Lithium
Blindsided: The crash that rocked boardrooms and Australia’s wealthy investors
Nickel was a rising star of Australia’s battery-driven green energy mining boom, but then events in Indonesia changed everything.
- by Simon Johanson and Colin Kruger
Latest
Indonesian nickel boom claims another WA mine, and hundreds of jobs
Battery minerals specialist IGO will close its Cosmos nickel mine in WA’s Goldfields before it is fully complete, slashing 400 jobs.
- by Peter Milne and Simon Johanson
Nickel miners explore for taxpayer dime to ease industry pain
WA’s troubled nickel sector is pleading for government help to withstand a price slump caused by booming production from Indonesia.
- by Peter Milne
How to solve our looming energy storage crisis? These companies are exploring high-tech solutions
A submersible buoy to harvest wave energy, superheated graphite alloy blocks, vanadium flow batteries, and compressed air generators are trying to solve the problem of storing renewable energy in the grid.
- by Simon Johanson
The WA companies that boomed and bombed in 2023
Normally, the saying is you need money to make money, but in WA it seems you need ore to make more – and keep a close watch on China, costs and the energy transition.
- by Peter Milne
Gina Rinehart strikes Azure blow in lithium battle
Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has joined forces with a Chilean mining giant in a $1.7 billion bid to takeover Australian lithium miner Azure Minerals.
- by Simon Johanson
Exclusive
Governance
Australian miner’s plan to pour millions into pocket of Congo middleman
Secret documents reveal an ASX-listed company’s legal advisers recommended an overhaul of its anti-corruption processes in the wake of a controversial payment.
- by Nick McKenzie
Opinion
Climate policy
Is Roger Cook right? Can WA save the planet by getting a bit dirty?
When is a summit not a summit? When everything has been decided beforehand. Welcome to WA’s pitch to be treated differently from the rest of the country to save the rest of the world.
- by Peter Milne
MinRes chases Western Australian government favour to export gas
Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources wants a five-year exemption from a Western Australian ban on the export of onshore gas, arguing it would help shore up domestic supply in years to come.
- by Peter Milne
Race for critical minerals boom to test government’s mettle
Australia is joining the United States to tackle China’s dominance in key green commodities. But the government faces tough choices to help local industry.
- by Mike Foley
Analysis
Electric vehicles
Red-dirt billionaires in race for ‘white gold’
Western Australia’s mining billionaires are scrambling for the state’s new gold rush: lithium.
- by Colin Kruger and Simon Johanson