mining innovation
In the race to squeeze more value from every tonne of ore, the mining sector is increasingly looking to data-rich, high-resolution technologies that can keep pace with operational demands.
In the high-stakes world of Australian mining, where downtime can cost millions and conditions test even the toughest machinery, one company is redefining how mine sites manage water and turn dewatering from a necessary burden into a strategic advantage.
What if the smartest way to power your remote mine site was silent, clean, low-maintenance - and already outsmarting diesel and solar in the field? For Chelsea Kovacs, business development manager at SFC Energy Canada, the answer lies in compact, intelligent fuel cell technology - specifically, direct methanol fuel cells that operate quietly, efficiently, and with minimal emissions.
For Superintendent of Mine Planning Anne-Marie Ebbels, the expansion of BHP’s Prominent Hill operation isn’t just a technical upgrade—it’s a strategic shift in how the mine approaches longevity, productivity and sustainability.
At the 2025 AusIMM Underground Operators Conference in Adelaide, Dyno Nobel Senior Technical Consultant Ed Wargem delivered a message that cut through the noise of technical jargon and digital disruption: sometimes, the biggest improvements in underground development blasting come not from cutting-edge technology, but from going back to basics.
In a bold shift from business-as-usual block modelling, a team of geologists has turned their attention to the part of the orebody most often ignored — waste — and what they’ve uncovered could reshape how mining operations plan for ESG risk.
In an industry where incremental improvements are the norm, a new variable-energy blasting system is delivering a true step change in underground blasting.
Underground haulage is often regarded as a necessary bottleneck—an unavoidable compromise between ore delivery and operational congestion.
It’s not often that a guidance document—rather than an actual regulation—sends shockwaves through the mining sector.
When a major weather event halted production at Evolution Mining’s Ernest Henry Operations (EHO) in March 2023, it set the stage for a remarkable operational comeback that would go on to earn Matt Bouwmeester the Best Paper of the Conference award at the 2025 AusIMM Underground Operators Conference in Adelaide.
