Mining Energy

Rio and partners to pump $500m into iron ore project while rejecting $US1.3bn Russian court funding against it.

Rio bets $525m on WA iron ore, rejects Russia’s $2bn damages ruling

The mining giant and its partners will pump some $525m into studies and exploration work in a bid to bring the Rhodes Ridge iron ore project in Western Australia into production by 2030.

Brad Thompson

ExclusiveBusiness

Santos vice president of Technical and Engineering Diana Hoff, an American recruit, at head office in Adelaide.

Billionaires back Taroom Trough gas explorer for IPO success

A budding gas explorer in Queensland has lured investment from some of Australia’s most high profile billionaires with a sharemarket float planned in 2026.

Perry Williams

CEO SURVEY 2026CEO Survey

The sun behind power transmission lines during high temperatures in Columbia, South Carolina, US, on Monday, July 28, 2025. Nearly half the US will wilt under hot, sticky conditions through the bulk of the week as temperatures and humidity soar from Chicago to New York City and New Orleans, boosting power demand and raising health risks. Photographer: Sam Wolfe/Bloomberg

‘Point of no return’: CEOs warn of tipping point on energy costs

Business leaders have issued frank views over energy affordability, questioning green targets at the cost of ‘deindustrialisation’ as manufacturers fight for survival.

Eric Johnston

MiningMining & Energy

31/10/2025 Dr Andrew Forrest AO Executive Chairman of Fortescue at the Fortescue AGM at Ritz Carlton, Perth. Pic Colin Murty

Fortescue’s Peru copper deal wins thumbs up

Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue will look to develop its first copper mine in northern Peru in an attempt to diversify after retreating on plans to become a major green energy producer.

Brad Thompson

BUSINESS GRIEVESMining & Energy

13/02/2016: Evolution Mining executive chairman Jake Klein ahead of the release of their first-half financial results. Evolution is expected to show it is generating plenty of cash from its recent acquisitions and the recent tailwind of higher gold prices. Photographed at their offices in Sydney on Monday. Hollie Adams/The Australian

Miner Jake Klein shares heartbreak at anti-Semitism’s deadly rise

Jake Klein, the executive chairman of gold miner Evolution Metals, expressed sadness that Australia’s inability to crush anti-Semitism gave rise to 15 people being gunned down on Bondi Beach.

Brad Thompson, Ben Wilmot and Colin Packham

EnergyNation

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos JULY 29, 2025: inflation data and general finance generic images. Gas bills . cooking Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

Top business group warns of gas shortfall

Manufacturers risk permanent closure without government action to prevent looming gas shortfalls that threaten to devastate the NSW industrial base, state business leaders warn.

Lachlan Leeming

EXCLUSIVEBusiness

Allkem's Mt Cattlin lithium mine in WA. Picture supplied by Allkem.

Rio Tinto walks away empty handed from WA’s lithium corridor

Rio Tinto has surrendered almost 150,000ha of lithium exploration ground in WA and appears it will prioritise the brine-based production of the mineral Argentina is famous for.

Brad Thompson

CEO SURVEYCEO Survey

**EMBARGOED FOR 13/12/2025** 10 December 2025; Australia's most influential chief executives come together to discuss the outlook for the economy, growth strategies, and the challenges facing the corporate sector in the year ahead, presented in partnership with Deloitte. Sources: Supplied. Artwork by Frank Ling. Ratio 4:3. For DIGITAL or PRINT. Snippets: 16:9 - c20a6578574101b8d4b276915db62919 4:3 - 0c21f5a5967220b4640696b01fedc63e 4:3 (text only) - e3bd43d388cc04c46f0c99a8f3c7d7dd

‘Burning platform’: CEOs sound alarm over productivity crisis

Nearly 80 CEOs are unified in worrying that Australia’s productivity malaise has reached crisis point, threatening to lock Australia into a low-growth spiral.

Eric Johnston

Mining battleIndigenous

Indigenous group downplays ‘cathartic’ accusations against rivals for influence

Opponents of the scuttled $1bn Blayney goldmine say the project’s developer was not denied procedural fairness over claims that a rival Indigenous group had solicited ‘financial support’.

James Dowling

ManufacturingBusiness

TOMAGO , AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos- DECEMBER 12, 2025. The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Tomago Aluminium. Picture: NewsWire via PMO

Rio Tinto’s Tomago smelter to stay open beyond 2028

The subsidised energy scheme safeguards the future of the major employer but it stoked criticism about the merits of committing billions of dollars to keep the facility open.

Colin Packham

EnergyMining & Energy

TRARALGON, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 17: A general view of the Loy Yang power plants as the sun rises on August 17, 2022 in Traralgon, Australia. The Greens will introduce a bill to state parliament this week proposing the closure of Victoria's remaining coal plants - Yallourn, Loy Yang A, and Loy Yang B - by 2030 ahead of the current plan for decommissioning by 2046. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Sembcorp’s $6.5bn renewables push with a coal catch

Sembcorp has pledged to accelerate renewable energy rollout after its $6.5bn buy up of Alinta Energy, but that won’t necessarily lead to an early shutdown of Loy Yang B coal power station.

Colin Packham

CEO Survey 2026Leadership

17/5/16 Dulux ceo Patrick Houlihan at Macquarie Bank, 1 Martin Place/ Sydney CBD. Adam Yip/ The Australian

Energy policy must work with manufacturing: DuluxGroup

Australian manufacturers face a perfect storm of rising costs and regulatory delays that threaten to derail economic recovery, DuluxGroup’s Patrick Houlihan warns.

Patrick Houlihan

CEO Survey 2026Leadership

Northern Star Resources managing director Stuart Tonkin. Picture: Sharon Smith, supplied by Northern Star Resources.

Gold giant’s CEO’s stark warning: reform or fall behind

The head of Northern Star, Stuart Tonkin, warns of looming productivity challenges that require bold government action on skilled worker shortages and energy costs.

Stuart Tonkin

CEO Survey 2026Leadership

NETWORK SPECIAL. MUST TALK WITH NETWORK PIC DESK BEFORE PUBLISHING. Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill portraits at Woodside Perth HQ. Picture Marie Nirme

Without new gas investment, energy prices will rise: Woodside

Australia faces a critical choice between streamlined project approvals or mounting economic pressures, according to Woodside boss Meg O’Neill.

Meg O’Neill

CEO Survey 2026Leadership

Graham Kerr, managing director and chief executive officer of South32 Ltd., poses for a photograph following a Bloomberg Television Interview on the sidelines of the International Mining And Resources Conference (IMARC) in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018. China-U.S. trade war concern means there's more caution in the industry over last 6 months about boosting spending, Kerr said. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

Reliable, low-cost energy is the key to growth: South32

Australia risks losing major projects to countries with cheaper energy as rising costs create ‘challenging’ investment decisions for resource companies, South32’s Graham Kerr warns.

Graham Kerr

CEO Survey 2026Leadership

Sanjeev Gandhi, managing director and chief executive officer of Orica Ltd., speaks during the World Mining Congress in Brisbane, Australia, on Tuesday, June, 27, 2023. The conference runs through June 28. Photographer: Ian Waldie/Bloomberg

Energy renewables push ‘needs to adapt to reality’: Orica CEO

The chief executive of the mining and chemicals business has revealed energy costs are now driving major investment decisions as Sanjeev Gandhi backs an east coast gas reservation scheme.

Sanjeev Gandhi

CEO Survey 2026CEO Survey

Simon Trott, chief executive officer of iron ore at Rio Tinto Group, in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. Rio Tinto will spend $70 million to lift production at Gudai-Darri, its newest mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, according to Trott. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

‘A survival issue’: Rio Tinto on surging energy costs

Persistent cost pressures and energy concerns could spell trouble for Australian heavy industry unless governments work with business on competitive solutions, Rio Tinto’s new boss Simon Trott says.

Simon Trott

CEO Survey 2026Leadership

Dale Henderson, chief executive officer of Pilbara Minerals Ltd., on the sidelines of the Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on Wednesday, Aug, 3, 2022. The highest bid for material at an auction run by Australia's Pilbara Minerals dropped for the first time since the exchange was launched last year. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Lithium’s fundamentals are starting to shine: PLS

Dale Henderson, the head of Australia’s largest lithium producer, says massive data centre investment will drive unprecedented demand for the battery metal.

Dale Henderson

CEO SURVEY 2026Companies

Mike Henry, chief executive officer of BHP Group Ltd., at the company's headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. BHP Group, the world’s biggest miner, reported full-year profit edged up 2%, in line with analyst forecasts, even as China’s property market continued to weigh on its economy and demand for iron ore. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

‘A reform priority’: BHP CEO’s warning for Australia

Mike Henry has warned Australia’s energy prices are running more than double those of global competitors, the miner reveals its AI initiatives are starting to deliver real savings.

Mike Henry

CEO Survey 2026Leadership

Liam O’Donohue, managing partner, Arup Australia and New Zealand

‘A chronic problem’: Arup CEO on Australia’s productivity gap

Liam O’Donohue of engineering major Arup warns supply constraints and skills shortages creating a perfect storm for declining competitiveness.

Liam O'Donohue

Heritage feudIndigenous

10-12-2025 - Aunty Leanna Carr (2nd L) and Uncle Jade Flynn (C) outside the federal court in Sydney for the first day of the Blayney mine judicial review. Picture: Facebook

Court challengeIndigenous

Tanya Plibersek, and a blue banded bee (inset). Pictures: News Corp/Supplied

$1bn mine blocked as minister’s reasoning on trial

A court has heard explosive claims that Tanya Plibersek ‘strapped up’ her reasons for blocking a billion-dollar mine using a blue banded bee Dreaming story submitted at the last minute.

James Dowling

MiningMining & Energy

Port Pirie Smelter $135m rescue plan announced. Richard Holtum, CEO Trafigura, parent company of Nyrstar 5th August 2025 Picture: Brett Hartwig

Smelters propped up by taxpayers record $362m blow

Despite millions in government bailouts, Trafigura’s Australian smelters in South Australia and Tasmania have delivered losses so severe the company warns they’ll never reopen if closed.

Brad Thompson

ExclusiveIndigenous

Tanya Plibersek, left, shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace, right, and the specific area area that was opposed to put a tailings dam due to it being of cultural significance in the quashed Blayney gold mine plan. Pictures: News Corp.

Government secrecy ‘is backing anti-mining activists’

Government lawyers fighting for a secrecy order in a review of a mine decision have rocked the confidence of resource companies, the Mineral Council says.

James Dowling

MININGMining & Energy

BHP MINE in WA. Western Australia Iron Ore Jimblebar, WA Picture - BHP

BHP sells down iron ore infrastructure to BlackRock

Mining giant BHP has struck a groundbreaking $3bn infrastructure deal that could reshape how Australian miners fund their operations while maintaining strategic control.

Brad Thompson

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy