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Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm says the Albanese government’s industrial relations reforms could reignite the workplace tensions of the 1980s as he flagged a further rise in the cost of producing Australian iron ore. The continued cost escalation in the Pilbara comes at a time when Mr Stausholm said inflationary pressures were easing in many other parts of the world. Mr Stausholm warned the government’s embrace of multi-employer workplace agreements and its same job, same pay labour hire changes were causing concerns.

The project has been dubbed the “Pilbara killer” because Rio’s iron ore foray in Africa could spell long-term trouble for the Pilbara region’s mantle as the world’s premier producer of the steel-making input. It comes as the sprawling Pilbara iron ore operations buoyed Rio Tinto’s full-year result, but a stale showing across its basket of other commodities weighed on the mining giant’s bottom line. On Tuesday the military junta — led by Mamady Doumbouya, pictured, who seized control of Guinea in 2021 — dissolved the country’s government, sealed the borders and stripped government ministers of their passports, according to local media reports.

Hancock chief executive Garry Korte said the current regime of “overcomplicated, duplicative regulation and red tape” has created an environment where Australia is becoming increasingly uncompetitive with overseas markets. “Australia does not set international commodity prices, it is a price taker. It is important that government implement policies to enable Australia to be cost competitive in the long term or we risk losing a significant part of our critical industry,” he said. “We are already seeing significant closures in the nickel industry, which will get much worse if not strongly addressed. “It’s insightful that productivity has all but been absent from recent legislative changes – this topic should be front and centre of any debate about changes needed to underpin long term competitiveness.” Mr Korte said “if Australia is serious” about its critical minerals ambitions and building downstream processing facilities both levels of government need to provide support for gas as a low-cost base load energy source. “Government should consider policy changes that encourage additional gas being brought to market quickly and efficiently.”

15 February 2024.

It is another week in which WA businesses are coming to terms with another wave of changes to industrial relations laws drafted by people who do not really understand how a resources-focused economy works. It will be interesting to see how a “right to disconnect” works in a remote mining camp when you want to check on the welfare or fitness for work of a worker who is residing in premises operated by you during their non-working time.

Australia is already beginning to see the damage flowing from previous industrial relations changes, where businesses are opting to make investments outside of Australia, and the first mining companies are now facing being roped into multi-employer bargaining.

Australia’s most powerful energy producers have lashed spurious legal claims and environmental hold-ups, warning contracts needed to dodge a gas shortfall on the east coast are under threat due to delays developing more than $10bn in new projects.Queensland’s Senex Energy, half-owned by mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, said it may struggle to meet supply deals with ­EnergyAustralia, manufacturing giant BlueScope and building products maker CSR. Contracts with the big gas users from Senex’s Atlas expansion begin in 2026, but ongoing delays threaten the timetable. “It takes a very long time to get gas out of the ground from a standing start,” said Senex chief executive Ian Davies. The longer this drags on, the more those contracts are at risk.”

It’s anticipated that will increase with the new direct flight offering as MinRes seeks to attract skilled workers nationwide in a tight labour market. MinRes is actively recruiting for hundreds of additional roles, including mobile plant operators, project engineers, earthworks supervisors, MC drivers and medics. MinRes boasts it is setting a new standard for the fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) experience, which includes new accommodation resorts and industry-leading food offerings.

The world is now embarking on a new mining boom driven by electrification, and Australia has the chance to again be a major beneficiary. History will not judge the Albanese government for misleading the country on tax cuts, but rather for taking us perilously close to missing out on this new mining boom by making it uneconomic for the wealth of the nation’s iron ore and other minerals to be invested back in Australia.

It would be a mistake to believe that just because Australia boasts enviable deposits of critical minerals, that its place in the world’s emerging clean energy mining boom is all but guaranteed.If only it was that simple; that our natural endowment directly equated to prosperity. Policy and confidence matter.

On latest updates, the Federal Budget is within reach of its second surplus in as many years thanks to an increasing tax take and the strong iron ore price, which on Friday was $US136.08/t, while the WA Budget last month was reported to be in surplus to the tune of $3.7 billion.

Video of Shakey highlights from this terrific event.