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.
One of the world’s leading aerospace manufacturers continues to invest, grow and create new skilled jobs in the state, strengthening Victoria’s manufacturing expertise and capabilities.
Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty Ben Carroll today welcomed Boeing’s growth in Victoria, with the company creating more than 200 new jobs this year alone, an increase of almost 25 per cent and bringing its workforce in the state to more than 1000.
“Boeing’s continued investment in Victoria highlights our status as Australia’s advanced manufacturing capital, with more high-skilled jobs being created in our state,” Carroll said.
These roles are supporting increased production of new commercial planes due to growing demand globally.
Based at Melbourne’s Fishermans Bend, the company has been manufacturing aircraft in the state since 1927.
The company is not only growing its workforce in the state but also encouraging more women into aviation trade roles through its Female Apprenticeship Program to increase gender diversity in traditionally dominated roles.
Boeing’s Victorian presence is one of the company’s largest outside the United States, bringing together a unique combination of research and development, engineering, and advanced manufacturing in the one location. It is where the company has produced components for the 787 Dreamliner for the past decade.
All of Boeing’s commercial airplane components produced in Victoria are exported to the company’s final assembly lines in the United States – either to Seattle, Washington or Charleston, South Carolina.
Boeing Aerostructures Australia Managing Director Mick Sorrenson spoke about why the company has chosen Victoria.
“Boeing’s enduring partnership with Australia is deeply connected to Victoria, having continuously manufactured aircraft components at our Fishermans Bend site since the 1930s,” he said.
Boeing Aerostructures Australia was awarded the Manufacturer of the Year – Large Business at the recent 2023 Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards – which is supported by the Andrews Labor Government.
Victoria continues to cement its status as a destination of choice for major global firms with Hanwha, BAE Systems, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, and Thales all establishing a significant presence here.
Through the Victorian Budget 2023/24, the Victorian Government is backing advanced manufacturers to bolster local capabilities through the $21 million Manufacturing and Industry Sovereignty Fund, as well as investing $4 million to support our defence and space sectors to secure more major contracts.
Horizon Minerals and Dundas Minerals have entered into a binding agreement to acquire the Windanya and Baden-Powell/Scotia gold projects in the Kalgoorlie region of WA.
Dundas Minerals has also made an application to acquire three prospecting licenses in its own right, contiguous to Horizon’s Banden Powell/Scotia tenements.
“The option to acquire these advanced stage gold exploration projects in the Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia is an exciting opportunity for Dundas Minerals,” Dundas Minerals managing director Shane Volk said.
“Given the competition for these projects, Dundas is pleased that Horizon viewed us as a worthy partner. We are keen to commence the first phase of exploration in coming weeks.”
The Windanya project is located approximately 50km north of Kalgoorlie, while the Powell/Scotia project is adjacent to the Goldfields Highway, about 60km north of Kalgoorlie.
The projects became available due to Horizon’s focus on advancing its Cannon, Penny’s Find and Rose Hill gold projects towards production.
“Being so near to Kalgoorlie, the Goldfields Highway, and several gold plants, the economics of advancing a gold deposit from within these project areas into production, and generating income for the company are favourable,” Volk said.
Dundas is currently finalising plans for its first phase of exploration at both projects, which will comprise soil and/or auger sampling programs covering multiple targets ranked by prospectivity.
Exploration is expected to commence in early September, and will take up to three weeks to complete.
The next step in the integration of SP Mining (the mining related business of Schenck Process acquired by global, high-tech engineering group Sandvik), will see SP mining entities change their names to reflect the new ownership.
On the October 1, Schenck Process Australia Pty Limited, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sandvik in November last year, will become Sandvik Rock Processing Australia Pty Limited. The Australian entity is the largest part of SP Mining’s global business, employing around 450 industry professionals.
Since the acquisition, Sandvik has been focused on bringing together its expertise in crushing with the screening, feeding, weighing and loading know-how of Schenck Process Mining.
According to company president Asia Pacific Terese Withington, this move is part of an integration process which will eventually see SP Mining become a seamless part of the Sandvik organisation.
“In Australia, we are bringing together our sales and back-office teams with those of Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions to allow our customers to access our combined expertise in crushing, screening, feeding, weighing and loading,” Withington said.
“Together we aim to deliver even better digitalisation, sustainability, and productivity solutions to our industry.
“The end goal of our integration is to allow our customers to place combined crushing, screening, feeding, weighing and loading orders with our new legal entity.”
SP Mining president Asia Pacific Terese Withington.
Withington said that the scale of Sandvik’s operations and commercial reach will help to accelerate the combined innovation portfolio of Sandvik Rock Processing Solutions and SP Mining.
“We look forward to continuing to service the business needs of our customers and remain fully focused on the delivery of high-quality equipment, consumables, OEM spare parts and services to help them achieve their business objectives,” she said.
Onetrak has officially opened its Sydney branch in Moorebank, located 27km from the Sydney business district and nearby the M5 Motorway and M7 interchange.
The new Sydney branch is the eighth Onetrak branch. The company has locations around Australia including Bridgewater in Tasmania’s south, Somerset in Tasmania’s north, Hallam in Victoria, Tumut in New South Wales, Albany in Western Australia, Mt Gambier in South Australia and Caboolture in Queensland.
Onetrak is home to large brands within the earthmoving, forestry, material handling and extractive industries. The business offering includes new and used machine sales, rental equipment, service and parts.
Onetrak’s brand portfolio includes Hidromek, Tigercat, Striker, Anaconda, Dressta, Terex Fuchs, EIW Nirox, Alicon, Timber Max, Veriga and Rotobec nationwide and additionally it has Hyundai in Tasmania only.
The company’s regional manager for QLD and NSW, Brad Madden, will be heading the branch and is looking forward to being a part of Onetrak’s growth in the Sydney area.
“Onetrak have had a presence in Sydney for the last three years gradually stepping into the market as we grew,” he said.
“The time has now come to commit to our own facility, and we are excited and serious about providing service and support for our customers. We are currently running two fully maintained service vehicles, have a sales team and parts support for the area. The move into our new facility at Moorebank provides us with a large yard, plenty of hard stand area, office space to accommodate our team and a large warehouse.
“We will be able to hold more parts to make a quicker turn around for our valued customers along with a large workshop space to better service our customers machinery. I personally am excited about the growth we are seeing in Sydney and am excited to be a part of the Sydney journey.”
Onetrak managing director David Hazell said it was important to establish a presence in Sydney as part of the company’s business plan to become a truly national heavy equipment dealer.
“With the help of our loyal customers and fantastic brands, Onetrak has grown beyond our original expectations, and it was important we established a full-time presence in Sydney to better support our growing client base and key franchises in this important region,” Hazell said.
“We are extremely fortunate to have some of the most talented and dedicated employees in the industry working for Onetrak and it’s the company’s family feel and commitment to providing exceptional customer service that has allowed us to grow and prosper in what is otherwise a saturated and competitive space.
“We really look forward to growing and expanding the business further in conjunction with our people and providing a level of customer service that is recognised with our Onetrak brand”.
The Sydney branch is located at 9 Helles Ave, Moorebank, and can be contacted at 02 8729 8400.
Quarries need reliable equipment that can handle intense conditions. High temperatures, freezing cold, heavy material and constant use can put extreme pressure on components.
This is why Oli Vibrators Australia is fully stocked and on standby to assist Australian quarries.
Many quarries are also located in remote areas, operating almost 24 hours per day. They can’t afford a breakdown.
Sean Brewer, sales executive at Oli Vibrators, told Quarry this is why the vibration motor specialist remains fully stocked and on standby.
“Having our Australian subsidiary and warehouse located in Melbourne is perfect for the many customers we have in the quarry and mining sector,” he said.
“There’s so many OLI vibrators out there in Australia’s crushing, scalping and dewatering screens and a lot of them are purring away 24/7 and getting a real workout. The push for higher productivity and minimal downtime is factored in to all the quarry managers budgets.”
“We’re not just down the road from our manufacturing plants in Italy and Malta, so the need for a fully stocked local warehouse is crucial to our customers and distributors. As such we need to ensure that our local Melbourne warehouse is well stocked not only with all our faster moving smaller vibrators, but also our big bangers like our six & eight pole motors with huge kilograms of force and proven reliability.”
Oli Vibrators has a strong presence in Australia.
Oli Vibrators specialise in industrial vibration technology, providing high-quality, European-built industrial electric and pneumatic vibrators, frequency converters, flowaids and aerators. The company has operated in Australia for more than two decades and has built up expertise in providing the right tools for the job.
Oli Vibrators manufactures its product in Italy, where its head office is located, and Malta. Here, the equipment goes through rigorous testing and quality control to ensure they can handle the extreme conditions.
The Melbourne-based branch liaises with the European manufacturing facilities to ensure it has the core items required for quarries.
Brewer said this is important, as several local quarry plant equipment manufacturers and designers incorporate Oli vibrators into their designs.
“They need reassurance so that when they get a call from a stressed quarry manager looking for a quick supply turnaround time, we’ll be able to assist quickly and not to let them down,” he said.
He added that while much of the plant equipment found in Australian quarries was imported and not locally manufactured, it was good to see a lot of it comes with Oli vibrators as original equipment.
“Ideally, we would love to supply mainly local manufacturers with our product out of the Melbourne warehouse but realistically our European colleagues are pushing just as hard to get the Oli vibrators on to their own locally produced quarry equipment bound for Australia,” he said.
“We’re happy to offer the after sales support and advice once it’s here. We are also happy to swap out our competitor’s vibrators for the OLI as happens quite a bit, because we have the stock on hand.”
Brewer spends the bulk of his workday talking with customers, many of whom are the procurement and plant maintenance managers for quarries.
With such a wide range of applications to cover, he helps them find the right size and placement for the company’s range of equipment. Small aerators and fluidisers are often deployed for cement powder, lime, and fly ash applications, while heavy-duty vibrators are installed on hoppers and bins. Even the delivery trucks can make use of the equipment.
Oli Vibrator’s specialists work closely with the site team, using drawings and site visits to help pick the right tool for the job.
Brewer said feedback has been positive.
“They love that we can solve problems for them quickly,” he said. “A site might have a blockage or reduced flow. They give us a phone call or email, and we can work together to get things moving.”
“Oli Group worldwide for many years has strived to stand by our mantra of ‘When You need it, where you need it’, and I think with the huge range of large size and brute force vibrators that we keep on the shelf, combined with the local logistics network we have finely tuned over the years, we live up to that.
“There is also a vast number of maintenance companies in Australia that specifically service the quarry sector, so they look to us to provide solutions with fast and reliable supply times. I get great satisfaction when I’m presented with a problem where our products can help and when the call comes back to me saying problem solved.” •