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    Mining Summit

    The next mining boom is here. The transition to cleaner technologies is fuelling insatiable global demand for critical minerals - so how can Australia make the most of this trillion-dollar opportunity?

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    Featured

    Roger Cook speaking at the dinner.

    Perth’s high-flyers turn out to toast Financial Review’s Mining Summit

    The state’s political and business leaders gathered at Perth’s Wildflower on Thursday for the second The Australian Financial Review Mining Summit dinner.

    • 47 mins ago
    Nicole Duncan, former NickelSearch MD, said smaller miners needed to ride out a rough period with cost cuts.

    Junior miners in ‘survival mode’ put consolidation on back burner

    It is a tale of two worlds in mining as the smaller players cut costs while large miners like BHP eye more acquisitions to grow copper stocks.

    • Aaron Weinman

    Major lithium miners push for a more reliable spot price

    MinRes and Pilbara Minerals say a trading exchange would reduce volatility and make the battery commodity more attractive to commercial bank financing.

    • Elouise Fowler

    The Anglo mine BHP craves explains why a deal boom is coming

    Investors expect the growing demand for copper and the surging costs of building new mines will spark a frenzy of big mining deals, regardless of the outcome.

    • James Thomson

    Lithium giant says China will remain pivotal to local mining projects

    Local miners are torn between their dominant customer and investor over two decades, and the lure of subsidies from the US, Australia’s biggest defence ally.

    • Elouise Fowler
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    Yesterday

    Sanjiv Manchanda at the Summit.

    Hancock exec says Cook’s California dream may mean higher emissions

    Magnetite projects fit perfectly into Australia’s green future but are hamstrung by insufficient power, water and regulatory fatigue, Sanjiv Manchanda said.

    • Vesna Poljak

    Big China question hangs over Australia’s critical minerals sector

    Geopolitical tensions between China and the West loom large over Australia’s critical minerals industry, and there are no easy answers.

    • James Thomson

    Big miners split with smaller peers over tax credit ‘white elephants’

    Minerals Council chief executive Tania Constable says the government should limit access to the $13.7 billion production tax credit to avoid funding unviable projects.

    • Peter Ker
    Several passengers were injured on a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday.

    Injured Aussies could be compensated ‘millions’ by Singapore Airlines

    Fifty-six Australians were on board the flight and eight were injured in the “severe turbulence”; Angus Taylor says “commercial viable” nuclear power industry won’t need subsidies. Here’s how the day unfolded.

    • Updated
    • Hannah Wootton
    Resources Minister Madeleine King at the AFR Mining Summit in Perth on Wednesday.

    King says BHP prioritised shareholder returns over nickel jobs

    The miner has said it will decide whether to close its nickel business by August. The resources minister says there has been a decade of underinvestment.

    • Updated
    • Brad Thompson
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    WA1 boss Paul Savich has found a similar carbonatite resource to which Lynas mines at Mt Weld.

    Inside the most promising critical minerals discovery in years

    WA1 Resources has enjoyed a 108-fold increase in share price since floating in 2022 thanks to a discovery near the tiny remote community of Kiwirrkurra in WA.

    • Peter Ker
    Resources Minister Madeleine King.

    King accuses ‘anti-WA’ Dutton of jeopardising national security

    Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King also accuses the opposition leader of stoking class warfare by opposing the government’s production tax credits for miners.

    • Tom Rabe

    This Month

    From euphoria to subsidies to kick-start the next great mining hopes

    An Australian mining industry more used to being threatened by super-profit tax raids is being offered handouts to kick-start its way into the low carbon era.

    • The AFR View
    WA Premier Roger Cook.

    How we can take on Tesla, according to WA’s Roger Cook

    WA Premier Roger Cook insists his state’s nickel crisis should not deter major miners from pushing ahead with higher social and environmental standards.

    • Tom Rabe
    WA Premier Roger Cook.

    Cook says magnetite will make WA the ‘California of Australia’

    WA’s future in resources wasn’t just linked to battery minerals, but also to a different variety of iron ore largely overlooked by our mining industry: magnetite.

    • Tom Rabe
    Luke Smith, portfolio manager from Australian Super is taking a punt on critical minerals.

    AusSuper sets sights on becoming a global force in critical minerals

    Australia’s largest industry super fund will step up its investment in battery metal lithium as it seeks to grow its $12 billion critical minerals fund.

    • Elouise Fowler

    March

    Liontown’s Kathleen Valley in Western Australia.

    Lithium hopeful Liontown in $550m loan from banks, taxpayers

    The new agreement will ease concerns over Liontown Resources after January’s spectacular loan withdrawal.

    • Peter Ker
    Lynas Rare Earths boss Amanda Lacaze.

    Lynas not standing still after mega-merger stalls

    Lynas boss Amanda Lacaze missed out on a tie-up with a New York-listed rival aimed at challenging China’s dominance. What next for the rare earths player?

    • Brad Thompson
    Platts assessed the spodumene price at $870 per megatonne on February 28, steady for four trading days.

    Global lithium producer signals price rout has ended

    Chinese appetite for electric vehicles has outstripped expectations, boosting optimism of a lithium price rebound and spurring bets from investors.

    • Elouise Fowler

    February

    BHP cuts jobs.

    BHP sheds jobs, axes white-collar teams in global reset

    BHP rocked its workforce with a major restructure disbanding specialist teams and putting far greater responsibilities on its iron ore, coal, copper and nickel leaders.

    • Brad Thompson
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    Despite the low prices, SQM will continue to run at full capacity, building inventory to be ready when purchasing rebounds, Carlos Diaz, head of lithium, told analysts.

    Surviving mining’s boom and bust

    Price bubbles have burst and priorities have shifted, but a huge opportunity exists to shape a low-carbon future. What can the mining sector do differently?

    Slowing sales in EV and over-supply in batteries in China will weigh on nickel and lithium.

    More pain for nickel, lithium as supply deluge bites

    Of the three key critical minerals, nickel has the darkest outlook because of cheap supply from Indonesia, but investors are backing copper as demand picks up.

    • Cecile Lefort
    Alumina Limited CEO Mike Ferraro.

    Alumina may need to raise capital if Alcoa deal fails

    The takeover target slumped after it disclosed a $US150 million ($229 million) annual loss and Alcoa shares tumbled in New York.

    • Peter Ker
    Tesla chairman Robyn Denholm: “It’s our economic opportunity to lose.”

    Tesla chairwoman tackles Canberra on tax breaks for nickel, lithium miners

    Robyn Denholm will help spearhead the fight for tax breaks in critical minerals just days after Andrew Forrest calls out Elon Musk for buying Indonesian nickel.

    • Brad Thompson
    Iron ore prices could sink to $US80 a tonne, Yarra warned.

    ‘Complacent’ iron ore market vulnerable to lithium-style crash

    Iron ore prices are not factoring in a wave of new supply, leaving the commodity vulnerable to the same collapse that smashed battery metals, Yarra warns.

    • Alex Gluyas