Supply sector consolidation continues
January 25 - 31, 2012
THE company whose name seems to be everywhere at the moment – at least where there is a materials-handling equipment order in mining bulk materials – has put a $A200 million offer on the table for Australia’s Ludowici that has seen the 159-year-old ASX-listed company’s share price double in a week.
'Resources curse' or untapped opportunity?
December 1 - 7, 2011
A REPORT on the development of Australia’s mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector suggests the sector is at “a key stage of evolution”, and that it must get better at promoting itself and become more familiar to policy makers.
MST on global recruitment drive
January 25 - 31, 2012
THE Australian mine communications technology company Mine Site Technologies has its sights on further international expansion after making a raft of recent senior personnel appointments.
MST buys Nixon Communications
December 15 - 21, 2011
MINE communications specialist Mine Site Technologies, which won the backing of Macquarie Capital earlier this year, has acquired Queensland-based Nixon Communications for an undisclosed sum.
Mining unearths new value
December 8 - 14, 2011
PEOPLE who think mining is just quarrying and Australia a quarry fail to see the reality of mining and the opportunities it brings.
Sedgman wins national export award
December 8 - 14, 2011
AUSTRALIAN mining engineering firm Sedgman has been named as the country’s 2011 Exporter of the Year, chosen from the winners of 12 national categories.
New territory for Australian suppliers
October 13 - 19, 2011
AUSTRALIAN mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector group Austmine expects to sign an MOU with Uzbekistan’s mining agency to facilitate closer relations between the two countries following a recent visit by Austmine members co-ordinated with help from Rio Tinto.
Nice to METS you
October 6 - 12, 2011
THE author of a new report on Australia’s mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector sees a nascent economic force on a fast growth track. A question that he is now asking – and he’s not the only one – is, does it need public policy nurturing or will the tough love of the mining industry be enough to see it reach a new level of maturity?
Minnow, giant join forces
October 6 - 12, 2011
SMALL Australian manufacturer Gekko Systems has assumed ‘major’ status with its selection by the country’s biggest gold producer as a research and development partner.
Philippines open to Australian innovation
October 6 - 12, 2011
OCTOBER 1: THE Philippines already offers plenty of opportunities right through the mine life cycle for Australian mining equipment, technology and services supply firms, but if the country can get right its political risk and investment settings it could be fertile ground indeed for METS companies in the medium term.
Australians descend on Arequipa
September 29 - October 5, 2011
A LARGE contingent of Australia-Latin America Business Council and Austmine members were visible among the 1140 exhibitors at the Peru mining tradeshow Extemin and related technical conference Perumin which were held simultaneously in the southern city of Arequipa in mid-September.
Trading places
September 22 - 28, 2011
DURING the early 1980s Jim Nylander played a small, albeit significant, part in helping Australia enter the West African mining scene.
Concentrate on winners, not woes
September 15 - 21, 2011
WHEN it comes to manufacturing in Australia, we are having the wrong conversation. We are closed for business before our doors are even opened, and our negative outlook is breeding a culture of failure which will lead us to a similar end.
Austrade expands Colombia focus
September 15 - 21, 2011
THE Australian Government has given Colombia’s improved business and political climate a tick, announcing the opening next year of a new Austrade office in Bogota.
In brief: MAPLA, EFIC, Leighton, Thiess
September 15 - 21, 2011
FIVE Australian delegates plus local Chilean staff of Australian companies were among some 400 attendees at the recent MAPLA and Mantemin maintenance and reliability engineering conferences at Antofagasta, Chile.
Future coming fast
August 18 - 24, 2011
A BAROMETER for mine automation technology uptake in Australia – activity in the Perth suburban workshop of Remote Control Technologies – is indicating real heat in the sector. It’s not the only sign and there are no guarantees it will be sustained, but RCT founder Bob Muirhead thinks mining’s automation genie is finally out of the bottle.
In brief: Hofmann Engineering, Austmine, Immersive Technologies, Exponor, Keech Australia
July 7 - 13, 2011
LEADING Australian engineering firm Hofmann Engineering has established a North American operations base in Canada. The company plans to introduce heavy engineering and large gearing manufacturing methods and standards honed at its major facility in Western Australia at the CGC Gearing plant in Cambridge, Ontario.
Long-range vision makes RME a shooting star
June 16 - 22, 2011
FEW people who know him doubt John Russell could design any part of a mineral processing plant and probably do a better job than the armies of engineers at big global manufacturers. Many would be glad he hasn’t done so – and not just the managers of international mineral concentrator equipment firms.
Making the right moves in Russia
June 16 - 22, 2011
IT’S a long way from St Petersburg to Magadan in Russia’s far east, but the vast mineral wealth in between is going to make many more Australian suppliers of mining equipment, technology and services (METS) embark on “the long road we’re on”, according to senior manager with RME Mill Relining Systems, Brett Morgan.
Back on the road again
June 16 - 22, 2011
POTHOLES in the road – Jim Cooper’s seen a few.