BY GAVIN WENDT, MINELIFE PTY LTD ‘If you don’t trust gold, do you trust the logic of taking a beautiful pine tree, worth about $4000–5000, cutting it up, turning it into pulp and then paper, putting some ink on it and then calling it $1 billion?’ – Kenneth J. Gerbino. We’re reviewing interesting recent developments … Continued
BY PROFESSOR ROBIN BURGESS-LIMERICK, SUSTAINABLE MINERALS INSTITUTE, THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND In addition to improving productivity, increased automation has considerable potential to reduce safety and health risks by removing people from hazardous situations. Automation, however, does not remove people from the system – it just changes the tasks that they undertake. For the system to … Continued
BY SAM HARDY, HUGHES PR The electric vehicle boom is coming. According to BloombergNEF, there will be 10 million EVs on the world’s roads by 2025, with 57 per cent of passenger vehicle sales projected to be electric by 2040. This revolution has been made possible by advances in lithium-ion battery technology, allowing EVs to … Continued
BY TOBY GREEN, SENIOR CONSULTANT, CRU GROUP If any reader were to type high purity alumina (HPA) into their search engines, they would see that CRU Group has been highlighting some pretty remarkable demand growth prospects in this market for some time. I wrote my first published piece on this ceramic more than a year … Continued
BY ANTHONY FENSOM Surging prices have boosted confidence among Australia’s nickel miners, helping li market values and spurring increased investment. And with the silvery-white lustrous metal now seen having a leading role in the electric vehicle (EV) revolution, even better times may lie ahead for the world’s sixth-largest producer. In mid July, nickel prices jumped … Continued
BY ANDREW NAYLOR, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL BANKS AND PUBLIC POLICY, WORLD GOLD COUNCIL Climate change is a critical global issue. It is a regular xture on the agenda of the G20, the Financial Stability Board, and the United Nations. Governments, businesses and investors all recognise the need to take action. Under the auspices of the United … Continued
BY TONY FEATHERSTONE Much life is left in fossil fuels despite first-world move towards renewable energy sources. If Australia’s coal industry is living on borrowed time, then nobody has told ASX-listed coal stocks. Several have had large share price gains in the past 12 months, despite persistent gloom about coal’s future and a subdued local … Continued
The red metal may still be facing pressures, but the industry is betting that modern life can’t live without it, says Steve Freeth. Copper prices may still be being buffeted by China growth jitters or US trade war tensions, but the mood at the recent CESCO annual global copper get-together in Chile was upbeat. At … Continued
Mineral and silica sands are currently among the hottest commodities on the market amid rising demand and constrained supply. For explorers and major producers alike, the upturn is spurring renewed investment as Australian miners capitalise on the improved outlook. NEW INVESTMENTS In April, global heavyweight Rio Tinto approved development ofthe $463-million Zulti South mineral sands … Continued
BY GAVIN YEATES, PRINCIPAL, GAVIN YEATES CONSULTING PTY. LTD. While interoperability has been a topic of interest to mining companies for over two decades, it is only now that technology has advanced to a point that both enables interconnectedness and allows true interoperability. The interest in interoperability is because mining companies see value in it, … Continued