Edna May gold mine sold

Evolution Mining posts Q4 report, gold down 14.4%

January 30, 2018News Ewen Hosie

Evolution Mining has posted its fourth quarter 2017 operational report, and overall gold output fell by 14.4 per cent, when compared with third quarter results, to 186,488 ounces (oz).

This was largely attributable to the company’s sale of its Edna May gold mine last October to Ramelius Resources; the mine had been owned by Evolution since 2011 and in operation by various companies since the 1980s.

Despite the slight dip in gold output for the quarter, Evolution stated that it was on track for gold production in the 2018 financial year to be above its 750,000–805,000oz guidance range.

In other good news, the company’s overall cash balance tripled, increasing by $113.4 million to $163.5 million; Evolution’s bank debts were reduced by 32 per cent and gearing reduced by 9.5 per cent, while also achieving a record-low sustaining cost of $784/oz.

The Ernest Henry mine in northwest Queensland, in which Evolution operates under an agreement with Glencore, saw record quarterly net cash flow of $55.1 million.

How manufacturers can respond to increasing costs

Australian manufacturers need to find alternative ways of doing business or risk being overrun by competitors with lower costs, according to Epicor.

Greg O’Loan, regional vice president, Epicor, said, “As the world has gotten smaller, Australian organisations face increased competition from international businesses. For manufacturers, rising energy costs and strong competition from overseas companies mean Australian companies need to continue to find efficiencies throughout the business. This must happen against the backdrop of Industry 4.0, which is a new way of manufacturing that leverages automation and data exchange through the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud technology.”

Industry 4.0 is characterised by a new reliance on interoperability through IoT, information transparency through augmented and virtual reality, improved insights through analytics and business intelligence, and automation that leads to decentralised decision-making, which delivers new levels of agility and flexibility that haven’t been possible in the past.

With traditional competitors mobilising into new areas, consolidation in the market, and external competitors entering the market, Australian manufacturers face significant challenges. Those that haven’t already upgraded to a so-called ‘smart factory’ as part of Industry 4.0 may find themselves disadvantaged compared to competitors that can leverage new technologies to dramatically increase efficiency, reduce costs, and bring new products to market faster and more successfully.

Greg O’Loan continues, “Businesses need to bring competitive products to market. They can then consider leveraging non-traditional ways to market to protect their existing customer base and expand into new markets. Manufacturers that cling to traditional business models will find it hard to drive growth.”

No longer reliant on distributors and retailers to sell their products, manufacturers can now go straight to market themselves by adding ecommerce functionality on their website and realising higher margins on sales.

Manufacturers’ margins are under pressure because manufacturing is inherently energy-hungry. In the face of rising energy costs, these businesses need to make a choice. They can offshore their operations to a region with lower energy and labour costs. Or, they can invest in automation, such as using robots or device-to-device communication, which eliminates manual practices and reduces labour costs, relieving some of the pressure on margins.

Some manufacturers have found a third option, which is to offshore some of the more tedious and repetitive processes but retain the more complex, valuable intellectual property-based processes in Australia.

Greg O’Loan explains, “Some companies have no choice but to stay in Australia because of the high amounts of intellectual property involved. This is often the case in high technology or unique manufacturing environments. It can also be counterproductive to offshore manufacturing of very large products because the cost of transporting them back to Australia can be high.

“So it’s essential for manufacturers to be smart about how they approach their business in the next few years. They must consider the various options available, including new technologies, which can help streamline their operations.”

For some manufacturers, this could mean an increased focus on manufacturing execution systems (MES), which can operate as standalone software or integrated with an ERP system. MES functionality provides an overarching view of information needed to schedule and manage production in the most effective and efficient way. It includes everything from document management to reasons for waste and supports quality assurance processes. MES systems will increasingly rely on machine-to-machine information to deliver insights to help manufacturers streamline and improve operations.

“Australian manufacturers need to combine smart manufacturing, appropriate labour costing, and efficiencies in the organisation to reduce costs and get control over spend. They can do this by implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform that’s designed for the manufacturing industry, integrates MES functionality, and is built to overcome these challenges.

“2018 will be a year of preparing for change for many businesses. This includes letting go of legacy systems that are costly to maintain and don’t deliver a strong return on investment. It can be daunting for an organisation to move away from heavily customised systems but, to take advantage of innovative features and capabilities that can drive the business forward, they must modernise. For example, Epicor offers industry-specific ERP solutions for manufacturers that deliver out-of-the-box functionality that closely maps to the organisation’s needs. This reduces the need for heavy customisations and lets organisations innovate more freely, positioning them for growth.”

Weir Minerals launches Cerasmooth compound

Weir Minerals has upgraded its polymer-ceramic composite for the Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) market.

Specially engineered for use in FGD applications, the Cerasmooth compound is designed to provide ultimate wear and corrosion resistance.

“We are focused on the continuous improvement of our materials, which is why we have enhanced our existing formulation to improve component wear life and meet the ever more demanding market’s needs,” Weir Minerals executive vice president of engineering Patrick Moyer.

Cerasmooth material was developed for the Warman GSL pump series but can also be used for any acidic, light slurry application.

The FGD application can experience wide variations in pH during operation and also contains erosive components in the slurry. This makes it difficult to select an optimum metal solution to cover the range of possible conditions.

Materials used in this application need to be capable of handling these demanding and varying operating conditions.

“The polymer matrix of Cerasmooth is almost impervious to the extremely acidic environments that can occur in FGD duties, and the ceramic filler provides outstanding wear resistance to the typical erosive particles in the slurry,” Weir Minerals director of research and development Edward Humphries said.

Cerasmooth compound has an equal combination of erosion and corrosion resistance, which work together to deliver optimum life in an FGD circuit, offering customers longer wear life than ever before.

“Significant in-house wear testing has shown that up to 60 per cent improvement over the previous polymer ceramic material offering can be obtained. This has been achieved by successfully improving the bond that holds the wear resistant silicon carbide grains in place during the wear process,” Humphries said.

“In addition, the uniquely formulated composite material boasts increased mechanical strength and improved strain characteristics. “Achieving flexible strength as high as double that seen in first generation materials.”

By utilising Cerasmooth material, operators can significantly improve the service life of their pump compared to metal and rubber liners.

Compared to a rubber lined pump, Cerasmooth compound has an increased ability to withstand the cutting damage that can be caused by pipe scale coming loose from the FGD circuit and passing through the pump.

Cerasmooth material was developed through a rigorous process of testing various polymer binders and ceramic fillers to find the optimum combination to deliver the performance required.

Skills gap becomes key challenge despite rising industry confidence

The dark days of mining’s downturn may be over but the industry’s leaders now have different challenges to grapple with, according to Newport Consulting.

Skills shortages and cost pressures, not unfamiliar issues for the industry, have re-emerged as the key ongoing concerns for mining leaders, Newport’s latest Mining Business Outlook Report revealed.

Despite these emerging challenges, the eighth report in Newport’s series outlines that sentiment in the mining industry is positive, with the number of miners showing cautious optimism increasing by 55 per cent since 2015.

In addition, the report found that almost three quarters of industry leaders are showing renewed confidence in the sector’s growth.

However, it looks as though skills shortages and cost pressures may be a threat to this growth in confidence continuing.

Newport consulting managing director David Hand believes a spate of mining companies are concerned that Australia will face a growing skills gap, particularly in the areas of technology and automation.

“We spoke to many companies of all sizes that voiced concern over a widening skills gap, giving way to a pressing need to upskill and re-train the workforce. Miners must be able to meet the new digital demands of Australia’s mining future,” Hand said.

With a growing gap in the number of technical employees trained to manage future autonomous roles, Hand added there were signs that mining was “getting on the front foot” to ensure its workforce remained agile and flexible.

“Rio Tinto is a prime example of a company leading the field in this area, having recently partnered with the WA Government and TAFE Australia to provide vocational training in robotics for mining workers. The government should follow Rio Tinto’s lead to close this growing skills gap, which is occurring because of technology disruption,” Hand said.

A key takeaway from the report was the push from mining leaders to embrace new technology, with automaton continuing to become vital for operations.

Automation and Big Data were the leading priorities, with 21 per cent of respondents believing automated haulage vehicles will be the top technology influence to impact the market this year.

Drones, which are used to map, survey and explore mines, were considered another key area for investment.

Meanwhile, more than half of mining leaders predicted an increase in commodity prices over the next 12 months. The exception, however, was thermal coal, which was forecast to face price challenges.

After spending more in 2016, many miners plan to continue this trend, with 42 per cent expecting to moderately increase investment in 2017-2018.

Gupta secures SA iron ore approvals, could create EV hub

Two new iron ore mine leases have been granted in South Australia, in a boost to the local Whyalla steelworks. Sanjeev Gupta, the British industrialist and head of SIMEC Mining, has gained approval for two mines, Iron Sultan and Iron Warrior, which between them will support 56 permanent workers and 130 contractors.

Iron Sultan will create hematite iron ore suitable for use in the creation of magnetite at the Whyalla Plant that will help to lower steel costs for Gupta-owned GFG Alliance, while Iron Warrior is expected to export up to 1.5 million tonnes (Mt) of iron ore per annum.

Construction on both mines is expected to begin in early March. According to South Australia’s Mineral Resources Minister Tom Koutsantonis, the approvals demonstrated “the commitment of the new owner to develop its South Australian iron ore assets and create a more sustainable steelmaking business”.

The leases are the latest signs of GFG Alliance’s aggressive Australian expansion; earlier this month, SIMEC acquired the Tahoor mine in New South Wales from Glencore, and in September last yearcompleted the purchase of Arrium Group of Companies from KordaMentha Restructuring as part of GFG’s plans for vertical integration.

Perhaps most notable is Gupta’s recent interest in the Holden car plant in Elizabeth, SA, which closed down in October last year; the GFG head is a noted proponent of electric vehicle technology. Together, with GFG’s other recent purchases, the purchase of the plant could lead to the creation of a South Australian EV production hub.

“We are incredibly excited and supportive of the GFG Alliance’s bid and subsequent plans to ensure the continuation of our very proud history of automotive excellence and innovation in South Australia,” said Koutsantonis in a letter last week regarding Gupta’s potential purchase of the former GM Motors plant.

“We believe that the GFG Alliance’s plans would put South Australia at the forefront of the inevitable transition of the Australian market to electric vehicles and ask that all due consideration be given to their bid and the potentially significant benefits to the automotive industry and broader community in South Australia.”

FLSmidth SAGwise™ to revolutionise mill liner protection

Posted by Paul Moore on 12th January 2018

FLSmidth has just launched a new SAG mill liner protection solution called SAGwise™ total process control, with an estimate of less than six months ROI. It has been shown in tests that it can reduce damage to the liners by over 40%. FLSmidth told IM: “Extending the life and availability of mill liners is crucial. Weighing up to 4 t a piece, mill liners require a lot of effort to replace when they are worn out, and SAG mill downtime can be around $130,000/h, while lead times can span months. Overall it can cost well over $1 million dollars for a liner package.”

As stated, test results of the new product show reduced damage to the liners of 40% and an ROI of six months (without factoring in reduced unscheduled maintenance). Added this are reduced energy consumption of 6% – significant considering that mills use the by far largest amount of power required for minerals processing. The new solution also saw a production increase of 6% and reduced process variability up to 30%. The SAGwise™ total process control solution employs state of the art process control technologies to reduce critical impacts to the desired targets, stabilising and then optimising the operation of the SAG mill. Multiple process control technologies, such as model predictive control and fuzzy logic are embedded into the solution, modelling both the process and the human operators.

The system is based on acoustic sensors and proprietary process control software to predict and adjust the SAG mill operation according to impacts on the mill and other main process variables. King Becerra, FLSmidth Global Product Line Manager – Process Optimisation told IM: “There are eight audio sensors on a bidirectional mill, four on each side. These have embedded microphones that listen for so-called critical steel on steel impacts between balls and liners rather than between ore and liners. Today, plant operators rely on the personnel close to the SAG mill listening to the mill load and undesirable steel-on-steel impacts to manually adjust the SAG mill operation, reducing undesirable impacts, and run the mill smoothly. But the FLSmidth SAGwise™ system takes this digital audio data and uses techniques such as model predictive control and fuzzy logic rules to assess the mill process parameters.”

“Within seconds it has analysed the audio frequencies as well as taking on board power usage, mill weight and bearing pressure. It can then automatically take corrective action if needed and adjust parameters such as the mill ore feed rate, mill speed or water usage. Whereas an operator might make adjustments every few minutes, SAGwise™ can make more frequent (every 20 seconds or less) and less drastic adjustments.” The reduced damage improves mill availability and reduces downtime. “This can translate to literally multiple millions more tonnes of ore milled,” says FLSmidth.

Jack Meegan, FLSmidth Global Product Line Manager – Mill Liners and Wear Parts told IM: “We took technology that we already have and mated them together to make a solution. We can say to the customer, of course we want to sell you mill liners, but at the same time we want to make sure you are getting more value from your liners as well as your media. With many mines using $10 million or more of liners per year and three or four times this cost in terms of grinding media, the savings can be huge.”

The industries set to fly and fall in 2018

As Australian companies welcome the new year, IBISWorld reveals the top five industries expected to grow — and shrink — over coming months.

The top predicted performer for 2017-18 is the wind and other electricity generation industry, with a bumper year of 35.3% growth anticipated. IBISWorld anticipates that sports and recreation facilities operation, dairy cattle farming, petroleum exploration and nature reserves and conservation parks will round out the top five best performers.

At the top of the list of industries facing a less fortunate 12 months is the motor vehicle manufacturing industry, with revenue projected to decline by 43.1%. Other industries anticipated to face revenue declines include intellectual property leasing, outdoor vegetable growing, sugar manufacturing and concreting services.

Industries set to fly in 2018

Industries	Revenue 2016-17($ million)	Revenue 2017-18($ million)	Growth(%)
Wind and Other Electricity Generation	1,770.0	2,394.8	35.3%
Sports and Recreation Facilities Operation	1,453.6	1,588.2	9.3%
Dairy Cattle Farming	3,982.5	4,301.3	8.0%
Petroleum Exploration	1,399.1	1,499.3	7.2%
Nature Reserves and Conservation Parks	1,554.2	1,650.9	6.2%

Wind and other electricity generation

The closure of ageing coal-fired power stations, supply constraints and rising gas prices in the eastern states have all wreaked havoc on electricity markets over the past two years. The electricity service price is projected to increase significantly this financial year — especially in South Australia and Victoria, the country’s two largest producers of wind power.

“We’re predicting massive growth of over 35% for this industry, with renewable energy operators in Victoria and South Australia likely to take advantage of rising prices to boost their revenue,” states IBISWorld Senior Industry Analyst William McGregor.

Sports and recreation facilities operation

Revenue for this industry is expected to grow by 9.3% in 2017-18, to reach $1.6 billion. IBISWorld anticipates this year’s Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will play a huge part in boosting this sector with several new purpose-built facilities such as the Anna Meares Velodrome and Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre coming into play, alongside the redevelopment of a number of others, including the Optus Aquatic Centre and the Gold Coast Hockey Centre.

“We believe the availability of these stellar new facilities, together with ticket sales from these venues will be major contributors to industry growth. An expected rise in sports spectating and growing spend on recreational and cultural activities will also contribute to growth,” said Mr McGregor.

Dairy cattle farming

According to IBISWorld, this should be the year the dairy cattle farming industry bounces back. Following a year of low prices and depressed milk production, conditions have begun to stabilise, while demand and returns for domestic dairy products is rising.

“With the Australian dollar projected to depreciate this year, we anticipate local dairy products will become more competitive in export markets, boosting returns to domestic milk processors, which will then flow through to dairy cattle farmers. We’re also expecting an increase in the size of the national dairy cattle herd, which will drive up milk volumes, and contribute to an expected 8.0% increase in revenue in 2017-18,” said Mr McGregor.

Petroleum exploration

IBISWorld expects revenue in the petroleum exploration industry to increase by 7.2% in 2017-18, to reach $1.5 billion. This growth is expected on the back of three years of consecutive revenue declines, including a 53.0% drop in 2015-16, due to a decline in the global price of natural gas.

“As Australian households have had to compete with international consumers for gas supply, household gas prices have increased. This year, the electricity service price, a proxy for domestic natural gas prices, is tipped to surge by 15.4%, spurring renewed expenditure on petroleum exploration, which rose by 7.1% during the year to September 2017,” said Mr McGregor.

“A number of major petroleum production players have announced new budgets for exploration, including ExxonMobil, which has major investment plans for Bass Strait. There’s also a high likelihood growing pressure on the eastern seaboard energy market may prompt authorities to roll back regulation on coal seam gas extraction, which would lead to growth in petroleum exploration.”

Nature reserves and conservation parks

IBISWorld attributes rising revenue for this industry to growth in domestic and international tourism, which is increasing government funding for ecotourism activities.

“In addition, the relative weakness of the Australian dollar has increased the cost of holidaying overseas for Australians and decreased the cost of visiting Australia for foreigners — both of which benefit local ecotourism. We anticipate growth in admission fees, sales, and government funding to boost industry revenue by 6.2% this year, to reach $1.7 billion,” said Mr McGregor.

The industries set to fall in 2018

Industries	Revenue 2016-17($ million)	Revenue 2017-18($ million)	Growth(%)
Motor Vehicle Manufacturing	7,959.7	4,532.0	-43.1%
Intellectual Property Leasing	4,117.0	2,825.7	-31.4%
Outdoor Vegetable Growing	6,032.9	5,216.1	-13.5%
Sugar Manufacturing	3,411.5	2,985.7	-12.5%
Concreting Services	8,755.3	8,195.0	-6.4%

Motor vehicle manufacturing

The high comparative cost of Australian vehicle manufacturing, together with changing consumer preferences and increasing imports have had a devastating effect on local motor vehicle manufacturing, which is expected to decline by 43.1% this year.

With both GM Holden and Toyota closing their domestic manufacturing plants during 2017, truck manufacturers Volvo, PACCAR and Iveco are now the major players in the Australian industry.

“While truck manufacturers are affected by the same tough trading conditions as passenger car makers, there is an element of protection for those designing and building trucks specifically for Australian conditions, such as transporting heavy loads over long distances in high temperatures. With truck manufacturers now the key players in our domestic motor vehicle manufacturing sector, the industry’s future performance is set to rely more on business confidence than consumer sentiment in years to come,” said Mr McGregor.

Intellectual property leasing

Intellectual property leasing industry revenue has been extremely volatile in recent years due to the irregular auction of spectrum rights.

“The main bidders for spectrum rights in Australia are telcos, such as Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and TPG, with the latter purchasing rights for $1.26 billion in April 2017. This is expected to lead to a 31.4% decline in industry revenue in 2017-18, during which no spectrum auctions are expected to occur,” said Mr McGregor.

Outdoor vegetable growing

While the value of vegetables grown this year is predicted to increase slightly due to strong potato and onion output, the anticipated drop in domestic pulse production (chickpeas, peas, lentils, broad beans, lupins and mung beans) will hurt the industry’s overall performance, with revenue expected to decline by 13.5%.

Record pulse output in 2016-17 means that although this year’s production is still projected to be high, revenue will decline this year, with lower yields hurting pulse growers’ revenue.

Sugar manufacturing

An expected oversupply in global sugar markets is tipped to drive sugar prices down this year, with IBISWorld forecasting revenue for sugar manufacturers to decline by 12.5%.

“Domestic sugar output is projected to decline this year following the bumper crops of 2016-17, and with two-thirds of Australian sugar destined for export markets, global conditions — including consumption not matching production growth — will contribute to revenue declines for local sugar millers,” said Mr McGregor.

Concreting services

Weak demand from most infrastructure markets, coupled with an expected decline in residential building markets, will contribute to deteriorating conditions for concreting services in 2017-18, and cause revenue to decline by an estimated 6.4%.

“An oversupply in several major metropolitan markets and a slump in construction of large-scale apartment complexes will stem demand for concreting services in the residential sector for the time being, with the main stimulus this year coming from stronger demand from the commercial sector, as well as escalating activity on major transport projects including the WestConnex and NorthConnex in Sydney. While these projects will keep large-scale concreting firms busy, smaller operators are unlikely to benefit, because they lack the capital and workforce resources required to compete for these large projects,” said Mr McGregor.

For more information on this industries, visit the IBISWorld website.

Four predictions from tech giant IBM on the future of the Internet of Things in 2018

Despite some questionable uses (looking at you, smart toaster), the Internet of Things (IoT) has continued to be a strong area of development and innovation in the tech world. One only needs to look at the offering from this year’s Consumer Electronics Conference (CES) to see the widespread use of the technology.

More than 11 billion IoT devices are predicted to be in the world in 2018, and established companies and startups alike are looking to the tech to bring on further innovation. One of these businesses, Australian IoT startup Thinxtra, received $10 million in funding last year to develop its long-range IoT transmission hardware, which it’s aiming to implement in a range of industries and businesses.

Bret Greenstein, vice president of tech giant IBM’s Watson IoT Consumer Business division, recently spoke to Forbes about four key trends he could see changing the way IoT functions and integrates, operating mainly around its integration with other emerging technology.

Here’s what he thinks will be big in IoT over 2018.

1. AI will make it smarter

Artificial intelligence seems to be being thrown into pitch decks and innovation strategies left right and centre, so much so Cognitive Finance Group founder Clara Durodie told a panel last year her VC firm will be looking for investment in “real” AI, “not just for the sake of marketing or selling, and not just AI on a business plan”.

Integration with that sort of AI could see IoT systems better understanding humans and each other, says Greenstein, given developers start to understand how best to use it.

“In the early days you could do IoT in your home in a lot of different ways and there were a lot of wires and a lot of hard-code — mobile apps came later, but it was still an isolated experience that doesn’t really feel connected,” Greenstein told Forbes.

“AI is helping to bridge that gap — now we are seeing automakers and hotels and other companies trying to create more integrated experiences and using AI to better understand and interact with people.”

2. More power at the “edge”

Greenstein also predicts that front-facing parts of systems, such as cameras and microphones, will have more processing power pushed towards them and given more functionality.

“Suddenly there are cameras that can not only see, they can understand the image, and microphones which can listen — that’s increasingly being pushed to the edge,” he said.

This also cuts down on redundant data being sent back to the cloud, allowing systems to better process incoming information and leading to improved privacy for users. Greenstein explains using an example of a home security system detecting when residents are in danger:

“In this scenario, you might use cameras to tell if someone is recovering well, if their gait is normal or they are walking a little slower than they should be. But also you can pick up sounds like breaking glass, things falling or water spilling. And because the processing is done at the edge, we maintain privacy because nothing is sent to the cloud unless something bad happens,” he said.

3. Blockchain’s back, baby

Just in case you weren’t already inundated with buzzwords and new-concept business ideas, Greenstein claims blockchain’s immutable distributed ledger technology is well-suited to slot into IoT systems.

IBM currently runs its own blockchain solution through the Linux Foundation’s HyperLedger, which Greenstein says will have a number of partnerships to announce over 2018.

“What people missed about blockchain, because they were so focused on the financial side of things, which is the obvious use case, is that all of this IoT data, particularly in supply chains or where things move between owners, requires all of that data to be stored in some kind of unchangeable record,” he told Forbes.

4. Bright spots in manufacturing and industry

“There’s no question the industrial side of IoT is growing rapidly. [At first] everyone thought it was about the sensors — but we’re getting to the point where it’s the insights and interactions with people,” Greenstein said.

“In a way, it’s kind of supercharging manufacturing operators and people who do maintenance on machines by providing real-time data and real-time insights.”

Greenstein demonstrates the use of these insights through things like automated technical manuals being fed information from IoT systems and interpreted by AI.

“People ask a question — they don’t have to look through the manual anymore. They can ask their manual, ‘is this the right setting for the tyre pressure’,” he says.

Where are Australia’s major mining projects?

The number of committed mining and energy projects in Australia has increased by 21 per cent over the past year.

A rise in copper, gold, nickel and other minor commodity prospects has lifted the amount of overall committed projects to 47, according to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s latest Resources and Energy Major Projects report.

Publicly announced projects (58), as well as projects moving to the feasibility stage (139), also increased over the past 12 months, in line with higher exploration expenditure and higher resource and energy commodity prices, the report added.

“While the past few years have been characterised by cutting costs to ensure the commercial viability of existing assets, 2017 has seen some renewed optimism for market conditions and increased producer interest in brownfield expansions and new projects,” the report explained.

Australia’s gold sector added several newly committed projects in 2017, including Dacian Gold’s Mt Morgans project in Western Australia, Gascoyne Resources’ Dalgaranga project in WA and Diversified Minerals’ Dargues Reef project in New South Wales.

Two copper projects were also approved — OZ Minerals’ Carrapateena project in South Australia and Capricorn Copper’s Mount Gordon project in Queensland.

Coal, meanwhile, has the highest number of committed projects amongst Australia’s key mining commodities with nine — all of which are in Queensland and NSW.

Location of projects at the committed stage. Source: Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (2017)

THE YEAR RENEWABLES BECAME MAINSTREAM

South Australia’s lithium-ion battery grabbed the headlines in 2017, first when Elon Musk announced he’d build the world’s largest battery in 100 days or it would be free, then again when he accomplished it, and yet again when the battery reacted to power surges in record time in December.

But the big battery is really just part of the ongoing renewable energy story of South Australia.

The year kicked off with the South Australian government launching the $550 million South Australian Energy Plan, which includes a $150 million Renewable Technology Fund that will provide $75 million in grants and $75 million in loans to help private companies and entrepreneurs develop eligible projects.

Musk’s now famous battery was one of the first projects to be funded, receiving $20 million to story the energy from the Hornsdale wind farm in South Australia’s Mid North, which is owned by French renewable company Neoen.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill announce the world’s largest battery at Hornsdale Wind Farm in the state’s Mid-North. Picture: Andre Castellucci/InDaily

Global energy companies have taken notice of South Australia’s leadership in renewables and began investing in the state in earnest in 2017.

In August Solar Reserve announced it would build a 150MW solar thermal in Port Augusta, incorporating eight hours of storage or 1100MWh, allowing it to operate like a conventional coal or gas power station.

Electricity retailer Snowy Hydro and Singapore-based renewable energy developer Equis will also build a 100 MW solar farm near Tailem Bend, 100 km southeast of Adelaide. Reach Solar currently have the 220 MW Bungala solar farm about 12km from Port Augusta under construction, with Origin Energy entering a power purchase agreement for the output of the project.

Lyon Group also plans to build a 330MW solar generation and 100MW battery storage system in the state’s Riverland.

Solar technology company Fluid Solar also unveiled its new head office in Adelaide this year, which will run completely on renewable energy, independent of the state’s power grid.

A field trial to develop highly efficient solar energy heliostats made from plastic opened in October, bringing togetherBottom of Form car parts manufacturer Precision Components and the University of South Australia

The concentrated solar research field in the northern suburbs of Adelaide includes 25 heliostats each measuring 7.2 square metre and a 16-metre-tall concentrated solar photo-voltaic (PV) receiver, which can generate about 30 kW of electricity per hour.

Find better ways to store South Australia’s abundant solar and wind energy was a theme throughout the year and in October the latest projects to benefit from the Renewable Technology Fund included a system to capture biogas from a wastewater treatment plant, store it as thermal energy and sell it to the electricity grid.

South Australian company 1414 Degrees has spent almost a decade developing its Thermal Energy Storage System (TESS) technology to store electricity as thermal energy by heating and melting containers full of silicon at a cost estimated to be up to 10 times cheaper than lithium batteries.

The wastewater treatment plant project will use $1.6 million in government funding to help build a 0.25MW/10MWh thermal energy storage device that holds heat generated from the combustion of biogas produced on site.

The Renewable Technology Fund has attracted more than 80 proposals for technologies that include batteries, bioenergy, pumped hydro, thermal, compressed air and hydrogen from companies around the world.

The year ended with the Australian researchers who successfully unboiled an egg turning their attention to capturing the energy of graphene oxide (GO) to make a more efficient alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

The Flinders University team has partnered with Swinburne University of Technology in Victoria, Australian Stock Exchange-listed First Graphene Ltd and manufacturer Kremford Pty Ltd to develop a GO-powered battery, a super-capacity energy storage alternative to emerging lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology.