Technology Adoption
Every day, Fenix Resources' road trains travel a combined 120,000 kilometres, the equivalent of three laps around the planet, hauling iron ore across WA's Mid West, and now former Wallaby John Welborn reckons a $300 million shortcut could help transform the region's mining industry, provided he can get the economics right, keep shareholders happy and resist talking about rugby long enough to build the bloody thing.
Ask a METS supplier why a promising technology stalled inside a major miner, and procurement is usually the first suspect, but ask the people running procurement, and the answer points somewhere else.
As mining operations push more production data into remote operations centres, cloud platforms and analytics systems, the industry faces a deceptively simple problem: how do you get useful data out of an operational network without creating another pathway back in? Chris Rule, General Manager Defence, Security and Resilience at GME, says the answer starts with knowing exactly how your mine is connected, who has access and which connections genuinely need to work both ways.
WA-listed companies added almost A$131 billion in market value during FY26, but the strongest performers did more than catch a commodity upswing.
The WA Mining Club wanted Aaron Morey’s last word on Four Corners – what it got was a more revealing argument about mining, technology and the dangerous appeal of simple answers.
Mining companies already hold a wealth of safety intelligence, but the challenge is turning it into knowledge workers can recognise and act on before a near miss becomes an injury.
Arafura Rare Earths Managing Director and CEO Darryl Cuzzubbo told the WA Mining Club that Nolans is moving from critical minerals rhetoric to construction reality, but the real test will be processing, ramp-up, suppliers and whether Australia can help build a serious rare earths supply chain outside China.
A recent industry webinar hosted ahead of the AusIMM International Mining Geology Conference 2026 brought together leading practitioners to tackle one of underground mining’s most persistent challenges: reconciliation.
The pursuit of critical minerals is pushing miners deeper underground, where innovation—not just excavation—is becoming the key to unlocking value.
There’s a moment in every technological revolution when optimism meets reality - when the glossy promise of transformation hits the grit of practical deployment.
