hydrogen via electrolysis, and will utilise the industrial gas equipment and infrastructure onsite. The electrolyser will have the capacity to produce 2400 kilograms of hydrogen per month. The project also includes a hydrogen refuelling sta... more

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), on behalf of the Australian Government, has announced up to $40 million in funding towards the deployment of a Pumped Hydro Energy Storage (PHES) project in South Australia. This funding will help to fast track development of South Australia’s first PHES plant. As South Australia continues to increase its renewable energy make up, large-scale storage such as PHES and grid-scale batteries are needed to supply system strength, energy reliability and inertia to the region. Pumped hydro energy storage uses excess renewable energy during low demand periods to ... more

Leading French renewable energy company, Neoen, has commenced full-scale commercial operation at its $198 million Numurkah Solar Farm. The Numurkah Solar Farm is a 128-megawatt (MW) renewable energy project consisting of approximately 350,000 solar panels installed on 500 hectares of land, located approximately 6 kilometres south of Numurkah in Victoria. It is the largest of its kind in the state. Fully owned and developed by Neoen, the Numurkah Solar Farm is expected to produce 255-gigawatt hours of emission-free, clean, competitive renewable energy per annum – the equivalent of taking 77,000 cars of... more

Mackay construction company, Fergus Builders, has secured the contract to build the $7 million Resources Centre of Excellence – a world-class engineering, industrial and technology hub in Queensland. The Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday region is home to 34 operating coal mines and the region is one of the largest Mining Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) hubs in Australia. The Resources Centre of Excellence, a joint Queensland Government and Mackay Regional Council project, will be an important nexus between research, education and the resources industry. Its objective is to leverage existing local expert... more

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has approved up to $9.41 million in funding to Hazer Group Limited to support the construction and operation of the Hazer Process Commercial Demonstration Project (HPCDP) in Western Australia. With an estimated capital cost of $15.8 million, the HPCDP is a 100 tonne per annum low emission hydrogen production facility that will be the first large scale, fully integrated deployment of the Hazer Process. This process is an innovative technology which converts bio-methane to renewable hydrogen and graphite using iron ore as a process catalyst. Hazer plans to sell ... more

More than 400 jobs and a boost to the local economy will be an added bonus to a $90 million overhaul of the largest generating unit in Australia at CS Energy’s Kogan Creek Power Station. Located near Chinchilla in South West Queensland, the Kogan Creek Power Station is one of Australia’s most efficient and technically advanced coal-fired power stations. Commissioned in 2007, the 750 MW power station can generate enough electricity to power up to one million homes. Kogan Creek’s last major overhaul was carried out in 2016. This overhaul includes a range of inspections, maintenance and upgrades o... more

The Queensland Government has ticked off a major milestone on a proposed $1 billion overhead high-voltage electricity transmission line which would connect major energy users and North West Queensland’s public to the national electricity grid. Queensland’s independent Coordinator-General declared CuString Pty Ltd’s CopperString Project a ‘coordinated project’ on 27 April. The proposed project is a 1,100-kilometre 275-kilovolt overhead high-voltage electricity transmission line connecting the North West Minerals Provence and Mount Isa to the National Electricity Market grid south of Townsville. ... more

Lake Resources NL (Lake) has discovered multiple lithium brines over a zone of 144 metres (from 172 – 316m) at its 100 per cent owned Cauchari Lithium Brine Project in Argentina. Lithium values from 340 to 538 mg/L were returned from multiple high flow brines with low Mg/Li ratios of 2.73.0. The brine zones and target sand horizon were intersected higher in the sequence than expected. The hole was terminated at 460m due to less permeable clay horizons from 326m, although conductive brines were intersected at 356m and 386m. Detailed sampling with a packer instrument has commenced from 387m up the ho... more

Rio Tinto will reduce the annual carbon footprint at its Kennecott Utah Copper operation, located southwest of Salt Lake City in Utah, U.S. by as much as 65 per cent by purchasing renewable energy certificates and permanently shutting its coal power plant. Kennecott’s electricity needs will now be paired with 1.5 million megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates supplied by Rocky Mountain Power, primarily sourced from its Utah allocated portfolio including wind power from Wyoming. The change will reduce the annual carbon footprint associated with the operation by over one million tonnes CO2. Rio... more

Western Australian based company AVZ Minerals Limited's (AVZ) 60 per cent owned Manono deposit has been confirmed as the largest measured and indicated lithium resource in the world. The Manono Project is located approximately 500 kilometres north of Lubumbashi in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. The project covers approximately 88 square kilometres and hosts lithium pegmatites with a strike length of over 13 kilometres. AVZ has announced a 41.7 per cent increase in Manono’s combined Measured and Indicated Resources, up from 189.8 Million tonnes (Mt) to 269.0 Mt. ANZ ha... more

A second, larger diamond drill rig operated by Foraco Argentina SA has progressed drilling to a depth of 141 metres at Lake Resources NL (Lake)’s 100 per cent owned Cauchari Lithium Brine Project in Jujuy - a province in Argentina’s remote northwest. Located adjacent to world-class brine projects either in production or under development, the new round of drilling aims to unlock further value from the emerging project. The larger diamond drill rig is targeting a sand horizon estimated between 350-450 metres deep and is set drill to 500 metres. Two rigs are now operational at Cauchari and reporting r... more