Boral hit by east coast floods Building products group Boral has seen its earnings hit adversely by lower sales following the recent floods in New South Eales and Queensland. The company now expects operating profit (EBIT) to fall to between $145 million and $155 million for FY22. CEO Zlatko Todorcevski said the impact to earnings…
Australia has vast resources of battery minerals and the beginnings of a battery metals value chain, but little in the way of value-added manufacturing. According to Shannon O’Rourke, the time for action to seize the opportunity is now. The Australian mining industry saved Australia from recession in the GFC and again during the Covid-19 pandemic.…
Hydrogen, gas and mobility business Pure Hydrogen has partnered with domestic waste collector JJ’s Waste & Recycling to trial Australia’s first-ever hydrogen fuelled garbage truck (pictured). The trial with JJ’s Waste & Recycling, Australia’s largest privately-owned waste management company, will begin at the end of 2022 in South East Queensland and opens the way to…
Passive radar systems manufacturer Silentium Defence has partnered with the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Duke University engineering researchers to improve disaster monitoring and management from spacecraft. Capabilities to be explored under a new partnership utilising Adelaide-based Silentium’s passive military radar technology include faster, more accurate storm predictions, real-time tracking of…
DXN signs fourth undersea cable contract Prefabricated modular data centre manufacturer DXN has signed its fourth contract received for additional work on the Oman Australia Cable System. The company has signed a $1.2 million contract to supply additional fibre and civil works to the cable system owner SUB.CO. The Oman Australia Cable is a 9,800km…
By Brandon How New research from the Australian National University has laid out the capabilities needed if Australia is to adopt a zero-carbon export model. Calculations in the study found that in the financial year 2018-19, Australia exported the equivalent of almost two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide through its ‘benchmark exports’, roughly four per…
By Peter Roberts One of the truisms that come from the forces ranged against Australian manufacturing is that local labour costs are too high to compete with countries where labour is cheap and labour laws are lax. Of course this was never true, otherwise why would high-cost Germany etc be seen as powerful and competitive…
Perth mining equipment manufacturer Austin Engineering has more than doubled its order book over the past year on the back of a renewed focus on manufacturing efficiency and a recovery in the mining market. The company announced today that it has received $81 million in new orders across the business in the three months to…
By Peter Roberts Having previously led the world with the installation of the world-first Hornsdale big battery, the incoming Labor government in South Australia plans to do the same with the construction of a state-owned hydrogen electrolyser and green hydrogen-fired power station at Whyalla. Costed at $593 million, the 250 MWe electrolysers, 200MW power station…
Researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide have developed ‘smart polymers’ made from waste chemicals that not only protect pipework but remove mercury from water. They claim ‘an imaginative approach to polymer surface coating’ produced a sustainable way to remove mercury while providing a wide range of protection including for preventing metal corrosion and solvent damage…
