The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA’s (CME) Chief Executive Rebecca Tomkinson said the timely delivery of a low emissions, reliable and cost-competitive energy system was required to decarbonise industry’s existing operations and deliver globally competitive green industries in WA, including critical minerals and value-adding. 

“There is no net zero without the WA resources sector,” she said. 

“While we welcome the WA Government’s direction for transition of the state’s main electricity grids, and their constructive engagement with the industry, we urgently need the WA Government to move from admirable aspirations to tangible actions.” 

The statements were made with the release of CME’s 2024-25 Pre-Budget Submission (PBS) today, which also calls for actions to address skills shortages and investment in regional communities, including through identification and prioritisation of investments in essential regional and social infrastructure such as housing.  

CME also renews its earlier call for the WA Government to introduce targeted measures to realise the state’s critical and battery minerals industry potential. A targeted initiative such as a ‘value add’ rebate scheme would enhance the international competitiveness for minerals and minerals processing vital for the transition to net zero. 

The PBS highlights that the complex challenges for industry are compounded by inefficient, duplicative and delayed assessment and approvals processes. Action is also needed to unlock additional project ready land by activating our strategic industrial areas and increasing port capacity. 

Ms Tomkinson said delays in addressing these bottlenecks threatened the ability of the WA resources sector to continue its strong contribution to the state’s economy, jobs and family incomes, local businesses, communities and WA Government revenues – of which the sector contributes almost one-third. 

She said the WA resources sector was well positioned to underpin the state’s economic and community development and prosperity for the next 50 plus years, however significant obstacles stood in the way of industry realising this potential.  

“The outlook for the resources sector is strong, however it faces intense global competition for investment capital, increasing geopolitical tensions, rising costs and persistent skilled labour shortages,” she said. 

“Regulatory uncertainty, inefficient assessment and approvals processes, and a lack of clarity around access to low emissions, reliable and cost-competitive energy, are diminishing WA’s competitiveness for global investment dollars. 

“The WA Government’s efforts to improve the efficiency of approvals processes needs to be reinvigorated, and resourcing of approvals processes should be prioritised and funded to release the handbrake on sustainable development. 

“It is also crucial that the WA Government works to ensure the Australian Government does not add to inefficiency and delays by introducing further duplication and inconsistency. 

“Industry looks forward to working collaboratively with the WA Government and the community to address these issues and realise the benefits for Western Australians for generations to come.”

The post WA’s net zero ambitions will not be met without urgent action by the WA Government appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

What most won’t ever see is the hundreds of hours that go into making each competition and the scenarios faced by participants into a reality – and the countless hours teams put in preparing to compete. 

“The CME Mine Rescue Committee runs year-round. As soon as we finish one competition, we roll straight into organising the next one,” Daniel Goss explains. 

“We might spend 50 to 100 hours designing the event, completing risk assessments or finding adjudicators – people who are experienced in mines rescue who can assist in scoring and facilitating. 

“As we work towards an event, it’s monthly meetings to start with which become weekly; but in between those meetings the competition event managers are always working on the execution of the event 

“There are eight scenarios in a competition, so when you multiply that by each team, there are thousands upon thousands of hours and millions of dollars of people’s time in-kind and also put in by the host mine to have these competitions up and running.” 

Goss is particularly well-placed to assess what goes into a mine rescue competition, both from the perspective of a competitor and as an organiser. 

A Superintendent at Gold Fields Australia’s St Ives Gold Mine south of Kambalda, Goss originally got into emergency response work and competitions when he started out in mining at BHP Billiton in Leinster in 2007. 

After participating in competitions in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013, a move to a full-time role in emergency services with Gold Fields coincided with a shift into the organisational side of rescue competitions. 

Earlier this year he oversaw the team skills event at the Goldfields Surface Mine Rescue Competition and in November he did the same at the Underground Mine Rescue Competition being hosted by Evolution Mining. 

Disciplines put to the test during competitions include firefighting, hazchem response, first aid, team skills, vehicle extrication, rope rescue, incident management, confined space rescue and theory. 

“There is no way we could deliver that level of training on site,” Goss said. 

“We use the competitions to benchmark and make sure that if there was an emergency on site that teams can effect a rescue if required. 

“We don’t have the resources to set up scenarios on site like these [competition] ones, which are so realistic and have so many moving parts, like casualties with wounds to treat. 

“There’s also the pressure that gets applied during competition. We’ve got no way to test that on site in the same manner, so competitions are invaluable for that.” 

Goss has seen plenty of changes in his nearly 15 years involved in rescue competitions. 

In terms of team demographics, the gender make-up has shifted in a reflection of the growing participation of women in mining. According to Goss, most teams now include female members. 

The incorporation of more technology, including virtual reality, could be another development that is on the horizon. 

From his own perspective, Goss is relishing his ongoing role in the organisation of competitions. 

“Moving from being a team member to an event manager and adjudicator has probably been one of the most rewarding things for me,” he said. 

“Seeing how different teams attack the same scenario differently and what their thought processes are. 

“You probably learn more as an event manager than as a team member because you see those same scenarios executed in very different ways. 

“We also get to bounce off people who have been doing this for 30 or 40 years and voluntarily give up their time to support people like myself who are trying to manage events. 

“It’s an amazing group of people.” 

The post ‘Thousands of hours’: what goes into making a mine rescue competition happen appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

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Only found in the south-west of Western Australia, the Carnaby’s and Baudin’s Black-Cockatoos are currently listed as endangered while the Forest Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo is listed as vulnerable.

Alcoa is partnering with Birdlife on the Alcoa Community Black-Cockatoo Recovery Project. The two groups are working with landowners and the broader community to raise awareness about the birds and their needs, restore critical habitat, and conduct citizen science.

Extensive studies are conducted to identify important Black-Cockatoo habitat as part of determining where bauxite mining should and should not occur across Alcoa’s lease in the Darling Range. The company has worked with government and community to further protect important areas.

Alcoa funds and assists with important research to better understand these enigmatic birds, the challenges they face, and what can be done to ensure they continue to grace our skies.

The post Stepping up to help WA’s endangered cockatoos appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

Not just because the sisters are directors and owners of Goldfields-based and Aboriginal-run Kai Rho Contracting, which more than nine years after it launched, continues to grow.

But also because Kai Rho reinforces a family link with mining that now spans four generations.

“From a very early stage, how we’ve survived in Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields is through mining,” Leslie explained.

“Our great grandfather used mining to survive and our grandfather built on that. Then our mother started Bundarra Contracting and was also part of BYAC Contracting, which was established in the early 1990s.

“These were family businesses that offered services to the mining industry, specifically aimed at getting Aboriginal people into mining work by providing skills that would enable them to thrive in the industry.

“At an early age I can remember being very familiar with mining, going out and pegging blocks and doing a bit of exploration on tenements with my grandfather and his brother.”

Kai Rho Contracting started out in December 2013 with one 15,000-litre water cart as a “dry hire” operation – meaning anyone hiring the equipment had to supply their own operator.

Over the past nine-plus years, Kai Rho has continued to achieve key milestones that help develop and expand the company’s capabilities, which include a sizeable fleet of servicing machinery plus a range of civil construction plant and equipment.  The group provides a variety of mining and civil work services – such as road construction and maintenance, clearing, waste management, and rehabilitation – and has a reliable resource of skilled operators on its books, many of them Aboriginal.

“We have a carefully developed set of HR processes that make Kai Rho unique in the industry,” Leslie said.

“It is built on the fundamental understanding and respect for the set of skills each of our operators have and can bring to the mining industry.”

Kai Rho staff have more than 40 years’ experience in the mining and civil industries and include an operations manager and a project manager overseeing day-to-day running of the work schedule.

Current work includes a flagship contract at AngloGold Ashanti’s Tropicana gold mine and various civil works projects.

“We are a preferred supplier for DM Roads, who are responsible for maintenance for Main Roads in the Goldfields,” Leslie said.

“And we have also worked with the Wongutha Way Alliance on the road sealing of 40km of the Outback Way connecting Laverton to Queensland, via Alice Springs.” 

The sisters are continually making plans to grow the company’s capabilities.  A significant recent achievement has been the ISO Accreditation awarded to Kai Rho for its integrated management systems in environment, occupational health and safety, and quality assurance.

For Leslie, who began her professional career as a lawyer, that means Kai Rho is ensuring its services continually meet quality outcomes and industry standards for all clients.

Stubbs – who has a background in finance and human resources – is dedicated to the company’s conscious decision to plan its growth over time.

“It’s really rewarding – having the autonomy to plan your day and run your business the way you want it.  That’s one reward, then having the ability to directly contribute to the local economy and the development and placement of skilled mining staff is an even greater reward,” Stubbs said.

“We love running the business and think anyone who is passionate about what they want to do should just go for it.”

Leslie and Stubbs are now passing on learnings from Kai Rho to other Aboriginal business owners via the Goldfields Aboriginal Business Chamber, which launched in September 2020 after a year of development with key stakeholders and community leaders.

The Chamber now has more than 20 members and celebrated twin milestones early in 2022, when it opened an office in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and appointed an executive manager with financial support from leading WA mining services company Mineral Resources.

The GABC aims to increase the visibility of local Aboriginal businesses to major industries in the region and Leslie, who serves as its chair, said she wanted to see others achieve in the mining industry as Kai Rho has.

She said it was vital Aboriginal people were able to find traction in the mining and resources sector, whether it be through running their own businesses, working with a company like Kai Rho or being employed directly at an operation.

According to the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA’s 2019 Diversity Report, Aboriginal participation in mining and resources was 4.7 per cent – above the all-industry WA average of 1.9 per cent but also with much room for growth.

“If we’re able to create opportunities for Aboriginal people in this market that will have a ripple effect,” Leslie said.

“It will mean we are able to provide avenues for them to contribute their skills to the industry and following a good day’s work they can go home feeling confident and valued, which leads to stronger healthier families in our community.

“All anyone wants to do as a person is look after their family and their home – that’s what you live and work for, that home environment, your family, and your children, and you want a future for them. It’s exactly the same for Indigenous people.

“It seems that we have survived the mining’s impact in our region, we have learned to make a living from it, we have proven skills and experience, and we will continue to build on opportunities for our community – a community we know, live in and care for.”

The post Sisters aren’t just doing it for themselves appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

Taken from his family at age 10 and forced to be a child soldier, Lako endured a decade of conflict in his home country of Sudan.

And when he did eventually escape that ordeal, he spent four years in a refugee camp before he was able to make his way to Australia.

“Imagine as a parent being asked to give one of your children away – that’s what happened to my parents,” Lako explains.

“They were asked to give one of their boys away [to the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army]. My father gave me away to protect my older brother, because he thought if they were to choose, they would probably take the older boy because he wouldn’t have to go through a lot of training and could go into the army straight away.

“But then that made me feel as if I had been disowned by my own parents. It was a very traumatic event.

“In the rebels, we didn’t have a lot of anything, and food was very, very minimal. We didn’t even know what breakfast was.

“We ate maybe every second day and most of the time we ate leaves and roots of plants. We didn’t have any sleeping materials and we used to use hessian bags to sleep on.

“How you went to bed and how you woke up was determined by the army. You might go to bed at 9pm and then around 3am they would storm in and start bashing people to wake them up.

“I knew people who literally died because they didn’t have blankets to shelter from the cold weather. And that went on for 10 years until I was able to escape to Kenya.”

Life as a refugee was more comfortable – but often only marginally.

“When you arrive at the border [of South Sudan and Kenya] you are classified as an asylum seeker. And once your refugee status is established, you get taken to a refugee camp,” Lako said.

“I ended up at Kakuma, quite a large refugee camp that had been established in 1992.

“Everything is really controlled. We used to get about 3kg of maize or flour, a spoon of salt and then maybe 300ml of oil.  That was your ration for 14 days.

“And that was the moment I came to know about Australia. The wheat flour that we have here in Australia reached those refugee camps.”

‘What am I supposed to do with Vegemite?’

Lako may have escaped the rebel army, but refugee camps are frequently unpredictable, dangerous, and insecure environments.

With the assistance of the United Nations, he was eventually identified for resettlement in Australia and arrived here via Dubai in 2004.

“Growing up, after all this torture that I went through, I only had two dreams – one was to have a roof on my head so that whenever it rains it doesn’t leak on me, the other was to have a telephone,” he recalled.

“It became clear when I woke up in Australia that this was possible, because I looked up at the ceiling and couldn’t see any water damage.

“Mark Twain said the two most important moments in a person’s life were the day they were born and then the day they figured out why.

“The second part of that definitely became possible because of Australia and the network [of people] I’ve managed to have here.”

Even though Australia represented a welcome change from the life he’d lived for the previous 14 years in Africa, those early days weren’t without challenges.

“I had a very dramatic morning [the day after arriving in Australia],” Lako laughed.

“First of all, I had Vegemite in the [welcome] basket that was given to me and I could not understand that whatsoever. I thought it must have been a mistake as I’d been told that everything in the basket was edible.

“Then that same day I was also attacked by magpies.

“Catching the bus was an issue, even getting into a building with automatic doors was a challenge…I got frightened every time I walked into a building and the doors split in the middle.

“Those kinds of things caused me a bit of trauma but in an exciting way.”

Finding his feet in mining

Lako first gravitated towards working in mining for the same reason that many people do: the financial rewards could help him more quickly achieve important life goals.

Foremost among them was helping now-wife Lucia – the couple have gone on to have four children – to also emigrate to Australia.

Lako started out with a TAFE certificate in mining exploration and then followed that with a course in logistics. His first job was as a field assistant at Barick Gold’s Plutonic mine in the Murchison but he eventually found his way into the health and safety side of mining.

Currently, Lako is completing Bachelor’s degrees in Occupational Health and Safety, and Public Health Education and Promotion at Curtin University.

“I started to realise there was more to mining than just cutting core or sampling and then sending the samples to the lab,” he said.

“People urged me to get into safety because I had a good level of tolerance and got along with people quite well. I’m also very slow to anger and people can’t read my emotions, so that’s probably a good thing as well.

“Since I started working in the safety area, I’ve begun to realise that you can change people’s lives. You are coaching people and talking about life issues, such as mental health.

“In 2019 more than 3000 people [across Australia] took their own life and that’s just scary. We also know that for each person that takes their life, 135 people are impacted by that.

“I really do my best to get people to appreciate the reason why they are working. The money is one aspect but there is more to it.”

These days Lako works as a safety advisor for Gold Fields at the company’s Gruyere joint venture in the north-eastern Goldfields.

“Every single person within the business is empowered to be part of the safety journey,” Lako said.

An opportunity for everyone?

While keen to stress that he speaks from his own viewpoint and not that of his employer, Lako is hopeful there can be more opportunities for other refugees to follow in his footsteps and find a niche in the WA mining and resource sector.

Two current barriers he sees are that refugees usually arrive without the same networks of contacts that longer-term Australian residents have, and that language challenges can often put them on the back foot to start with.

“I know people who have studied here and have master’s in environmental studies but are working as cleaners or in chicken factories,” he explained.

He also believes there is a compelling case for refugees to be settled in regional towns where they might better adapt to the environment and more easily find their way into local industries that have been challenged by skills shortages.

Lako is an advocate for the Goldfields Migrant Employment Program, a State Government-funded initiative administered by the Goldfields Community Legal Centre, which aims to attract Perth-based migrants to WA mining heartland and connect them with job opportunities.

“People that live in Kalgoorlie, they don’t think of going anywhere else,” Lako said.

“Imagine if you could introduce people [to that] early on. If people come from a refugee camp and you bring them into the city [Perth], that’s probably not going to work very well.

“I think we should market these towns, as an industry working closely with government, to see if they can take refugees when they first arrive in Australia.

“I know there would be some concerns about services that are available but a town like Kalgoorlie it should be all right.

“I remember talking to one of my colleagues that I know who has migrated from Africa and she was saying the only time she feels peaceful is when she sees a lake and massive trees [around it]. That environment is something we can find in the countryside.”

Lako, who is active in the Rotary Club of Perth, also wonders whether mining can potentially offer hope for Australians who are doing it tough.

“I can remember meeting a young man in the city, who was homeless at 36 and a qualified accountant,” Lako said.

“I sat with him, and he told me that he messed up in life but all he wanted to do from this point was to get up again and contribute to the rebuilding of the nation.

“I wonder if there’s something the industry could possibly do to support these people, who are really wanting to improve their lives.

“We have nearly 10,000 people homeless in Western Australia and that’s only the ones that are known.”

What about Africa?

While Lako has established a new life and career on this side of the Indian Ocean, he still maintains a strong connection with his homeland.

While his mother passed away in 2018, his father, brother and two sisters remain in South Sudan, and he has returned to visit them. Sadly, another sister died in 2010.

“The reason she died was because we didn’t have any maternity ward in the town,” he said.

“One day I would want to build a maternity ward there so that women would not die simply because there are no maternity wards. Those things do affect me dearly.”

Because of his own experiences and the opportunities, he has been able to grasp, Lako is very much an advocate for what Australia and its highly developed industries can offer.

But he also knows that skilled migration can be a double-edged sword. For each skilled person that chooses to move to Australia, there is one less in their country of origin.

Lako hopes that Australian mining companies might consider investing in skills and training development programs in Africa, not just to prepare workers who might one day want to come here but to bolster local workforces in the long term. 

“If we’re taking skilled people from South Sudan, which is still developing, you can see how that country might never improve,” he said.

“If we’re taking the engineers and the doctors how is that country supposed to develop?

“If you look at what Zimbabwe did in the 1980s, before independence…if you go into a workshop today and see an African person working as a fitter, and you guess that person is from Zimbabwe – there’s a 99 per cent chance you are right.

“The systems they had there and the apprenticeships they offered created a lot of opportunities. Even today it’s still successful.

“Some people have now left Zimbabwe because of the economic issues [over the past 20 years] but initially there wasn’t much exportation of skills out of the country.”

Philip Lako, published author

Lako first began writing the extraordinary story of his life in 2009 but it was a challenging process and he put it on the backburner until a few years ago.

Even when he started again, it brought back trauma from his childhood that he wasn’t sure he was ready to relive.

“A few times I broke down and cried because of the fact everything was coming back and it was quite emotional,” he said.

“At the same time, it was healing as well. One of the reasons why I wrote the book is because I believe there a lot of migrants who have gone through what I went through and that sharing that story is going to enlighten some mainstream community members to appreciate the importance of sharing stories.

“The best way, as a manager or someone running an organisation, that you can get the best out of your people is by getting to know their personal stories. I think that’s quite powerful.”

Lako’s autobiography, The 10-year-old Man: Unwavering Resilience to Self-Restoration is now available to buy on Amazon.

In keeping with his life story, getting the book to print was no easy task. Had it not been for meeting a fellow author through Rotary in 2018, he would likely never have linked up with UK-based Shelagh Aitken, who became the book’s editor.

Finding a publisher likewise proved a challenge, with Canada-based Tellwell eventually coming on board. Lako is also grateful for a connection to Perth’s Scotts Print, which enabled him to print several copies locally.

Ten per cent of proceeds from book sales will be donated to Rotary International to support humanitarian programs.

The difference Australia has made

For Lako, the opportunities available to him in Australia have been life changing.

He’s found a career he didn’t know was possible and been able to tell his story in a way that he hopes can influence others. He’s also met people who he would never otherwise have had the chance to encounter.

“I have a friend in Albany, who is Caucasian and was born in Australia,” Lako said.

“But I’ve gotten to the point where I see this person as a brother to me, like a real blood-brother. He’s family.

“Mining has given me the opportunity to meet some incredible people. My book was only possible because of the fact I work in mining and had people encourage me and say, ‘you really need to write this book, your life is really important’.”

Of course, there’s a fairly substantial fork in the road from much earlier in life that Lako also has to ponder.

What if he’d never escaped his stint in the rebel army?

The best-case scenario, he feels, is that he might have survived until the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that led South Sudan towards its 2011 independence and gone back to village life – perhaps working in a cattle camp, farming, or fishing.

But the alternative is far more frightening.

“I think I would possibly have died,” Lako reflects.

“I escaped from an active military training camp. My cousin didn’t survive.

“There was a very high chance, that would have happened to me [had I not escaped].”

This story was originally published on resourc.ly

The post How a child soldier found a new mining life in Australia appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

The site is Gold Fields’ Agnew mine. Gold has been mined in the area for more than 125 years and it remains a highly productive operation, producing more than 250,000 ounces of gold each year. 

But it’s what is above ground that has put Agnew on the global stage over the past two years – specifically the five 110-metre wind turbines that are delivering 18MW of power to the site. 

The giant turbines are part of Australia’s largest hybrid renewable energy microgrid, one that features a 10,170-panel solar farm generating 4MW, a 13MW/4MWh battery system and an off-grid 21MW gas/diesel engine power plant. 

The system has been estimated to result in approximately 40,000 tonnes per annum of avoided carbon dioxide equivalents, which would correlate to taking 12,700 cars off the road each year. 

The microgrid was originally forecast to provide more than 50 per cent of the power requirements for Agnew, which has about 650 staff. But as Gold Fields Executive Vice President Australasia Stuart Mathews explained, it’s been even better than advertised. 

“The microgrid has supplied as much as 70 to 80 per cent [of power needs] in optimal conditions – the winds just right and the solar working really efficiently,” Mathews said. 

“For a very short period of time, maybe an hour or so, we well and truly did touch 95 per cent and almost got to 100 per cent. 

“And we do have plans for the future which will deliver 90-plus per cent via renewables consistently.”

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While the Agnew microgrid is now rightly celebrated in both Australia and internationally – including winning the Golden Gecko award for environmental excellence at the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety’s Resources Sector Awards – it wasn’t always a certainty to get the go-ahead, let alone become the success story that it is. 

In 2018, the Gold Fields board faced a choice between renewing a traditional power agreement or going down the renewables route. 

There was no Australian precedent for such a bold investment in wind power on a mine site but the decision to push ahead with the microgrid has paid off on a number of fronts. 

“I asked our executive and the board to take some courage without the reserve life [of the mine] necessarily being there but with good vision on exploration success,” Mathews recalled. 

“They went for it and said ‘let’s do it’.  

“What I really underestimated was what [the renewables project] did for the morale and motivation of our workforce at Agnew. 

“People, especially younger people, want to work for a company that believes in sustainability – not just talking about it but putting actions in place. 

“They are absolutely proud of it [the microgrid] and people want to work there, including people putting their hands up to transfer from other sites to go to Agnew.” 

The stunning results at Agnew paved the way for Gold Fields to assess which of its other Western Australian operations might benefit from the implementation of renewable energy. A solar farm was installed at the company’s Granny Smith operation in the Eastern Goldfields in late 2020 and wind options are being investigated to meet likely rising power demand as that mine goes deeper. 

Solar will soon become a major part of the energy mix at the Gruyere mine (a joint venture with Gold Road), while the St Ives Mine out of Kambalda – which has been in operation since the mid-1980s – is currently the subject of a feasibility study to support a transition to predominantly renewable energy sources. 

While Agnew has been the early benchmark for the use of wind power on WA mine sites, it’s expected other companies will follow suit. 

In April 2022, BHP announced that it would use power generated by the Flat Rocks Wind Farm outside of Kojonup for three of its major nickel processing operations. The farm, on which construction was set to start in mid-2022, will feature the tallest wind turbines in the State (measuring 200m in height) and it is expected to produce first power by October 2023. 

In combination with a power purchase agreement from the Merredin Solar Farm, renewable energy is projected to meet all power requirements for BHP’s Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter, the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator and the Kwinana Nickel Refinery. 

The two renewable power initiatives have been estimated to reduce BHP Nickel West’s Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 60 per cent against 2020 baseline levels. 

“We are taking great strides in making our operations more sustainable and strengthening BHP’s position as a nickel supplier of choice to global customers,” BHP Nickel West Asset President Jessica Farrell said.  

“We are delighted to partner with Enel Green Power as the first customer of the Flat Rocks Wind Farm, creating jobs and supporting the Kojonup community with the introduction of a renewable energy industry to the area.” 

Right around WA, there are very visible examples of how the mining and resources sector is innovating to reduce emissions. 

Rio Tinto hopes its high-profile Gudai-Darri mine – which opened in June 2022 and has been billed as the most technologically advanced in the Pilbara – will one day be home to a world-first operational deployment of zero-emission autonomous haul trucks.  

But from August, around a third of the mine’s average electricity demand is being supplied by a 34MW photovoltaic solar farm that is expected to be the equivalent of taking 28,000 cars off the road. The solar farm is Rio Tinto’s first and is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90,000 tonnes a year, the same amount produced by 6000 Australian homes. 

Elsewhere in the Pilbara, a solar gas hybrid collaboration between Fortescue Metals Group and Alinta Energy is meeting the energy needs of the iron ore miner’s Chichester Hub, comprising the Cloudbreak and Christmas Creek sites. 

The solar farm component of the project is providing up to 100 per cent of the electricity for daytime operations at the hub, displacing around 100 millions of diesel every year and helping FMG take strides towards its goal of being carbon neutral by 2030. Fortescue is also developing an electric haul truck through its work with Williams Advanced Engineering, the company it acquired in March 2022. 

Smaller-scale investments in renewables are also producing important results at operations across WA. 

Perth-based Nomadic Energy specialises in the supply, installation and operation of renewable energy systems on mine sites – with a twist. The company’s core offering is a redeployable solar farm that can be seamlessly packed up and moved, whether that’s a shift to another spot on site, a switch to another operation run by the same company or a departure for an entirely new entity and location. 

Meanwhile, WA company EcoQuip and its inventive founder Dave Sharp have produced a mobile solar lighting tower that can be easily deployed by a single person and even operated remotely via mobile phone if necessary. 

A fleet of 100 of the towers operating 12 hours a day for a full year is estimated to reduce diesel consumption by one million litres and abate around 2500 tonnes of CO2 emissions. 

Whatever mine site you visit around WA, chances are you’ll see evidence of industry’s move towards a lower emissions future – whether it be wind turbines, solar farms, electric vehicles or diesel-free lighting options.  

And there will be much more to come. 

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA and its member companies – which encompass 95 per cent of all mineral and energy production in WA – have a long-term commitment to the Paris Agreement and its goal to reach net zero as soon as possible and no later than 2050. 

To find out more about how the WA mining and resources sector is innovating now and for the future, visit safersmartercleaner.com.au   

The post How renewable energy is changing the face of mining appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

“I would see diesel lighting towers still running during the middle of the day, spitting exhaust fumes out,” he recalls. 

“They were obviously really inefficient, and I just thought ‘there’s got to be a better way to illuminate sites in these remote locations’. 

“In the North West of WA, for example, the sun shines more often than not providing an almost unlimited energy supply. So why aren’t we using it?” 

The result of Sharp’s self-questioning is a piece of technology named the MSLT4, which denotes the fourth generation of mobile solar lighting towers produced by his Perth-based company EcoQuip. 

Its basic premise is simple enough that it might well lead to another question that accompanies many innovative ideas: how is it that nobody else has come up with this first? 

The reality is that there are other solar-powered lighting towers on the market. But it seems unlikely there is one that ticks quite as many performance boxes as the MSLT4. 

It can be easily deployed by a single person, thanks to its robust and light weight design, the patent pending spring assist on its solar panel deployment system, and a custom-designed mast that can reach up to eight metres in height. 

It can hold more than 20kilowatt hours of battery capacity if required, has a patent pending control system that can be seamlessly swapped in and out without any need for special tools (or skills), and has LED lights which switch on and off automatically at sunset and sunrise. 

There is no need for maintenance – it has no hydraulics, no solenoids and effectively no moving parts  – and it can be operated and monitored remotely via mobile phone or PC, meaning that once deployed it’s a fully autonomous illumination system. 

Oh, and did we mention that a fleet of 100 MSLT4s operating 12 hours a day for a full year is estimated to reduce fuel consumption by 1 million litres, abate ~2500 tonnes of CO2 emissions and reduces total costs by approximately 50 per cent when compared to diesel fuelled alternatives? 

For mining and resources operations that operate day and night and need to be illuminated accordingly, that’s a strong selling point. 

“Another obvious advantage is the scope one emission reduction performance, given the carbon intensity of the unit is zero,” says Adam Boyd, CEO and Managing Director of Volt Power, which bought into EcoQuip in 2018 and now holds a 70 per cent stake. 

“But the most compelling commercial aspect is that there is no operating expense and no maintenance and no requirement for skilled labour intervention. Therefore, the cost profile of a solar light tower from EcoQuip, is half that of a diesel fuelled solution. 

“There’s no waste oil. There’s no refueling. There’s no fuel required. There’s no routine component replacement. The design solution has distilled the power system to three key components, with each able to be replaced within 15 minutes by unskilled labour capability. 

“It’s commercially compelling. It’s not just another expensive piece of carbon-reducing renewable technology – it’s much cheaper than using a diesel alternative.” 

One of the earliest mining and resources sector users of EcoQuip technology was Chevron, which used first generation trailers back in 2014, then in July 2021 announced that 25 MSLT4s would be deployed on Barrow Island for a five-year period as part of its Gorgon natural gas project, with potentially more deployments across other  operating assets. 

Other mining operators who use the lighting towers include BHP and Thiess, and there are also opportunities emerging in the US where the salient MSLT4 components are fabricated. 

It’s fair to say the MSLT4 has been a labour of love for Sharp. EcoQuip started out life based at his home and he’s had a hand in the design and/or construction of every single element of the towers. 

“I had an idea that I could build a solar/battery-powered trailer that could compete directly with the performance of a diesel unit, and that once complete we should take it out to site and give it a trial,” Sharp explained. 

“So I went about building a trailer in my driveway and, using the knowledge that I had from my solar, mining and mechanical background, putting it together as best I could with what was commercially available. 

“Firstly I was using parts off the shelf, manipulating, rewiring and changing them to push the performance to the limit to get the outcome we needed.  

“Once proven I put it on a truck and took it up north and tried to get it in front of somebody. 

“We’ve still got the very first trailer and also the first prototype of the MSLT4. They might look similar [to the current model] but pretty much every part is different. 

“To give an example, we changed the panel format on a version of the Gen 4 trailers and had to make 130 parts changes just to make that panel fit. 

“Our power management and telemetry controller is also a bespoke design that we developed in partnership with some US aerospace and electronics contractors. It helps deliver a 40 per cent efficiency gain over other solar battery powered illumination solutions. 

“But every single part of this trailer has been designed to deliver a robust, reliable solution.” 

The MSLT4 has also been designed for versatility. While its primary use so far has been for lighting purposes, the masthead can also be reconfigured to accept communications devices and technologies, including wifi/internet network re-inforcement. 

Sharp says the future of renewable energy in mining – and across wider industry and society in general – is virtually limitless. 

“There’s so many things that need to be powered by a reliable, low cost power system,” he said. 

“Technologies are also getting more efficient. And when they get more efficient, they aren’t as power hungry, so the MSLT4 can then power them a lot easier with greater reliability and over long-timeframes. 

“This opens up so many opportunities, whether it be remotely monitoring turtles on a beach somewhere, or remotely monitoring people accessing a military facility. 

“As we achieve increases in efficiency and density of energy storage, we can fit more energy inside a smaller space, so I see potential everywhere I look.” 

The post The WA invention providing a diesel-free option for mine site lighting appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

The new Flat Rocks Wind Farm, currently construction outside Kojonup, will comprise 18 turbines producing 315GWh per year. 

First power is expected in October 2023 and in combination with a recently announced power purchase agreement with the Merredin Solar Farm, renewable energy is projected to meet the power requirements for BHP’s Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter, the Kambalda Nickel Concentrator and the Kwinana Nickel Refinery. 

It’s also estimated the two renewable power initiatives will reduce BHP Nickel West’s Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 60 per cent against 2020 baseline levels. 

“We are taking great strides in making our operations more sustainable and strengthening BHP’s position as a nickel supplier of choice to global customers,” BHP Nickel West Asset President Jessica Farrell said. 

“We are delighted to partner with Enel Green Power as the first customer of the Flat Rocks Wind Farm, creating jobs and supporting the Kojonup community with the introduction of a renewable energy industry to the area.” 

As a commodity nickel has been enjoying a strong couple of years, thanks to its vital role in the production of lithium-ion batteries.

Some 85 per cent of BHP Nickel West’s nickel is sold to battery material suppliers and in 2021 the company entered into a nickel supply agreement with electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. 

The wind farm is being constructed by Italian-owned Enel Green Power and there is an element of symmetry in the arrangement given Kojonup’s historically strong Italian population. 

The development highlights the ever-growing influence of renewable energy sources on the WA mining and resources sector. 

In addition to a wide range of solar projects – including the Gruyere gold mine, Granny Smith in the northern Goldfields and even redeployable installations – wind has an increasingly important role to play. 

Gold Fields’ Agnew gold mine 375km north of Kalgoorlie has generated more than 90 per cent of its power needs at times through Australia’s largest hybrid renewable microgrid, one which features an 18MW wind farm comprising five 110-metre turbines. 

The innovation was in 2021 recognised with the Golden Gecko award for environmental excellence, awarded by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. 

Gold Fields’ Executive Vice President Australasia Stuart Mathews said the microgrid was a point of considerable pride for workers. 

“People, especially younger people, want to work for a company that believes in sustainability – not just talking about it but putting actions in place,” Mathews said. 

“What I really underestimated was what [the renewables project] did for the morale and motivation of our workforce at Agnew. 

“They are absolutely proud of it and people want to work there, including people putting their hands up to transfer from other sites to go to Agnew.” 

The post Giant wind turbines to power major WA nickel processing operations appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.

“It’s funny, but if you and I had a beer at the pub five years ago, and we were talking about our superannuation funds, I think we would only have been comparing their rate of return,” Gangemi explained. 

“Mine might have been making 10 per cent and yours might have been making 12 per cent. So, we would have thought that yours was better. 

“Whereas now it might be that mine is making 10 per cent but it is green, while yours is still making 12 per cent. 

“The pub test now is that mine is actually better because it’s green and doing the right thing by the environment. 

“The train has now left that [super funds] can’t just talk about being ‘greener’. Now they need to be showing that there is a plan in place for where their money is invested.”

Gangemi is in quite a unique position to appreciate the transition to a cleaner Australian mining and resources sector. 

A little more than six years ago, he was working as a geophysicist, the career he originally qualified for by completing his honours in Geophysics and Seismology at Curtin University. 

But for the past five-plus years he has been employed in energy efficiency consulting to mining operations, including close to three years as founder and Managing Director of Super Smart Energy. 

“You could hear the rumblings about renewables, particularly solar power – you had friends and family putting it on their roofs at home for the past 10 years,” Gangemi recounted. 

“Then I started to do a bit more research and heard that Norway’s big sovereign fund was putting pressure on mining companies to get out of coal. That was in 2013-2014. 

“And I thought ‘well if these guys made all their money from oil and gas and they are doing that, there’s a shift about to happen.’ 

“I knew there were going to be some hard yards at first because it [decarbonisation] was a new space, but once things did turn – which is where we’re at now – I wanted to be there to help guide and educate the industry. 

“I went and did an MBA at the University of Western Australia and funnily enough my very first case study was on the Norwegian Sovereign Fund putting pressure on mining companies to get out of coal. 

“At that point I sort of thought that I was going down the right direction.” 

From a day-to-day perspective, Super Smart Energy – which has now grown to a team of five – provides practical advice to mining operators and service companies on how they can decarbonise their existing assets and create a roadmap to net zero emissions. 

That could be as “simple” as strategy planning, or a full decarbonisation plan involving detailed assessments of generators, “low hanging fruit” relating to equipment used, advice on first steps into renewable energy solutions (such as powering water bores or parts of mine camps), or even platforms that companies can use to track how well they are doing over a number of years. 

Gangemi notes the increasing number of major projects incorporating large-scale wind and solar power as evidence of where the sector is headed. 

Gold Fields’ Agnew mine in WA’s Eastern Goldfields has Australia’s biggest hybrid renewable energy microgrid, while the likes of Rio Tinto, BHP Nickel West and FMG have also announced significant investments in renewables. 

“I do think whatever that large storage battery turns out to be, will be a game-changer,” Gangemi said. 

“Is it hydrogen? Is it a vanadium-radox battery? Is it zinc-air hybrid flow battery? I heard about a graphene-aluminum ion battery the other day that can recharge 60 times faster than a lithium battery. 

“The other thing is that we are moving into a data space, where software from a story or communications point of view, internally and externally, will play a big part. 

“What I mean by that is that [a mining company] might have a log-in for shareholders, or a publicly available display, which shows their decarbonisation journey. 

“It might say ‘this is our decarbonisation plan, we’ve committed to net zero by 2050, and at the moment we’ve reduced our emissions by four or five per cent’ and it will allow investors to track their initiatives as they develop. 

“At the moment we are more at a point of consultants looking at spreadsheets, extracting the data, and putting it into something that’s manageable for management to use, like a report. 

“I can see that becoming more automated, and your C-suite executives and employees and maybe shareholders being able to log in and see if the company has hit its targets or not” 

Gangemi says the process of creating cleaner mining ecosystems involves adjusting mindsets, from the tops of companies down to workers on the ground. 

“I’ve been having a conversation with a company that is using solar to create potable water,” he said. 

“They use the sun to run a pump, but they are actually pulling water out of the air. 

“With newer mine sites that are going up, that could be very cost effective. And if you’re talking ‘green and clean’ that can also offset the amount of plastic waste that you are going to have on a mine site. 

“The biggest challenge that mining and oil and gas is facing now is ‘how do we implement change? From job functions and outcomes to how do we get people to just go to the tap and fill up a reusable water bottle instead of taking 10 bottles to bed with them at night?’ 

“Changing mentalities is the hardest part and internal stakeholders have to manage that. But they are getting there.” 

The post How Adam built a business around mining’s big shift appeared first on The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia.