B08 Metal Ore Mining

Mining earnings heading for peak

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Original article by Sarah-Jane Tasker
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 30-Sep-19

Resources Minister Matt Canavan says the latest Resources and Energy Quarterly report underlines the importance of mining to Australia’s economy, noting that the sector contributed a third of GDP growth in the June 2019 quarter. He has urged lenders to continue to provide financing for resources and energy projects, at a time when local mining companies intend to increase their annual investment expenditure for the first time in six years. The report forecasts that resources and energy exports will top $282bn in 2019-20, eclipsing the record $279bn in 2018-19.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE

Stavely’s copper discovery multiplies family court settlement

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 2 : 27-Sep-19

Shares in Stavely Minerals rose to as high as $0.93 on 26 September after it reported it had made a highly promising copper discovery near the Victorian town of Dunkeld. Its shares ended up closing at $0.86, compared to a close of just $0.24 on 25 September. Stavely’s discoveries were made at depths of less than 100 metres, with shallow discoveries seen as more valuable than deeper ones because they are cheaper to mine. Stavely’s announcement came a few weeks after it was disclosed the Family Court had directed Stavely founder and MD Chris Cairns to give away six million of his shares in the company.

CORPORATES
STAVELY MINERALS LIMITED – ASX SVY

Market Forces maintains the rage against Rio Tinto

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 27-Sep-19

Activist investor group Market Forces is still planning to target Rio Tinto with a shareholder resolution that would require it to set targets for reducing emissions for customers if successful. Such emissions are known as Scope 3 emissions. Market Forces had been planning to hit BHP with a similar resolution, but backed away from doing so after BHP stated it would act on scope 3 emissions created by its customers when using coal and iron ore to make steel. Market Forces’ intentions regarding Rio Tinto come despite Rio and Chinese steel maker Baowu Steel Group unveiling a joint commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

CORPORATES
MARKET FORCES RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP BAOWU STEEL GROUP

Rio Tinto teams with China to cut emissions

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 26-Sep-19

Rio Tinto has signed a memorandum of understanding with China Baowu Steel Group and Tsinghua University to develop strategies aimed at reducing carbon emissions across the steel industry. Steel-making accounts for the bulk of Rio Tinto’s scope 3 emissions, which totalled 536 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent gases in 2018. In contrast, its scope 1 and 2 emissions totalled 28.6 million tonnes. BHP also recently revealed plans to address its scope 3 emissions.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, CHINA BAOWU STEEL GROUP CORPORATION LIMITED, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY, BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, FORTESCUE METALS GROUP LIMITED – ASX FMG, MARKET FORCES, FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

BHP backs government over Kyoto loophole

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Original article by James Fernyhough
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 24-Sep-19

BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie is said to have expressed support for the Coalition’s proposal to use Kyoto carryover credits to meet Australia’s carbon emissions reduction targets under the Paris agreement. Sources have confirmed that Mackenzie did so in a private call with institutional investors on 20 September, although a BHP spokesman has declined to comment. The Minerals Council of Australia and the Business Council of Australia also support the use of carryover credits. Mackenzie had advocated greater action to address climate change earlier in 2019.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, VISION SUPER PTY LTD, INVESTOR GROUP ON CLIMATE CHANGE, UNITED NATIONS

Indigenous-owned iron ore venture gets $12m NAIF loan

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Original article by Mark Ludlow
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 20-Sep-19

The federal government’s $5 billion Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility has made a $12.5 million loan to the $45 million First Iron mining project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The project, which is being developed by the Australian Aboriginal Mining Corporation, will use the loan to construct new supporting infrastructure for the First Iron mine, which is to supply ore for Fortescue Mining’s Cloudbreak operations. The NAIF has now awarded $1.4 billion in concessional loans to 13 projects in Australia’s north, with the NAIF stating the loans will help create over 4,000 jobs and generate $3 billion in public benefit.

CORPORATES
NORTHERN AUSTRALIA INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITY, AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL MINING CORPORATION

Scientists create the world’s thinnest gold

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Original article by
cosmosmagazine.com – Page: Online : 7-Aug-19

Researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK have created what they contend is the world’s thinnest unsupported gold. The material is one million times thinner than a human finger nail and regarded as 2D, and the researchers claim it is 10 times more efficient as a catalytic substrate than the currently used gold nanoparticles. They claim the material, which they have dubbed ‘nanoseaweed’ because of its shape and because it appears green in water, could have a wide range of applications in the electronics and medical devices industries. They also state it could be used as a catalyst to accelerate chemical reactions in a range of industrial processes

CORPORATES
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

Rio Tinto prepares for Mongolian parliament review

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 17-Sep-19

Mongolian MPs are due to commence debate on the legal agreement that supports the operation of the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in the week ending 19 September. The agreement in question is the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement, which gives the Mongolian government a 34 per cent stake in the mine, which is regarded as one of Rio Tinto’s most significant assets. Production of gold and copper from Oyu Tolgoi commenced in 2013, while Rio is in the process of spending between $US6 billion ($8.7 billion) and $US8 billion on an underground expansion of the mine.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

BHP escapes shareholder resolution on emissions

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Original article by Peter Ker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 12-Sep-19

BHP CEO Andrew Mackenzie has previously flagged plans to set targets for Scope 3 emissions, which are the emissions that its customers generate. Market Forces had been tipped to file shareholder resolutions at BHP’s upcoming annual meetings that would require the mining company to set targets for emission reductions, including Scope 3 emissions. However, after BHP indicated it would publish Scope 3 emission targets when it issues its various annual reports in the week beginning 16 September, Market Forces has indicated it will not submit a shareholder resolution on the matter.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP MARKET FORCES RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO

New WA mining boom brings automation to the fore, but the unions aren’t happy

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Original article by Bridget Fitzgerald
abc.net au – Page: Online : 10-Sep-19

Mining jobs in Western Australia are at their highest level since the peak of the last mining boom in 2013, with over 106,000 people currently employed in the sector. WA State Training Board chairman Jim Walker is working with mining companies and South Metropolitan TAFE on courses that will prepare workers for increased automation, with a recent McKinsey report estimating that over 30 per cent of jobs in the Pilbara region, where mining is the dominant employer, will be impacted by automation. Union official Jeff Carig says it is important that those of its members impacted by automation are offered the chance to retrain, while Volker Schilling, who has worked in the iron ore sector for many years, says automation has improved the way he works.

CORPORATES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. STATE TRAINING BOARD RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO McKINSEY AND COMPANY