Work has begun at Osborne in Adelaide to construct the first of 12 new offshore patrol vessels for the Royal Australian Navy, Defence minister, Christopher Pyne said today. Government owned ASC is utilising steel cut in Perth for the vessels which are to be named the Arafura class after its first ship, HMAS Arafura. “The…
Liberty OneSteel’s owner, Sanjev Gupta has revealed he has assembled a team to develop plans for a major copper smelter in the iron triangle region of South Australia. Liberty is already investing more than $1 billion in boosting output at its Whyalla steelworks and on a combination of solar, wind, batteries and pumped hydro to…
A fully capable mine to finished product lithium supply chain is closer to a reality with the approval of a giant lithium refinery at Bunbury, south of Perth. The WA government has given Albemarle Corporation environmental approval for a lithium manufacturing plant in the State’s South-West. When in operation, the Albemarle plant will process spodumene…
Belgian group Nystar says it will lay off 120 of its 600 staff at the world’s largest lead smelter at Port Pirie in South Australia. The company confirmed the earlier @AuManufacturing repor that the completion of its $660 million plant upgrade meant fewer staff were required in future. A sinter plant and the former blast…
Fascinating statistics from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, 2018, show just which jobs are most vulnerable to automation or performance by a robot. But it is this image from Visual capitalist brings it home that it is not just manual labour, clerical work and data processing that are at risk. Even what…
Western Australian regional manufacturer, GrainKing has built a massive new production facility at Cunderdin in the WA wheat belt to boost output of its high-strength steel grain bins. Grain King, formerly known as Trufab, has just opened a 17,000 square metre workshop – roughly the size of the MCG – to make its Nyrex, Titan…
Australia’s leading manufacturer of enclosures and cabinets, B&R Enclosures, has opened its latest production facility in Suzhou, China taking its manufacturing footprint globally to more than 40,000 square metres. The plant, which offers mechanical and electrical design, engineering, manufacturing, project and supply chain management services, has been designed to apply industry 4.0 technologies. Mr Marko…
Hearing implant maker Cochlear (ASX:COH) has expanded beyond its hearing speciality into the field of sleep, an area now dominated by fellow Australian manufacturer ResMed. Cochlear invested $21 million in a capital raising by Nyxoah S.A., a Belgian medical device company commercialising a nerve stimulation implant for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Jan Janssen,…
BAE Systems Australia has celebrated the production of its 3,000th missile controller used to guide the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM). Developed jointly by Australia, the United States and Canada, ESSM protects our warships against anti-ship missiles. BAE’s thrust vector controller guides the ESSM during the launch phase. BAE’s Australian CEO Gabby Costigan said yesterday…
US commercial rocket company, Rocket Lab last night launched its low cost Electron rocket into space, carrying two Australian micro-satellites into orbit. The Electron lifted off from the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island late evening AEST carrying Fleet Space Technologies Proxima 1 and 2 satellites. The rocket, nick named “It’s Business Time”, reached…
