Best of the week — the five most popular stories among readers, July 8 – July 12, 2024

What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to @AuManufacturing were reading.

5) Magnetite secures Japanese support for green iron project

Magnetite Mines has secured Japanese financial support for its plans to develop a massive green iron ore mine and potential green iron or steel production near Port Pirie in South Australia.

The company has signed a non-binding Heads of Agreement with JFE Shoji Australia, a subsidiary of JFE Shoji Corporation and part of the JFE Holdings trading house.

MGT and JFE will now negotiate a binding transaction which will see JFE provide funding towards the completion of the Razorback Iron Ore Project Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).

4) Bowen visits green cement plant at coalition n-power site

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen has wasted little time in visiting one of the key sites proposed for a nuclear power station by the Coalition – Port Augusta in South Australia.

But Bowen was not there to spruik nuclear power, but to highlight the green cement and green concrete plant being built at the former Playford power station site by the Hallett Group.

Hallett Group CEO Kane Salisbury welcomed Bowen and SA Minister for Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantonis to the Hallett Green Cement Transformation Project which is centred on a 6MW electrolyser.

3) Queensland recycling plant focuses on glass, waste aggregate

A recycling plant at Caboolture, Queensland is turning glass bottles and polystyrene into building materials and next year will go further and begin producing masonry blocks from waste aggregate, removing quarried materials from the process.

Queensland State Development Minister Grace Grace visited the Casafico operation at Caboolture which was backed by a $175,000 Queensland and federal government investment through the Recycling Modernisation Fund.

The initial stages of operation will divert 653 tonnes of waste from landfill while creating products for the building industry and delivering 12 jobs.

2) Electrification startup eLumina says it will open $20 million Gold Coast factory next month

A $20 million Gold Coast factory producing both community lithium batteries and EV chargers will be operational next month, according to the company behind it.

In a statement on Tuesday, eLumina said the site was nearing completion and is set to produce 300 batteries annually, and that onshore EV technology manufacture would be essential to the nation’s energy future.

“Global demand for batteries is soaring. We have record solar uptake and energy generation in Australia, but we need battery storage at scale to harness its full potential,” said CEO Lisa Marsh.

1) Record number in free training in WA

A new record high of over 153,800 publicly funded vocational course enrolments were recorded in Western Australia in 2023.

Publicly funded course enrolments increased almost 10 per cent from 2022 bating the state’s previous record of 150,310 enrolments in 2021.

According to an announcement, growth was stimulated by more than 153,800 publicly funded vocational course enrolments in 2023, up 10 per cent from 2022.

Picture: Roger Cook chairs state Cabinet (credit WA government)