Articles
The Western Australian Government has introduced a new authorisation pathway for low-impact exploration and prospecting, with tenement holders now able to lodge an Eligible Mining Activity (EMA) notice under the Mining Act 1978.
When a digger operator says a new system lets them “see trucks in blind spots you don’t see,” you know it’s more than just another safety add-on – it’s changing how mining crews work.
Deep underground in the Illawarra, a battery electric transporter called Driftex is rewriting the rules of coal mining by beating diesel on safety, speed and cost.
After a shaky start to 2025, the Australian exploration sector appears to be tentatively turning a corner.
When Alejo Sfriso, corporate consultant at SRK Consulting Argentina, stepped up to the podium at the Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings 2025 conference in Brisbane, his message was as direct as it was disruptive: it’s time to leave deterministic factor-of-safety thinking behind.
When Whitehaven Coal acquired BMA’s Daunia and Blackwater mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin, it wasn’t just the company’s biggest purchase to date.
The future of underground mining could mean no one sets foot underground at all - a zero-entry mine powered by autonomy, interoperability, and constantly updated digital twins.
At the NSW Resources Regulator’s 33rd Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar, Chief Inspector of Mines Anthony Margetts and Principal Inspector – Technical Russell Wood delivered a clear message: the industry must move beyond box-ticking and adopt smarter, outcomes-focused approaches to its most persistent hazards.
As mining companies increasingly operate from hundreds, sometimes thousands, of kilometres away from the pit or plant, one challenge has remained constant – how to give remote teams the same operational context, detail, and situational awareness they’d have if they were standing on site.
Every hour of downtime costs a mine tens of thousands of dollars, and Professor Amir Gandomi told the NSW Resources Regulator’s Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar how artificial intelligence is now cutting those losses by predicting failures and optimising operations in seconds.
