Quick fire – industry news briefs

Castillo Copper has appointed Global Ore Discovery as the lead geological consultant to spearhead renewed exploration efforts at the Big One deposit, in North-West Queensland. The company said it had formulated a comprehensive surface sampling campaign concentrated on areas with historical anomalous surface copper and/or high conductivity zones at the Big One deposit. The Big One deposit has an inferred mineral resource estimate of 2.1Mt at 1.1 per cent copper for 21,886t contained copper metal. Located about 150km north of Mount Isa, it is part of Castillo's North-West Queensland Copper Project. Well head at Daydream-2. Elixir Energy is in the final stages of mobilising all equipment for its Daydream-2 stimulation and testing program at Project Grandis in the Bowen Basin. Given the depth and high pressure of this well, the company said it had been undertaking additional HSE inspections to ensure the simulation and testing would be conducted smoothly and safely. “The complex preparations for Daydream-2’s stimulation and flow testing are now all but complete," Elixir managing director Neil Young said. "We are now keenly looking forward to the flow testing of the Lorelle Sandstone within only a few days." Akaysha Energy has marked the start of construction at its $200 million Brendale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), which will add 205MW / 410MWh of storage capacity to the National Electricity Market (NEM). Expected to commence commercial operation in 2026, the Brendale BESS is South-Eastern Queensland will feature Tesla Megapack technology while the Balance of Plant (BoP) will be delivered by Consolidated Power Projects Australia. Akaysha Energy managing director and chief commercial officer Paul Curnow (pictured left) said the Brendale BESS was an important element of Akaysha Energy’s portfolio across not only Queensland but the NEM more broadly. Akaysha Energy, which is backed by BlackRock, has more than 10GWh of projects under development across Australia, 40 per cent of which are in Queensland, with more than 4GWh currently under construction. Miners Rio Tinto and BHP have signed up as foundation investors in the Silva Carbon Origination Fund, which aims to develop large-scale carbon sequestration projects to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). Those companies, along with Qantas, have committed $80 million of the $250 million he fund aims to raise. Rio Tinto chief decarbonisation officer Jonathon McCarthy said the company was absolutely committed to decarbonising its operations, but many of the technologies needed would take time to develop and implement. "Meanwhile, our investment in the Silva Carbon Origination Fund helps us meet our compliance obligations with high-integrity carbon credits. We also believe it is important to enable more carbon projects that partner with farmers and local communities to integrate agriculture with nature repair.”

Quick fire – industry news briefs

Industry Queensland

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