Asia
When global power plays, policy whiplash and economic shocks collide, opportunity hides in the chaos — and for Australia’s critical minerals sector, survival now depends on strategy as much as supply.
It takes a certain type of confidence to suggest the future of clean energy metals might lie four kilometres below the Pacific Ocean – confidence, and perhaps a streak of stubbornness.
When it comes to critical minerals in emerging nations, geology is often the easy part - what makes or breaks a project is navigating the politics, markets, and risks that sit behind the orebody.
China quietly built the world’s most powerful critical minerals supply chains while other nations - including Australia - dozed through a geopolitical shift that now threatens economic security, trade independence, and defence readiness.
Global tariffs, record gold highs, and shifting battery metal fortunes are reshaping mining in 2025, with big implications for projects and suppliers.
A high-precision GPS system that draws an invisible line between safe ground and disaster is helping one of Indonesia’s largest mining contractors keep trucks – and their operators – out of harm’s way in high-risk dumping zones.
Rare earth metallurgy is unlike any other field in mining, and as Damien Krebs told AusIMM’s Metallurgical Society in his webinar Rare Earth Metallurgy 101, every single deposit is a puzzle that defies cookie-cutter solutions.
From the outside, the conversation around digital mining often gets framed in broad terms - automation, Information of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) but for those working underground or in control rooms, the real question is more practical: how do these tools actually solve the daily challenges?
For Stewart Johnston, Account Manager - Mine Electrification and Automation at ABB Australia, the key lies in making information usable, timely, and connected across the mining value chain.
In an industry where every unscheduled shutdown translates into lost revenue, wasted resources and mounting frustration, one company is making a compelling case for using artificial intelligence to turn maintenance from a cost centre into a strategic advantage.
GV Price, senior staff consultant with KCB Australia, has spent a career helping mines grapple with the nuances of geotechnical standards.
