Quick fire – industry news briefs

The State Government has approved Stanwell Corporation's application to build the 436.5MW Tarong West Wind Farm in the South Burnett region. The project is backed by $776.1 million from the Queensland Government’s Renewable Energy and Hydrogen Jobs Fund. Energy and Clean Economy Jobs Minister Mick de Brenni said the State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) had worked closely with the Department of Resources to ensure that important areas of ecological significance were protected, including koala habitat. Publicly owned Stanwell is working with global renewable energy developer RES to build the wind farm, 30km south-west of Kingaroy. Construction is expected to commence from 2025. The mining safety watchdog has issued an alert after two similar incidents in recent months at Queensland underground coal mines where smoke has started to come from a dry scrubber load haul dump (LHD). The Coal Inspectorate said no one was injured in these incidents but there was a serious risk that these machines could catch on fire. Key issues included having a heavily contamination diesel particulate matter (DPM) filter, the LHD using a dry scrubber system as opposed to a wet scrubber system (which does not have the same issues), and the exhaust back pressure shutdown system not working as expected. The Coal Inspectorate issued the following recommendations for mine sites: First, contact the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for dry scrubber explosion-proof diesel engine systems. Then review the mine’s risk assessment for that equipment (dry scrubber explosion-proof diesel engine systems). Confirm the operating capability of the exhaust back pressure shutdown system. Contact DPM filters supplier to ensure the filters being used are suitable. Until the root cause of the exhaust back pressure shutdown system issues are identified by site and the OEM and rectified on dry scrubber LHDs, DPM filters should be replaced at a frequency not exceeding 48 calendar hours. Finally, comply with the requirements of Recognised Standard 3 - Explosion protected diesel engines. The Australasian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) has released a draft JORC Code update and opened an online survey seeking feedback from resources industry stakeholders. The public feedback period closes at the end of October. The Draft JORC Code and online survey can be found at: Draft JORC Code Survey In addition to the survey, JORC engagement events will be held in major centres and online from mid-August to the end of September. The schedule of events is available HERE Stanwell Corporation and CQUniversity Australia have jointly announced the appointment of a foundation Professorial Research Chair to advance hydrogen and renewable energy innovation opportunities. The appointment of clean energy expert Professor Jonathan Love was announced at an industry event to launch the construction of the new Gladstone Hydrogen Central information centre that will be located at the University’s Gladstone Marina campus. As part of his new role as Stanwell Chair in Hydrogen, Professor Love will steer a team of researchers to to support the development of a thriving hydrogen and renewable energy industry, with a specific focus on the Central Queensland region. DDH1 Drilling has won the contract to carry out the maiden drilling campaign at Green Critical Minerals' Boulia copper-gold-molybdenum project. GCM’s initial drilling plan comprises four angled reverse circulation percussion holes, strategically designed to evaluate shallow magnetic, gravity, and geochemical anomalies identified through previous exploration work. GCM has identified two priority areas for the initial drilling on its granted tenement EPM 28253, Paton Downs in the north and Lorna Downs to the south. The Boulia project is located 200km south of Mount Isa and comprises two granted exploration permits and three submitted applications covering a total area of 1597sq km. Golding Contractors has completed its purchase of the mining services contract, associated fleet and transfer of employees that HSE Mining had deployed to Stanmore Resources' South Walker Creek mine site. Parent company NRW Holdings said that, to support the continuity of operations at SWC, 539 people had now been welcomed into the Golding and broader NRW team. Genex Power has been removed from the official list of the ASX after J-Power acquired all company shares it did not already own in a takeover. Genex Power has a portfolio of more than $1 billion of renewable energy generation and storage projects across Australia including its Kidston Clean Energy Hub in North Queensland, where a pumped hydro project is under construction. Genex’s first battery energy storage system, the 50MW/100MWh Bouldercombe Battery Project (BBP) at Rockhampton, achieved energisation in June 2023 and is now fully operational.

Quick fire – industry news briefs

Industry Queensland

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