Innovation

Safety is not a line on a graph: mining must design it in from the start or risk repeating old mistakes in the critical minerals rush

Mining loves a neat correlation – tonnes per shift, dollars per ounce, emissions per unit, but as Peter Burton pointed out at AusIMM’s Critical Minerals 2025 in Perth, one thing that refuses to fit a tidy graph is safety performance.

Excavators do roll over and only ISO certified ROPS and FOPS with rigorous testing and welding standards will keep operators safe on site

When Jeff Samuels took the stage at the NSW Resources Regulator’s 33rd Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar, he didn’t mince words: excavators roll over, people die, and the only way to ensure real protection is through ISO-certified rollover and falling object protective structures.

Radiation free breakthrough in tailings pipeline monitoring promises safer real time density checks without losing accuracy or operational efficiency

At the Life of Mine | Mine Waste and Tailings Conference 2025 in Brisbane, University of Queensland PhD candidate Yue Xiong unveiled a promising alternative to radiation-based monitoring of tailings slurry pipelines - one that could make real-time density measurement safer, cheaper and more adaptable across mine sites.