Author: yinghui

Crunch time for $5 billion steel project

Euroa Steel Plant Project
Euroa Steel Plant Project

CRUNCH time is coming for a proposed steel plant in Gladstone steel project, with a key group of Malaysian investors to visit next month in the hope they will commit $5 billion to the project.

Director Ross Johnson and CEO David Simpson told the audience at the Gladstone Engineering Alliance Major Industry Conference they wanted to be ready for construction in January 2016.

“We’re envisaging local companies will take the lead and they may bring in others with skills they don’t have themselves,” he said.

With 1800 operational jobs up for grabs, Mr Johnson said he wasn’t sure Gladstone could provide all the numbers, so they envisaged there may be a “camp” situation to begin with until any employees from out of town could be settled.

“Our work situation is such that we’d like to think we can provide jobs for two partners of a family, and one thing we’re conscious of is childcare, so we will also be incorporating childcare facilities on or off site,” he said.

The Malaysian investment team will visit in November for 10 days to review the project.

“It’s crunch time for us. You may never see us again after Christmas or you’ll see us all the time,” Mr Simpson said.

He also defined how the company structure would now work, following some confusion in the community.

“Boulder is the name that many people will be familiar… it’s just going to float off into the distance and do something else not involved in the project,” he said.

He said the new major shareholder of Boulder Steel was essentially the former Boulder Steel Rescue Group, now known as Gladstone Steel Pty Ltd, and there were arrangements between the three groups that would take Boulder out of the project.

The plant has been designed to produce five million tonnes per annum of high quality steel in bloom and round billet form for export to overseas finishing plants.

No appetite to invest

TWO projects that would see 2200 permanent jobs come to Gladstone have struggled to get financial backing.

The developers say it’s because of the poor Australian investment attitude towards manufacturing.

Speakers from the Euroa Steel Plant Project (formerly known as Boulder Steel) told the audience at day two of the Gladstone Engineering Alliance Major Industry Conference that Australian investors didn’t believe manufacturing could be done efficiently.

CEO David Simpson said he believed there wasn’t “any appetite in this country for large-scale manufacturing”.

“They get scared for labour costs, but… it’s really not an issue for us,” he said.

Mr Simpson said the rest of the steel project was all local, “but you won’t get people to move on their money easily on a project of this scale”.

Queensland Energy Resources operations manager Chris Anderson said his company had had a similar experience.

OUTLOOK POSITIVE FOR THE GLOBAL AGGREGATES INDUSTRY

By Stephanie Chan • Staff Journalist

The world aggregates industry has enjoyed steady growth over nearly three decades, according to a new international report.

The XXV World Stone Report, authored by World Stone Magazine editor Professor Carlo Montani, showed that between 1990 and 2013, the volumes of aggregate globally increased 180 per cent from 46 million to 130 million tonnes, with consumption levels also rising 185 per cent during this period.

The growth trend continued in 2013 with the volume of quarried and processed materials increasing five per cent to 265 million tonnes compared to 2012.

During this time – a period the report labelled “another year of consolidation” – five countries dominated more than two-thirds of the world’s quarrying output. In order, these were China, India, Turkey, Brazil and Italy, with Asian countries accounting for more than 60 per cent of production.

“Since the 1960s, the balance of power has changed radically, with the top four producers – China, India, Turkey and Brazil – expanding from 30 per cent to 61 per cent global production,” Montani said in a press release.

In 2013, there was a 2.8 per cent rise in import/export volumes, highlighting a larger proportional expansion on domestic markets, although the export volume for China – the world’s largest producer – fell to 12.1 million tonnes, a four per cent downturn of 500,000 tonnes.

Global trade of unhewn and processed stone materials equated to more than 770 million equivalent square metres (m2) in 2013, with unhewn materials proving more popular. The unhewn material sector’s market share increased to 52.7 per cent, which indicated a “strategy that tends not to give priority to finished products”, according to the press release.

The report also found that more marble and granite had been used in the past five decades than in any previous era.

“In recent years, marble and stone have stood out for expansion better than the world economy [sic] and have suffered from the international crisis less than other sectors,” the press release stated. “Long-term trends seem to confirm this. Over the past decade, net production increased on average by seven per cent per year and global trade grew on average by more than 10 per cent in total.

“It should also be added that the use of marble and stone grew to a greater extent than ceramics, from 12 per cent in 2000 to 15 per cent today.”

Prices in the main markets remained generally stable, with some regions reporting growth.

With regards to the world stone industry’s outlook, Montani commented, “Stone boasts an extremely long history and will have an equally long future by combining technology, aesthetics and professional values. In a word – quality. Translated into numbers, prospects through to 2020 indicate a total output of at least 170 million tonnes, equal to 1.8 billion m2 equivalent.”

The annual World Stone Report has endeavoured to act as an analytical and informative tool for the global quarrying and aggregates industries for 25 years.

The full 2013 report – in Italian only – is available via www.worldstonemagazine.com

PYBAR wins contract to mine Vivien gold project

Underground mining contractor PYBAR has won the contract to develop and mine Ramelius Resources’ Vivien gold project.

The contract will start in January with a peak workforce of 49 people.

The mine, 15km west of Leinster in Western Australia, was recently bought by Ramelius from Agnew Gold Mining Company.

A feasibility study showed it would cost $20 million to develop the Vivien mine.

The project is expected to produce 109,000 ounces over an initial 30-month mine life.

The company said the underground mine would take eight months to build and have an all-in operating costs of $890 per ounce.

PYBAR chief Paul Rouse said he was delighted to have won the Vivien contract.

“We achieved this in an extremely competitive environment on the back of our ability to demonstrate flexibility, scale and safe performance,” Rouse said.

“Our track record proves that there is room to reset performance benchmarks and to deliver value by doing more with less and without compromising safety and quality, which is absolutely critical in today’s market.”

The Vivien announcement follows the extension of PYBAR’s contract at Saracen’s Red October gold mine, also in WA.

The two year extension will see PYBAR continue development and production at the mine until June 2016.

New bauxite mine in Tasmania of Australia

Tasmania will see the development of its first bauxite mine in over 30 years after approving Australian Bauxite Limited’s Bald Hill project in the state’s north.

Minster for Resources Paul Harriss said the new mine was an “exciting project” that would create jobs and economic activity.

The project is expected to create around 45 jobs, with operations expected to begin later this year.

More than 1.6 million tonnes of bauxite is expected to be mined for domestic and international markets from three pits on the site.

The ore will be shipped through Bell Bay.

ABX chief Leon Hawker said the mine will introduce a new bauxite supply to the seaborne market.

“We look forward to continuing and further developing the relationships that have been  built in Tasmania. I particularly wish to acknowledge the work undertaken and the  support of the Mineral Resources Tasmania, a division of the Department of State Growth  and the EPA and recognise the strong community support we enjoy.”

CIME 2014 – China International Mining Expo 2014

CIME 2014  – China International Mining Expo 2014 is the biggest platform of equipment trading and mine development in the global metal mine and nonmetal mine fields, which will be staged from Sep.16 to Sep.18, 2014 at New China International Exhibition Center (NCIEC), Beijing.

We took part in the Expo on the first opening day, meeting with our old friends, communicating on how to maximized satisfying our Clients requirements, as well as finding out some new qualified manufacturers in the exhibition. It’s a good place to exchange ideas on the mining equipment and spares development.

products
products

 

向移动型企业转型

人们在使用手机和平板电脑完成大量以前仅限于台式机的工作活动。这些工作活动包括访问电子邮件（62%通过手机，38%通过平板电脑）、协同和项目管理（25%通过手机，34%通过电子邮件）以及视频会议（30%通过手机，33%通过平板电脑）。移动应用不仅仅停留在消费级领域，它早已向企业级应用不断延展，帮助企业规划并搭建企业级移动信息化平台，统一规划应用平台、提高企业运营效率和创造新的市场空间。从非传统办公室环境中执行这些活动和接入其他企业应用的能力可能从根本上改变企业执行大量活动的方式，包括从销售和客户服务到物流和维护。在迈向移动型企业转型的进程中，众多企业意识到了移动战略的重要性并付诸实践，也因此获得了显著的收益。

BNMME Exhibiting M&E WA 2014

BEMME will be exhibiting at the M&E WA 6-8, May 2014.  We welcome you to visit out Booth.
We will be at Booth no. 2209 Perth Convention & Exhibition Center.
On the stand you’ll get a close-up view of the spare parts which are widely used in Mining equipments, Metallurgical industry, Power industry, etc. Our team will be happy to help with all your queries.

Changes to Australian Standard AS 4024.1 (By Pilz Australia)

Changes-to-Australian-Standard-AS-4024-1-654841-lThe revision will closely align AS 4024.1 Series with European machinery safety standards

 

Standards Australia announces several revisions to the Australian Standard AS 4024.1 Series – Safety of Machinery to align with global standards and strengthen workplace safety.

The revised parts have been individually issued at this stage with the entire standard due to be released as a 2014 version once the application guide (part 1100) is finalised later this year.

The AS 4024.1 series provides guidelines to designers, manufacturers, suppliers, employers and users of machinery to help reduce the risks of working with, or near machinery.

Pilz Australia Managing Director Scott Moffat explains that the Safety of Machinery Standard has grown in relevance over time, and has recently been adopted as an AS/NZS Standard. The revision will closely align it with the European machinery safety standards.

According to Mr Moffat, the revision is a logical step to continue to update AS 4024.1 Series to European standards as they lead the world in this area of machinery safety.

Standards Australia’s Technical Committee said the principle task of the 2014 revisions for the AS 4024.1 Series was to consider the latest international standards and incorporate these into the original 2006 Standard.

Overall, 19 Parts have been revised (1201, 1302, 1401, 1601&2, 1604, 1701-4, 1801&3, 1901-7); two new Parts have been added (1303, 1503); and four Parts superseded and withdrawn (1101, 1202, 1301, 1802) with the application guide (1100) to follow.

Key changes in the Australian Standard AS 4024.1 include:

The risk assessment approach parts 1201 & 1303 (new) have been updated to reflect the global standards of ISO12100 (Machine Safety, General principles of design, risk assessment and risk reduction) and ISO14121-2 (Practical examples of Risk Assessments);

A new Part 1503 that now gives the practitioner the option to design safety related control systems using ISO13849-1 and the Performance Level (PL) approach. Part 1501 (Category approach) remains in the standard and the option is still open to the designer;

Parts 1602 (Interlocking Devices) and 1604 (Emergency Stop) are now both direct text adoptions of their international standards, ISO14119 and ISO13850 respectively;

Guarding Parts 1801 (Safety Distances) and 1803 (Minimum Gaps) are also now both direct text adoptions of their international standards, ISO13857 and ISO13854.

Mr Moffat adds that Pilz Australia and New Zealand is well placed to assist customers with the revised Standard, given the company’s rich European background aided by a large number of technical experts locally and globally who are very familiar with all the European standards.


Read more at http://www.ferret.com.au/c/pilz-australia/changes-to-australian-standard-as-4024-1-n2516340#0F6ip7xIdg8zD6hf.99