Jarrod Lucas
Jarrod Lucas is the news reporter at ABC Goldfields-Esperance, based in Kalgoorlie, WA.
Gold diggers lead WA mining recovery
Posted | Updated
Gold exploration in WA hits a fresh four-year high in the December quarter.
Topics: mining-industry, mining-rural, gold, iron-ore, kalgoorlie-6430, wa
Outback highway could cost more than $600 million
Posted
About 1,600 kilometres of the Outback Way, billed as Australia's longest shortcut, remains unsealed and backers have asked the Federal Government for another $400 million to finish sealing the route by 2025.
Topics: regional, federal-government, states-and-territories, laverton-6440, winton-4735, alice-springs-0870, kalgoorlie-6430
Aboriginal families stranded as roads cut due to flooding
Posted
Emergency accommodation is being erected in Kalgoorlie-Boulder for about 80 residents from the remote Aboriginal community of Tjuntjuntjara who have been stranded due to widespread flooding.
Topics: indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, aboriginal, emergency-incidents, floods, weather, housing, charities-and-community-organisations, volunteers, community-and-society, kalgoorlie-6430, boulder-6432
'Mercy dash' airlifts vital supplies to feed remote WA Aboriginal community
Posted | Updated
Supplies are being airlifted into Tjuntjuntjara as the remote WA Aboriginal community remains cut-off due to widespread flooding.
Topics: aboriginal, regional, regional-development, weather, rainfall, deserts, kalgoorlie-6430, ceduna-5690, boulder-6432
Lithium mines to grow sevenfold as Chinese investment propels WA boom
Posted | Updated
Western Australia could go from one lithium mine to seven over the next 18 months, opening up hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue.
Topics: mining-industry, industry, business-economics-and-finance, consumer-electronics, electronics, kalgoorlie-6430, boulder-6432, port-hedland-6721, southern-cross-6426, greenbushes-6254, ravensthorpe-6346, china
Kalgoorlie council could cancel recycling as participation slumps
Posted
Despite spending $1 million per year on recycling, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder says just eight per cent of waste is diverted from landfill.
Topics: recycling-and-waste-management, local-government, environment, community-and-society, kalgoorlie-6430
Kalgoorlie elder calls for leadership in addressing drinking and violence
Posted
A Kalgoorlie-Boulder Aboriginal elder hits out at what he suggests is a politically correct, patronising approach to dealing with an upswing in alcohol-fuelled violence in the city.
Topics: aboriginal, drugs-and-substance-abuse, alcohol, law-crime-and-justice, kalgoorlie-6430
Old Kalgoorlie prison 'unfit for human beings', WA Minister says
Posted
Western Australia's Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis officially opens the new $232 million Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison in Kalgoorlie and labels the old one "unfit for human beings".
Topics: prisons-and-punishment, government-and-politics, kalgoorlie-6430
Kalgoorlie Mayor calls out supermarket giants over drunken violence
Posted
Mayor John Bowler says Liquorland and BWS outlets in Kalgoorlie CBD are serving alcohol to itinerants responsible for street violence.
Topics: alcohol, drugs-and-substance-abuse, law-crime-and-justice, kalgoorlie-6430
Court battle likely for control of rich lithium find
Posted
Two ASX-listed mining companies fighting over ownership of a "globally significant" lithium deposit in the Goldfields are ordered to enter compulsory mediation.
Topics: mining-industry, southern-cross-6426
Police enforce liquor restrictions in Laverton after crime spike (photos)
Posted | Updated
WA Police blame an influx of visitors from the remote Ngaanyatjarra Lands for a crime spike in the northern Goldfields town of Laverton.
Topics: indigenous-other-peoples, alcohol, police, laverton-6440
Goldfields uranium mine gets green light from WA Government
Posted
Western Australia's first uranium mine is a step closer as the state's Environment Minister Albert Jacob grants approval for a project at Wiluna in the northern Goldfields.
Topics: uranium-mining, mining-industry, environmental-impact, mining-environmental-issues, states-and-territories, wiluna-6646, wa, perth-6000
Ravensthorpe nickel mine fined for near-fatal acid accident
Posted | Updated
The Canadian owners of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in WA's south are fined $40,000 after a near-fatal acid spill two years ago.
Topics: mining-industry, mining-rural, accidents, ravensthorpe-6346
Laverton underground power off after cost blowout (photos)
Posted
Horizon Power blames the mining boom for costs blowing out on an underground power project in a remote northern Goldfields town, with the local shire saying its quote increased from $500,000 to $2.6 million.
Topics: energy, local-government, states-and-territories, regional, laverton-6440, wa
Airstrip upgrade needed say residents of remote Nullarbor town
Posted
Residents of the remote Nullarbor town of Eucla are calling for an urgent upgrade of the town's flood-prone airstrip.
Topics: health, community-and-society, government-and-politics, local-government, federal---state-issues, rural, eucla-6443, ceduna-5690, kalgoorlie-6430, norseman-6443
Giraffe Kitoto crosses Nullabor to join Perth Zoo
Posted | Updated
A six-year-old giraffe named Kitoto is on the final leg of an epic 4,200-kilometre journey across the Nullarbor to Perth Zoo.
Topics: animals, zoos, perth-6000, sydney-2000
Western Power's lack of capacity forces mining companies to find other options
Posted
A lack of capacity in Western Power's regional grid forces an emerging WA gold miner to shell out close to $2 million a year to rent a diesel-powered station.
Topics: mining-industry, electricity-energy-and-utilities, kalgoorlie-6430
Range of costs put forward for proposed outback highway
Posted | Updated
Nullarbor pastoralists are "perplexed" by a consultant's report suggesting it will cost nearly $25 million to construct a 124km outback highway.
Topics: local-government, rural, community-development, community-and-society, kalgoorlie-6430, winton-4735, rawlinna-6434, laverton-6440, cocklebiddy-6443
Banks demand $100,000-plus house deposits in struggling mining towns
Posted
WA Housing Minister Brendon Grylls says policies requiring prospective homebuyers to cough up deposits of 30 per cent in mining towns across Australia are a "hangover" from the mining boom.
Topics: banking, housing-industry, housing, regional, kalgoorlie-6430
Chinese company bids for stake in Kalgoorlie-Boulder's Super Pit gold mine
Posted | Updated
A Chinese bid for a 50 per cent stake in Kalgoorlie-Boulder's Super Pit should be given the green light by the Foreign Investment Review Board, a WA MP says.
Topics: gold, mining-industry, foreign-affairs, kalgoorlie-6430
Wedge-tailed eagles winning war of the skies against drones
Posted | Updated
Unmanned aerial vehicles become unlikely prey for wedge-tailed eagles in Western Australia's Goldfields, costing a mining giant more than $100,000 to replace its newest surveying tool.
Topics: science-and-technology, birds, kambalda-6442
Increased meth use devastates remote Aboriginal communities
Posted
WA Police patrolling one of the world's biggest police districts are concerned about illicit drugs flooding into remote Aboriginal communities.
Topics: drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-offences, drug-use, regional, police, aboriginal
Council rates in outback WA soar
Posted
The owner of a historic pub in outback Western Australia claims he is paying more rates to live in the remote northern Goldfields than homeowners in one of Perth's most affluent suburbs.
Topics: local-government, regional, regional-development, consumer-finance, economic-trends, housing, kookynie-6431
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