B08 Metal Ore Mining

BHP reports second COVID-positive case at Yandi mine

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Original article by Stuart McKinnon
The West Australian – Page: Online : 1-Feb-22

BHP has advised that a close contact of a rail maintenance contractor at its Yandi iron ore mine in the Pilbara has also tested positive for COVID-19. All casual and close contacts of the contractor are now self-isolating at the nearby Spinifex accommodation village; casual contacts will be permitted to return to work if they return a negative PCR test, but 14 workers who are close contacts of the contractor must remain in quarantine for two weeks. Ten close contacts of a Covid-positive worker at 29Metals’ Golden Grove polymetallic mine in Western Australia are also in isolation.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP29METALS LIMITED – ASX 29M

Privacy fight for BHP vax order as miners caught faking jabs

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 19-Jan-22

BHP has defended its decision to require all employees to provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status by 31 January. The resources group says it needs all relevant information to ensure that employees are not faking their vaccination status. A spokesman says that immunisation history statements and COVID-19 digital certificates will only be viewed by members of BHP’s health and medical teams. The CFMEU has expressed concern about the privacy implications of BHP’s policy, and has taken the matter to the Fair Work Commission.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

Covid-19 crimps Rio Tinto iron ore

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 13 & 14 : 19-Jan-22

Rio Tinto’s latest production report shows that its iron ore shipments fell by three per cent to 321.6 million tonnes in calendar 2021. This is at the lower end of its revised target for the year, which was scaled back to between 320 and 325 million tonnes in October. The resources group expects its iron ore shipments in 2022 to be within the range of 320 to 335 million tonnes; however, the company has cautioned that its full-year guidance could be affected by any new outbreak of COVID-19 as Western Australia reopens its borders. Rio Tinto also reported lower full-year production of copper, titanium dioxide, bauxite and aluminium.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Low-carbon steel’s cost challenges stand in the way of greener Pilbara

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 12 : 25-Nov-21

BHP estimated in 2020 that 72 per cent of the world’s steel mills are blast furnaces, which use iron ore and coking coal. However, they also generate carbon dioxide in the steel-making process, even if the plant is powered by renewable energy. Electric arc furnaces are an alternative to traditional blast furnaces, and use either scrap metal or direct reduced iron as feedstock. Rio Tinto is working on a project to make direct reduced iron using ‘green’ hydrogen rather than methane, which is a greenhouse gas. Rio Tinto has cautioned that converting the world’s steel industry to this process would require massive amount of renewable energy.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Forrest defends bid to axe diesel rebate

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Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 15 & 18 : 24-Nov-21

Fortescue Metals Group founder Andrew Forrest says the diesel fuel rebate costs taxpayers about $5bn a year at present. He adds that a small number of large mining and energy companies receive the bulk of the rebate, and he has urged the federal government to start phasing it out between 2025 and 2030. However, Forrest says the rebate should only be scrapped for large mining and energy companies, and it should be retained for farmers and other small business than rely upon it. The Mineral Council of Australia is among the critics of Forrest’s push to have the rebate scrapped.

CORPORATES
FORTESCUE FUTURE INDUSTRIES PTY LTD, MINERAL COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA

Atlas maps out iron-clad profit for a third year

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 18 : 24-Nov-21

Atlas iron has posted a 2020-21 net profit of $938m, which is 146 per cent higher than previously. The junior iron ore miner is owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, which paid $427m for the company in 2018. Atlas Iron’s revenue was up 66 per cent to $1.7bn, and its Mt Webber and Sanjiv Ridge mines shipped a combined 9.7 million tonnes of iron ore during the financial year. Shipments from the Sanjiv Ridge mine began in 2020-21. Rinehart’s Roy Hill mine recently posted a net profit of $4.4bn for the financial year.

CORPORATES
ATLAS IRON LIMITED, HANCOCK PROSPECTING PTY LTD, ROY HILL HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Australia well-positioned to supply critical US minerals

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Original article by Matthew Cranston
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 25 : 10-Nov-21

The US Geological Survey has added nickel to its list of critical minerals. Australia is poised to benefit from this move, given that the nation accounts for 24 per cent of global nickel production. Zinc has also been added to the USGS list of critical minerals, while helium, potash, rhenium and strontium have been removed. The International Monetary Fund recently forecast that demand for critical minerals will rise sixfold over the next two decades.

CORPORATES
UNITED STATES. DEPT OF THE INTERIOR. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Best ever platinum discovery

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 25 : 10-Nov-21

Chalice Mining has released the first mineral resource estimate for its Gonneville deposit in Western Australia. The deposit contains gold, copper, nickel, cobalt, palladium and platinum; the latter two minerals are relatively scarce in Australia, and Chalice MD Alex Dorsch says Gonneville is the biggest discovery of platinum group elements in the nation’s history. The Gonneville deposit could potentially make Chalice a takeover target from global resources groups such as Anglo American, BHP or Rio Tinto.

CORPORATES
CHALICE MINING LIMITED – ASX CHN, ANGLO AMERICAN PLC, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Dozens of Rio Tinto workers sacked, disciplined over harassment cases

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Original article by Caitlyn Rintoul
The West Australian – Page: Online : 28-Oct-21

Simon Trott, the head of Rio Tinto’s iron ore division, has conceded that sexual misconduct occurs at the resources group’s mine sites and accommodation camps. He has told a parliamentary inquiry that 30 workers have been disciplined in the last year due to sexual misconduct, and 15 workers have been dismissed. Trott added that Rio Tinto is committed to organisational change on the issue. The inquiry into sexual misconduct in the ‘fly-in, fly-out’ sector has received more than 70 submissions from mining companies, industry bodies, unions and workers.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

Rio Tinto fined for exposing workers to extreme weather conditions

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Original article by Kate Purnell
The West Australian – Page: Online : 26-Oct-21

Sally North says it is very important that companies make staff aware that working in extremely hot weather conditions can result in heat stroke. North is from Western Australia’s Department of Mines, Industry Regulation & Safety, and was commenting on a case it brought against Rio Tinto. The resources group was fined $80,000 after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the safety of workers. It followed an incident in 2017 when a worker died of heat stroke after he and two colleagues had to walk over 32 kilometres across rugged terrain and in temperatures that were estimated to exceed 37C.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF MINES, INDUSTRY REGULATION AND SAFETY