Mining

Research reveals that 79% of Aussies would support more mining – and 51% would support more coal mining – if it would help strengthen the Australian dollar and avoid a recession. The findings come when Australia’s coal mines is estimated to produce 1.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year as it prepares for net-zero emissions, but because of a risk of 2023 recession following fast-rising inflation and interest rates, and other economic factors.

Nighthawk Gold Corp. (Nighthawk) announced the appointment of Salvatore “Sal” Curcio, CPA, CA to the role of CFO effective January 1, 2023. Mr. Curcio is currently the Vice President of Finance for Nighthawk. Current Nighthawk CFO Michael G. Leskovec, CPA, CA plans to step down to focus on his role as Co-Founder and CFO of Juno Corp., a privately held exploration firm with properties in the Ring of Fire region in Northern, Ontario, Canada.

Rare Element Resources Ltd. (RER) announced that it has been awarded a $4.4m grant from the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) to be utilized for the advancement of the Company’s rare earth element processing and separation demonstration plant project in Wyoming. The grant is a cost reimbursement award for future expenditures related to the project, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through a previously announced financial award. The total project cost is aout $44m, with $21.9m provided through the DOE.

Rare Element Resources Ltd. is pleased to announce the appointment of Brent Berg as its President and CEO as Randall Scott retires. Mr. Berg is a highly qualified mining and mineral processing professional with over 25 years’ experience in the minerals industry, including 16 years in mine management roles and over 11 years working for in-situ recovery operations.

Rick Parish, the Aussie entrepreneur who founded Marine & Offshore Group (M&O Group) ­­– a mobile offshore safety training for the oil and gas industries in the 1990s firm – announced that his company Aquarius Global has launched a new mobile safety training system that is set to raise the standards and the benchmark yet again for offshore safety training globally. 

Ideon Technologies, a pioneer in high-resolution subsurface imaging for the mining industry, announced it closed a $16m Series A, led by Playground Global. The investment will expand Ideon’s production capacity and accelerate the commercialization of its Discovery Platform™, which is transforming the critical minerals supply chain feeding the clean energy transition.

A mining process optimisation company, Plotlogic, welcomed the news that the Australian Government’s carbon emissions bill will pass through Parliament. Following The Greens announcement that the party would support Labor’s climate change legislation, the way is clear for a bill enshrining a pledge to cut carbon emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030.

Aspen Technology, Inc. (AspenTech), an industrial software solutions firm, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Micromine - a global player in design and operational management solutions for the mining industry, from private equity firm Potentia Capital and other sellers for AU$900 million in cash (approximately US$623 million).

Coeur Mining, Inc. (Coeur) announced the appointment of Jeane Hull to the firm’s Board of Directors and its Audit, Compensation and Leadership Development and Environmental, Health, Safety and Corporate Responsibility Committees effective July 19, 2022. Hull has over 35 years of mining operational leadership and engineering experience, most notably holding the positions of COO for Rio Tinto plc at the Kennecott Utah Copper Mine and Executive Vice President and CTO of Peabody Energy Corporation. She also has held numerous management engineering and operations positions with Rio Tinto and affiliates.

Normet Group Oy has entered into an agreement to acquire Garock Pty Ltd, a supplier of ground support systems for the mining industries in Australia. With this deal, Normet strengthens its portfolio in ground support in mining and construction infrastructure projects.