News
Safeguard puts pressure on iron ore
For WA, which depends on its mining industry as a wealth creator and employer, recent changes to carbon dioxide pollution laws have become the latest impediment to future investment. The major concern is that a vision of the state adding value to its raw material exports – such as turning low-grade iron ore into a high-value product or making batteries from local metals – is in jeopardy. Unless carefully managed, there is the potential for WA to be stuck in the past as a quarry supplying basic raw materials with minimal value being added to exports.
WA LIFTS NATION
WA’s economy is set to grow at double the rate of Australia’s over the next year thanks to continued international demand for commodities including iron ore, lithium and agricultural products. WA is expected to be the national leader in otherwise grim times, with Deloitte expecting growth in gross State product to be the highest of all States this year — at more than twice the rate of national growth.
Iron ore price up as Western Australia braces for tropical cyclone
Iron ore prices rose on Tuesday as a tropical storm headed toward Port Hedland in top supplier Australia. Port Hedland, the world’s biggest export point for iron ore and is used by BHP Group, Fortescue and billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, will be cleared early on Wednesday as a tropical cyclone approaches, the Pilbara Ports Authority said.
‘Intervention’ risks boom
“At a time when we need more investment to unlock the nation’s vast critical minerals potential, Australia’s investment environment is deteriorating at speed. You cannot keep throwing punches at Australian businesses and expect to maintain the same level of economic growth and job creation,” Ms Constable said in an opinion piece ahead of an appearance at Seven West Media’s Resources Technology Showcase.
Boom is ‘not our birthright’
This new mining boom is not our birthright. A steady stream of excessive interventions by governments have put Australia’s chances of reaping an incredible, long-lasting dividend from this new mining boom at genuine risk. These include heavy-handed industrial relations laws that impinge on productivity and threaten jobs. There is a genuine risk of Australia’s critical minerals remaining in the ground, as companies and investors prioritise foreign resources developments where costs are lower, policy settings more stable, and returns are higher. We need to seize the opportunity and not squander it. Because when Australian mining does well, Australians do well.
We cannot let opportunity ‘pack its bags’
Commentary by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie courtesy of the West Australian.
Koch gets down to business
Sunrise host and business expert David “Kochie” Koch says WA “punches above its weight” when it comes to innovation. The leaders will be discussing the future of the resources workforce. “I’m looking forward to delving into how they’re re-engineering their businesses for this global environment,” Koch said.
Australia’s ‘investment climate deteriorating’, says Japanese gas giant
Takayuki Ueda, chief executive of Japanese gas giant Inpex, has warned that Anthony Albanese’s sweeping energy market interventions will “choke investment, strangle expansion of LNG projects and allow Russia, China and Iran to fill the void”. Mr Ueda and Japanese ambassador Shingo Yamagami delivered stinging rebukes of the Albanese government’s energy and gas policies at a closed-door lunch in Parliament House on Thursday, attended by Resources Minister Madeleine King and Trade Minister Don Farrell. “Australia may be a lucky country but needs to recognise it is in a global competition. The race has started, and Australia already lags far behind. Certainty in policy direction and a stable regulatory framework will continue to encourage strong investment in Australia,” Mr Ueda said.
‘Hard to overstate’ the importance of mining
The resources sector contributed more than $10.7bn in direct and indirect spending into the local economy last financial year, equivalent to more than 8 per cent of gross state product, the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy says. SACOME on Wednesday released its latest Economic Contribution Analysis which shows that 15 resources companies employed 7825 people directly in 2021-22, and supported the employment of another 42,832 people. SACOME chief executive Rebecca Knol said: “The results are testament to the resilience of the sector which has safely operated throughout the Covid-19 pandemic; helping to maintain the economic health of the state despite navigating travel restrictions, lockdowns, absenteeism and supply-chain impacts,’’ Ms Knol said.
At the forefront of technological revolution
From autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence to safer and more efficient mining equipment, advancements in resources technology are essential to progress in the field. Hancock Prospecting Group Operations CEO Gerhard Veldsman said from day one Roy Hill Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart had encouraged a culture of innovative thinking and the use of leading technologies across the miner’s iron ore operation. “Roy Hill is powered by smart people, using data-driven insights with integrated technology and systems to ensure safer operations, higher productivity and predictable execution,” he said. “Not only are we helping to develop and integrate advanced technologies and capabilities that keep our people safe but we are also making our business more efficient, and demonstrating Roy Hill’s progressive and forward-thinking approach.
Coal king again
COAL has proven resilient in uncertain times and there is now widespread belief that it will continue to provide the nation’s baseload power and economic growth – barring a black swan event such as a financial crisis or a war with our major trading partner, China. In a week in which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the eye-watering $368 billion cost of eight nuclear submarines, it should be remembered that tax on coal and iron ore exporters are two of the main drivers of government revenue. The coal mining industry does not operate in a vacuum and must keep maintaining steady and safe production of high-quality coal to global and regional markets despite any financial or geopolitical noise if it wishes to remain Australia’s king of exporters.
LNG exports may need to fill shortfalls
Queensland’s LNG exporters may need to divert gas to domestic customers to head off a shortfall in the southern states this winter and even then, shortages may occur, the Australian Energy Market Operator has warned, sharpening the focus on the crisis in the east coast market.The market operator said in its 20-year gas supply and demand outlook for the east coast that under any scenario, investment was needed in gas development on the east coast. But it highlighted many factors posing challenges for new projects, including the federal government’s intervention into the market through price caps and ongoing price regulation, which has caused several projects to stall. Senex Energy, owned by South Korea’s Posco and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, has put on ice its proposed $1 billion Atlas project in Queensland, while Cooper Energy has delayed a go-ahead to expand its Otway gas project off Victoria.