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Australia/New Caledonia/Papua New Guinea Mining

Minerals reserve to be used as leverage with Trump, foreign investors – by Phillip Coorey (Australian Financial Review – April 24, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

The Albanese government says it will use a critical minerals reserve as leverage with the Trump administration over tariffs, as the mining industry warned that establishing the stockpile could push down commodity prices.

The opposition was ambiguous towards the proposal to establish the reserve, with Peter Dutton saying “we’re not supporting the plan because it is a refit and rehash and reannouncement with no delivery”. But he went on to support the concept. “Critical minerals are absolutely essential for us and for our partners and whether that looks like an offtake agreement or whether it looks like an agreement to stockpile it to work with the US, in the UK, in Japan, etcetera, we will work all that detail in government.”

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Nickel, paradise and ‘emancipation’ – by Cooper Williams and Yasmine Wright Gittins (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – April 10, 2025)

https://www.abc.net.au/

A bet on nickel gave many New Caledonians hopes of prosperity and independence. But when the economy turned, it left behind a ghost town full of broken hearts.

It was a symbol of economic freedom — offering a chance at prosperity for communities who shared little in New Caledonia’s wealth. Standing tall by the turquoise waters of the French territory’s lagoons, the Koniambo nickel factory once hummed with activity, feeding the world’s insatiable demand for the lucrative metal.

Now, silence blankets its heavy machinery. The site sits abandoned, its overseas workforce long gone, and its local staff — mostly Indigenous Kanak people — out of jobs.

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Glencore ‘not going anywhere’ after Mt Isa sunset – by Kelsie Tibben (Mining Magazine – April 4, 2025)

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Workers form the soon-to-close Mt Isa underground copper mine in Queensland are being redeployed as part of Glencore’s firm commitment to remaining a key player in the state.

The second largest copper producer in Australia, the Mount Isa copper mine has been a feature of the Australian copper landscape since 1924. The mine is scheduled to close in July, but Glencore has been staunch in its determination to see its foothold in the region remain steady.

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BHP’s new chairman Ross McEwan meets investors, reads up on history – by Peter Ker (Australian Financial Review – March 31, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

Ross McEwan has had a few weeks to brush up on his history. The former National Australia Bank chief executive was announced as the next chairman of the country’s largest miner, BHP, last month. He starts on Monday, replacing retiring predecessor Ken MacKenzie.

And he’s prepared for his stint by reading Geoffrey Blainey’s The Steel Master, a 1971 profile of Essington Lewis, a man who was either managing director or chairman of the mining giant between 1921 and 1961.

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Australia’s lithium dream is fading. Can tax breaks revive it? – by Elouise Fowler and Mark Wembridge(Australian Financial Review – March 24, 2025)

https://www.afr.com/

The prime minister believes he can revive hopes of turning Australia into a minerals processing powerhouse. Is this anything other than wishful thinking?

The $1.2 billion lithium hydroxide refinery on the shores of Perth’s southern beaches was once heralded as vital to Australia’s dream of becoming a battery minerals processing powerhouse. Today, the Tianqi Lithium plant sits in an uneasy state – its expansion plans in tatters, its future bleak. Conveyor belts that once ferried lithium-rich rock to a 1000-degree kiln and onto a vat of chemicals lay idle for long periods at the start of the year.

Plans to double the size of the plant – a short drive from Perth in the industrial suburb of Kwinana – were shelved in January. High costs, low lithium prices, technical problems and unfavourable economics are conspiring to kill off the facility entirely, and with it another slice of Australia’s dream.

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Leonardo DiCaprio criticises Australian government for approving WA mine expansion – by Bridget McArthur (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – March 12, 2025)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/

Leonardo DiCaprio has thrown his support behind West Australian activists who are angry at the federal government for green-lighting a mine expansion in an area home to endangered species.

In February Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek gave approval to South32 to clear up to 3,855 hectares of native vegetation in WA’s Northern Jarrah Forests as part of a mine expansion near the town of Boddington.

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Canadian miners flocking to the ASX – by Kristie Batten (Mining.com – March 6, 2025)

https://www.mining.com/

The Australian Securities Exchange is experiencing an influx of Canadian producers seeking dual listings. There has been a trickle of dual listings on the ASX since 2018,, but the trend has significantly accelerated following Canadian uranium developer NexGen Energy (TSX: NXE), adding an Australian listing in 2021.

Capstone Copper’s (TSX: CS) ASX listing in February 2024, however, seemed to have open the floodgates, with a further four Canadian mining companies initiating the listing process since.

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PDAC: Canada, Australia risk falling behind in investment race, BHP boss says – by Frederic Tomesco (Northern Miner – March 2, 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Canada and Australia could end up trailing emerging mining nations such as Argentina if their governments don’t speed up permitting and lower costs, BHP (NYSE, LSE, ASX: BHP) CEO Mike Henry warned.

Countries such as the United States, Argentina and Saudi Arabia are making “sizeable” efforts to reform their mining sector and attract capital, Henry said Sunday in Toronto. At the same time, established natural-resource powerhouses such as Canada and Australia have seen their global attractiveness erode.

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Column: Massive Simandou mine can end Australia’s golden iron ore age, or start new one – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – February 25, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

The term gamechanger is often over used enough to be rendered meaningless, but the huge Simandou mine in the West African country of Guinea is going to be just that as its start up is set to rock the seaborne iron ore market.

The first cargoes from the project may arrive by the end of this year and it’s expected that it will ramp up to its full capacity of 120 million metric tons per annum fairly quickly. The four blocks of Simandou are impressive in their scale and infrastructure challenges, boasting a 620 kilometre (384 mile) rail line, a new port with dedicated trans-shipment vessels that will load bulk carriers offshore.

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[ Andrew Forrest] A Mining Billionaire’s Case for Ditching Fossil Fuels – by Justin Worland (Time Magazine – February 25, 2025)

https://time.com/

It does not take long at lunch with Andrew Forrest for him to start seeming less like an Australian mining billionaire and more like a climate activist–meets–zealous prosecutor. His rugged features quickly appear not to reflect the arid expanse of Western Australia’s Pilbara region, home to the core operations of his $38 billion Fortescue iron-ore business.

Rather, they appear the result of a succession of high-stakes court battles. When we meet at a luxurious Paris brasserie, he speaks passionately about a client that he’s been representing for several years: the planet. His case? Corporate bosses must act now—and act fast—to tackle climate change, an argument he delivers with force and the unrivaled credibility that comes from decades in the carbon-spewing industry.

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Top leadership changes in New Caledonia’s nickel stakeholder – by Patrick Decloitre (Radio New Zealand – February 20, 2025)

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/

French mining giant Eramet has announced major changes in its leadership. The company is a major stakeholder in New Caledonia’s nickel industry, being the owner of Société Le Nickel (SLN), the French territory’s oldest nickel mine and smelter operator.

Eramet’s current chair/chief executive Christel Bories will relinquish her CEO position, only to retain her role as chair. The changes are expected to become effective at Eramet’s shareholder’s general meeting, scheduled on 27 May, Eramet said in a release. The new director general/CEO will be Paulo Castellari.

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Severe Cyclone Makes Landfall Near Australia’s Iron Ore Hub – by Keira Wright and Paul-Alain Hunt (Bloomberg News/Financial Post – February 13, 2025)

https://financialpost.com/

Severe Cyclone Zelia has made landfall near Australia’s iron ore export hub, bringing heavy rainfall and damaging wind gusts, with the system threatening big mines and crucial rail links as it tracks inland.

(Bloomberg) — Severe Cyclone Zelia has made landfall near Australia’s iron ore export hub, bringing heavy rainfall and damaging wind gusts, with the system threatening big mines and crucial rail links as it tracks inland.

The powerful cyclone crossed the coast to the east of Port Hedland, the nation’s biggest iron ore export harbor, packing very destructive wind gusts of up to 290 kilometers (180 miles) per hour near its center, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Winds that strong flatten structures and buckle power lines.

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Nickel Industries CEO Justin Werner warns of ‘challenging’ future for Australian mining – by Duncan Evans (News.com.au – February 9, 2025)

https://www.news.com.au/

The man behind a booming mining company in Indonesia has issued a stark warning about 10,000 Aussie jobs.

The shock collapse of Australia’s nickel mining sector has threatened 10,000 high-paying jobs as a leading ASX-listed nickel miner warns bluntly those jobs are probably never coming back. That’s the view of Nickel Industries managing director Justin Werner, who leads the rising $3.3bn company with vast mining and refining operations in Indonesia.

“It is certainly challenging (for Australia) in the foreseeable future,” he told NewsWire from his home in Bali in a wide-ranging interview this week. “Even if the nickel price goes up, it’s about having a sustained nickel price above $20,000 (per tonne).

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Australia close to breaking China’s critical mineral stranglehold – by Simon Johanson (Sydney Morning Post – February 9, 2025)

https://www.smh.com.au/

Australian firms are edging closer to breaking China’s production stranglehold on the rare minerals used in the world’s critical defence systems, electric vehicles and clean energy transition.

Companies like Iluka Resources, Lynas Rare Earths, and several lithium miners are already refining, or close to producing, the minerals needed for the batteries, electric circuitry and high-strength magnets that underpin the globe’s green energy transition.

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Two bids made for Glencore stake in New Caledonia’s Koniambo Nickel (Reuters – January 8, 2025)

https://www.reuters.com/

Two potential buyers for Glencore’s stake in mothballed New Caledonian nickel producer Koniambo Nickel SAS (KNS) have submitted offers following site visits late last year, KNS said.

Part of a loss-making nickel industry in French-controlled New Caledonia, KNS halted its operations in March after commodity group Glencore decided to sell its 49% interest.

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