Private equity firm Resource Capital Funds (RCF) has announced the selling of Ausenco, a multinational engineering company, to three key US investment firms.
Resource Capital Fund VI (RCF VI), RCF’s fund that owns Ausenco, first acquired the company in 2016 for $153.7 million.
According to RCF, Ausenco has focused on delivering copper for the energy transition and constructing four major copper concentrators while under RCF VI’s ownership.
“These include Carrapateena, representing one of the largest copper reserves in Australia, Constancia and Mina Justa in Peru and Mantoverde in Chile, still under construction, for a combined annual copper capacity of more than 400,000 tonnes,” the firm said.
“In addition to copper, Ausenco has grown capabilities in sustainability, lithium and operational performance. Ausenco now has more than 3000 employees, up almost 1600 employees since RCF privatised the business in 2016.”
The transaction is expected to close in late 2023, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Ausenco team, whose dedication and unwavering commitment have been the driving force behind its success during our ownership… This is a fantastic outcome for all parties involved, and we wish Ausenco continued success,” Resource Capital Funds managing partner James McClements said.
RCF head of private equity Martin Valdes said this transaction is a “natural step” that will mark “the next chapter in Ausenco’s journey”.
“The decision to sell Ausenco was made after careful consideration, with the belief that this transition will allow the company to further expand its reach and make an even greater impact in the growing engineering sector,” he said.
“Our relationship will continue as like-minded collaborators to deliver the necessary commodities to support the energy transition.”
Metso has announced an expansion of its process piloting capabilities in Finland to keep up with the needs of the battery industry.
This expansion has involved Metso modernising its pilot facility at the Metso Research Centre in Pori, Finland, with expanded capabilities for lithium hydroxide and other battery chemicals process testing.
Metso has also opened a battery materials precursor pilot plant as part of the expansion, which is now available for customer trials.
“Pilot run requests for battery minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt have increased significantly during the last three years,” Metso director for hydrometallurgical research and development Janne Karonen said.
“Currently, we are working on several battery black mass recycling and precursor projects and have several lithium and other battery chemicals project pilots on our laboratory schedule.”
Metso said the pilot facility expansion complements its front-running piloting capabilities for minerals processing and metals refining, as well as enables minerals and battery industry customers to have end-to-end testing and having its piloting services and technology and equipment deliveries come from one supplier.
The Finland expansion ties into Metso’s 20 year experience in developing sustainable hard rock lithium soda leaching technologies.
The engineering company announced earlier in the week the opening of new manufacturing facilities in Alwar, India.
Mineral exploration expenditure in Tasmania has hit a new record, with the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures showing $43.1 million was spent in the 2023 financial year.
The jump marks a 31 per cent boost in mineral exploration in the state, which Tasmanian minister for resources Felix Ellis said is the highest level on record.
“The mining and mineral processing sector is a key pillar of the economy and contributes more than $2.8 billion a year in exports and supports more than 5800 jobs,” he said.
“We know the world will need the key and critical minerals that Tasmania has to help power the global shift to renewable energy and to support defence manufacturing.”
Ellis pointed to programs like the Tasmanian Government’s exploration drilling grant initiative (EDGI) and geoscience initiative as examples of its commitment to growth in the industry.
“The EDGI grants provide co-funding for greenfield targets that may lead to the discovery of Tasmania’s next new mine,” he said.
“Since the program began, there have been eight rounds released, with funding provided facilitating more than 16,000 meters of drilling.
“It is pleasing to see that the greenfield exploration investment of $5.3 million is the highest in a decade.
“The $2 million geoscience initiative is providing new data to underpin and de-risk the next generation of mineral exploration.”
Resource production is ramping up in Tasmania with a recent feasibility study between the Tasmanian Government and the Rotterdam Port Authority marking the state as a potential green hydrogen powerhouse.
The state hopes to begin exporting green hydrogen by 2030, with the study confirming conditions in the island State for production, domestic use and export are world-class.
Renascor Resources’ Siviour graphite project is located on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
With graphite demand outstripping supply, the market is bracing for a 777,000-tonne per year deficit by 2030. But movement in the mining sector – both traditional and innovative – may be set to change this.
One of the key raw materials in the green energy transition is graphite, but while Australia is a key producer of other battery metals such as lithium, nickel and manganese, there are no active Australian graphite mining operations.
Graphite is used as an input for anodes – one of two electrodes that make up a lithium-ion battery, with cathodes – made up of metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt – the other electrode.
By 2030, demand for graphite is expected to hit four million tonnes (Mt) per year, roughly 75 per cent of which is for the lithium-ion battery market. Currently, the bulk majority of graphite comes from China.
The highest profile Australian-focused company in this sphere is Renascor Resources, which owns the Siviour battery anode material project in SA.
Siviour holds the second largest graphite reserve in the world, and the largest outside of Africa.
As recently as last week, the Renascor increased Siviour’s mineral resource by 25 per cent to an impressive 123.6Mt at 6.9 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC), for 8.5Mt of contained graphite.
The company predicts the mine, when operational, to produce up to 150,000 tonnes per year for a 40-year life of mine.
“As the demand for graphite grows, long-life, high quality sources of new supply like Siviour are becoming increasingly important to the developing lithium-ion battery supply chain,” Renascor managing director David Christensen said.
In July this year, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mitsubishi Checmical Corporation for the potential sale of its graphite products from Siviour to the Japanese giant.
Founded in 2018, ASX-listed International Graphite was built on the premise that the industry would need more downstream processing capacity outside of China.
The company is developing a mine-to-market business model, whereby raw materials would be mined from its Springdale project in WA and fed into a downstream processing plant in the emerging renewable energy hub of Collie.
International Graphite similarly announced a significant increase to its graphite deposit at Springdale, which is the second largest in Australia behind Siviour.
The deposit grew from 15.3Mt to 49.3Mt at 6.5 per cent TCG.
Despite the 27 per cent increase, International Graphite managing director Andrew Worland said the company had only scratched the surface at Springdale.
“So far, exploration has been limited to approximately 10 per cent of the Springdale tenement areas. More than 80 per cent of the aeromagnetic anomalies on a portion of our tenure has yet to be tested,” Worland said.
Outside of Australia, interesting developments have been made.
New Zealand-based battery material company CarbonSpace recently secured an $18 million investment from a number of partners to commercialise production of what it calls ‘biographite’.
Biographite is produced from forestry and timber industry by-products, meaning a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
“Biographite has a carbon negative footprint, saving up to 30 tonnes of CO2 emissions per tonne of material compared to synthetic or mined graphite,” the company said.
“This investment represents a strong statement of support for sustainable sourcing of battery materials for global decarbonisation. With these partnerships, CarbonScape is another step closer to bringing biographite to market on a commercial scale.”
Renascor Resources’ Siviour graphite project is located on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
With graphite demand outstripping supply, the market is bracing for a 777,000-tonne per year deficit by 2030. But movement in the mining sector – both traditional and innovative – may be set to change this.
One of the key raw materials in the green energy transition is graphite, but while Australia is a key producer of other battery metals such as lithium, nickel and manganese, there are no active Australian graphite mining operations.
Graphite is used as an input for anodes – one of two electrodes that make up a lithium-ion battery, with cathodes – made up of metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt – the other electrode.
By 2030, demand for graphite is expected to hit four million tonnes (Mt) per year, roughly 75 per cent of which is for the lithium-ion battery market. Currently, the bulk majority of graphite comes from China.
The highest profile Australian-focused company in this sphere is Renascor Resources, which owns the Siviour battery anode material project in SA.
Siviour holds the second largest graphite reserve in the world, and the largest outside of Africa.
As recently as last week, the Renascor increased Siviour’s mineral resource by 25 per cent to an impressive 123.6Mt at 6.9 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC), for 8.5Mt of contained graphite.
The company predicts the mine, when operational, to produce up to 150,000 tonnes per year for a 40-year life of mine.
“As the demand for graphite grows, long-life, high quality sources of new supply like Siviour are becoming increasingly important to the developing lithium-ion battery supply chain,” Renascor managing director David Christensen said.
In July this year, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mitsubishi Checmical Corporation for the potential sale of its graphite products from Siviour to the Japanese giant.
Founded in 2018, ASX-listed International Graphite was built on the premise that the industry would need more downstream processing capacity outside of China.
The company is developing a mine-to-market business model, whereby raw materials would be mined from its Springdale project in WA and fed into a downstream processing plant in the emerging renewable energy hub of Collie.
International Graphite similarly announced a significant increase to its graphite deposit at Springdale, which is the second largest in Australia behind Siviour.
The deposit grew from 15.3Mt to 49.3Mt at 6.5 per cent TCG.
Despite the 27 per cent increase, International Graphite managing director Andrew Worland said the company had only scratched the surface at Springdale.
“So far, exploration has been limited to approximately 10 per cent of the Springdale tenement areas. More than 80 per cent of the aeromagnetic anomalies on a portion of our tenure has yet to be tested,” Worland said.
Outside of Australia, interesting developments have been made.
New Zealand-based battery material company CarbonSpace recently secured an $18 million investment from a number of partners to commercialise production of what it calls ‘biographite’.
Biographite is produced from forestry and timber industry by-products, meaning a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
“Biographite has a carbon negative footprint, saving up to 30 tonnes of CO2 emissions per tonne of material compared to synthetic or mined graphite,” the company said.
“This investment represents a strong statement of support for sustainable sourcing of battery materials for global decarbonisation. With these partnerships, CarbonScape is another step closer to bringing biographite to market on a commercial scale.”
The 2023-24 NSW Budget has been released, reflecting the Government’s commitment to the mining and resources sector.
The Budget includes $5.2 million to establish Future Jobs and Investment Authorities. This will also assist coal-producing regions to develop new industries and economic opportunities as the state pushes for renewable energy.
Geological surveying has also been included in the Budget, with $27.5 million allocated to encourage critical mineral exploration in the state. It is hoped that the data will define areas of mineral or energy potential.
A total of $142.5 million has been allocated across the Natural Resources portfolio, including $113 million over four years for mine work health and safety. Legacy mine risk reduction has been allocated $48.5 million.
NSW introduced its new Critical Minerals Strategy earlier this month to provide the framework for the critical minerals and high-tech metals mining industry while providing certainty and direction for the growing industry.
The new document will include a sharper focus on domestic manufacturing, skills and training opportunities.
“I’m excited by the opportunities created by critical minerals in NSW. The new strategy will ensure the state is able to best realise the gains of the next mining boom,” NSW Minister for Natural Resources Courtney Houssos said.
“NSW is uniquely positioned to support global supply of critical minerals with our diverse mix of critical mineral and high-tech metal deposits and capacity to promote domestic processing and manufacturing.”
Yancoal Australia has announced that its chairman of the board Baocai Zhang has resigned.
The company cited Zhang’s hopes to devote more time to his other business engagements and positions he holds as the reason for stepping down from the role.
Zhang has worked at Yancoal since 2004. He first joined its board before the company joined the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in 2012. He previously served as co-vice chairman and chair of the executive committee from 2013 to 2018, and then began his position as chairman in 2018.
Yancoal said that during his tenure, Zhang’s vision, ability and determination helped transform the company, such as through its acquisition of Australian mining company Coal & Allied in 2017.
“The board thanks Baocai Zhang on the contributions he made serving as a director and chairman of the company. His passion, dedication, commitment, and capabilities were invaluable in driving Yancoal’s significant growth,” Yancoal said.
Zhang will also step down as a member of Yancoal’s nomination and remuneration committee and as chairman of the strategy and development committee.
Yancoal non-executive director Gang Ru has assumed the role as chairman, beginning on September 15.
He has nearly 30 years of experience in financial and capital management, corporate organisational management and investment. Though his roles with coal mining company Shandong Energy, Ru has worked closely with Yancoal since 2015.
“The appointment of Mr Ru as the chairman is one that will benefit Yancoal and its shareholders. He will undoubtedly provide the leadership and strategic initiatives required to drive the next stage of the company’s development,” Zhang said.
Yancoal is expected to announce details of the updated composition of its board committees at a later date following board approval.
The coal miner has also celebrated 13 production operators of its Premier Coal mine who are retiring.
Yancoal Australia has announced that its chairman of the board Baocai Zhang has resigned.
The company cited Zhang’s hopes to devote more time to his other business engagements and positions he holds as the reason for stepping down from the role.
Zhang has worked at Yancoal since 2004. He first joined its board before the company joined the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in 2012. He previously served as co-vice chairman and chair of the executive committee from 2013 to 2018, and then began his position as chairman in 2018.
Yancoal said that during his tenure, Zhang’s vision, ability and determination helped transform the company, such as through its acquisition of Australian mining company Coal & Allied in 2017.
“The board thanks Baocai Zhang on the contributions he made serving as a director and chairman of the company. His passion, dedication, commitment, and capabilities were invaluable in driving Yancoal’s significant growth,” Yancoal said.
Zhang will also step down as a member of Yancoal’s nomination and remuneration committee and as chairman of the strategy and development committee.
Yancoal non-executive director Gang Ru has assumed the role as chairman, beginning on September 15.
He has nearly 30 years of experience in financial and capital management, corporate organisational management and investment. Though his roles with coal mining company Shandong Energy, Ru has worked closely with Yancoal since 2015.
“The appointment of Mr Ru as the chairman is one that will benefit Yancoal and its shareholders. He will undoubtedly provide the leadership and strategic initiatives required to drive the next stage of the company’s development,” Zhang said.
Yancoal is expected to announce details of the updated composition of its board committees at a later date following board approval.
The coal miner has also celebrated 13 production operators of its Premier Coal mine who are retiring.
Time is running out to secure a spot at AusIMM’s Iron Ore Conference 2023, set to take place at the Perth Convention Centre from September 18–20.
Hosted by AusIMM and CSIRO, the Iron Ore Conference is a groundbreaking gathering of experts and professionals from around the world. This prestigious conference will delve into the core challenges facing the iron ore industry, offering invaluable insights and solutions.
Expect an outstanding program that explores the latest developments and addresses the challenges impacting the technical and management aspects of iron ore production. Over the course of three days, discussions will revolve around the genesis, geology, exploration, mining, and processing of iron ores and more. The conference will also emphasise the critical issue of reducing the carbon footprint in iron and steel mining, contributing to a sustainable and green future.
Keynote presenters, including Alan Bye, Christine Hass, Christiaan Heyning, Darren Matthews, Professor G.J. Nathan, Hon Bill Johnston MLA, Kerry Turnock, and Paul Zulli, are gearing up to share their expertise with conference delegates. Their presentations promise to be insightful and thought-provoking, offering fresh perspectives on the industry’s challenges and opportunities.
In addition to the knowledge-sharing sessions, the Iron Ore Conference 2023 offers ample networking opportunities where delegates can connect with like-minded professionals, expand their networks, and forge valuable partnerships.
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