Updates on Kestrel Coal, Pure Hydrogen, the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer hub and more …

Coal contributed $141 billion to Australia’s export revenue in 2022, up 123 per cent, latest trade figures show.

“With a record high of $461 billion in 2022, up 31 per cent from the previous record set in 2021, global demand for Australia’s resources continues to underpin economic activity,” Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Tania Constable said.

Iron ore contributed $123 billion, gold $23 billion, aluminium (alumina and bauxite) $15 billion (up 14 per cent) and copper $12 billion.

Orcoda Resource Logistics will provide software to manage Kestrel coal mine’s workforce accommodation under a contract announced today.

The SaaS (software as a service) contract is for an initial term of three years and the expected revenue is made up of an initial implementation fee plus a monthly license fee with a contract value of $255,000.

Orcoda managing director Geoff Jamieson said the group’s OWLS (Orcoda Workforce Logistics System) platform was specifically developed to manage mobile workforces in people-intensive industries that involved significant remote workforce management procedures.

“Orcoda believes our software and contracting expertise will deliver significant benefits to Kestrel Coal and other similar companies in the natural resources/infrastructure industries,” he said.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick has put the call out for innovative affordable and social housing proposals through the government’s signature $2 billion Housing Investment Fund.

Mr Dick said the new invitation for Expressions of Interest would provide financial backing for ready-to-go social and affordable housing developments on privately owned sites, including affordable-only proposals.

“At last year’s Queensland Housing Summit, our Government committed to doubling the size of our signature Housing Investment Fund to $2 billion, which means annual funding of $130 million is now available,” he said.

“This supports our increased target of 5600 additional social and affordable home commencements across Queensland by 30 June 2027.

“The market invitation released today expands eligibility to allow stand-alone affordable housing projects to be supported under the Housing Investment Fund.”

Pure Hydrogen has executed a joint funding agreement with CAC-H2 to partly cover the construction of a biomass waste-to-hydrogen plant at Moreton Bay.

Pure Hydrogen intends to expedite the plant development to secure hydrogen offtake for supply to customers in South-East Queensland during 2024.

The plant will deploy technology which produces hydrogen from conversion of woody biomass that would otherwise be burnt or dumped in a landfill.

CAC-H2 and its technology partner ‘Renewables Plus’ have developed and tested a similar system and have successfully converted woody biomass to hydrogen.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pure will initially fund 25 per cent of the construction of the plant at a cost of about $3.2 million, with an option to fund a further 25 per cent at its discretion.

“With this funding, Pure Hydrogen is seeding what is likely to be the first of many plants located on the east coast of Australia. We are creating a template that can be easily replicated across multiple sites and this will become evident as the year unfolds,” Pure Hydrogen managing director Scott Brown said.

Curtin University has appointed Dr Ross Waring as director of the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer hub, a national initiative that aims to transform mineral research outputs into commercial products and services.

Curtin was the first university nationally to receive a share of $242 million in Australian Government funding last year to develop a research commercialisation hub to keep Australia at the forefront of critical mineral supply chains.

The Trailblazer project is a collaboration between Curtin University, The University of Queensland and James Cook University and 33 company partners across Australia who are working in value chains associated with lithium, nickel, cobalt, vanadium and hydrogen resources.