Best of the week — the five most popular stories among readers, September 15 – September 19, 2025

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

5) Green Gravity says former Wollongong Resources coal mine to host world’s first demo deployment of “breakthrough technology”

Green Gravity and Wollongong Resources have announced execution of a binding agreement for gravitational energy storage trials at the Russell Vale mine.

The pair previously signed a Memorandum of Understanding, announced December 2023, and have since worked closely to assess the Russell Vale site for suitability in accommodating gravitational energy storage.

According to Green Gravity, there are multiple mineshafts at the site well-suited, “with the #4 mineshaft confirmed as the site of the world’s first deployment of the breakthrough technology.” It is currently completing completing engineering study and regulatory approvals for the deployment at #4.

4) DroneShield passes 4,000 sales mark with $8 million US order

Counter-drone business DroneShield has announced that it has passed a milestone of 4,000 systems sold worldwide, with two new standalone contracts totalling approximately $7.9 million for delivery to the U.S. Department of Defense.

According to a statement on Wednesday from DroneShield – which announced earlier this month that it is joining the ASX200 list – it expects to deliver all equipment in Q4 2025. Cash payment for the order of handheld systems is expected in the same quarter.

“Passing 4,000 systems in service is an important milestone for our team and our customers,” said Matt McCrann, the company’s US CEO.

3) New graphene oxide super-material is on the way to delivering next-generation supercapacitors, researchers say

Australian researchers have identified “a new kind of carbon-based material” allowing supercapacitors to store as much energy as lead-acid batteries while also performing better than conventional batteries at delivering power quickly.

According to a statement from the university on Tuesday, the results are “a major leap forward” for fast, powerful energy storage devices, and are now being commercialised by Ionic Industries.

The new material is named as multiscale reduced graphene oxide (M-rGO) and was created from naturally-occurring graphite. It is described as being made using a “rapid thermal annealing process” and featuring a “highly curved graphene structure with precise pathways for ions to move quickly and efficiently”.

2) National Reconstruction Fund to deliver newly-named $5 billion Net Zero Fund

The federal government has announced a $5 billion Net Zero Fund aimed at supporting the decarbonisation of heavy industry, to be delivered by the National Reconstruction Fund (NRF) with capital drawn from the existing $15 billion program.

The announcement on Thursday coincided with the government’s release of its 2035 climate target – a 62-70 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions versus 2005 levels – as well as its Net Zero Plan, explaining what it hopes to do to achieve this.

According to a statement from Tim Ayres on Wednesday, the The Net Zero Fund will “support large industrial facilities to make major investments in new equipment, technologies and processes to decarbonise” as well as “help ensure facilities are fit for future production while preserving good jobs in regional and outer-suburban Australia.”

1) Haigh’s Chocolates opens new $120 million factory 

Haigh’s Chocolates, the 110-year-old, family-owned maker of premium chocolate products, has officially opened its new $120 million, 18,000 square metre facility at Adelaide’s Salisbury South.

Construction of the new production, warehouse and online fulfillment facility was announced in late-2023. The now-opened site represents the company’s biggest-ever single investment, is currently producing 1,100 tonnes of chocolate annually, and has capacity for 2,000 tonnes.

“The Salisbury South Complex is a significant physical manifestation of a company-wide investment in people, systems and capabilities over the last four years,” said Peter Millard, who replaced Alister Haigh as CEO in August.

Picture: supplied