Manufacturing news briefs - stories you might have missed

Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

26 June 2025 08:30

By Staff Reporter

CSIRO, HILT CRC announce $10 million green metals initiative

A $10 million Green Metals Innovation Network (GMIN) — led by CSIRO in partnership with the Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre (HILT CRC) – was announced on Tuesday. According to a statement from CSIRO, the federal government-funded initiative will bring together research, government and industry to development of a domestic green metals industry for iron, steel, alumina and aluminium. GMIN is “a key initiative under the Australian Government’s Future Made in Australia agenda” according to the statement, and will coordinate a national ecosystem of research, innovation and capacity building to address technical and economic challenges accelerating green metals processing, de-risking development and deployment of new technologies suited to Australian ores and conditions, and drive understanding of how to lower cost and increase performance in new processing pathways.

Austin delivers first Chilean high value dipper bucket

Mining equipment business Austin Engineering said in Tuesday that its South American business unit has successfully completed the manufacture and delivery of a Cat 7495 model dipper bucket to a Chile-based customer. The previously announced electric rope shovel order is valued at approximately $2.5 million and was manufactured at Austin Chile’s facility in La Negra. Austin Chile has undertaken dipper and other bucket builds for South American customers, though this is the first time it has manufactured a Cat 7495 dipper bucket for local delivery in Chile, said Austin. The dipper weighs 86- tonne and can shift approximately 100 tonnes of material per pass. CEO and Managing Director, David Singleton, said: “I’m pleased to see the bucket business growth that has followed the [2022] Mainetec acquisition into international markets like Chile. We continue to see further sales opportunities on the back of South America’s growing mining industry…”

Joint federal-Queensland effort on Mount Isa’s transition

Queensland resources minister Dale Last and federal industry minister Tim Ayres held talks with senior leadership at Glencore over the future of the Mount Isa copper smelter and associated operations, the pair said on Friday, regarding potential next steps over the smelter. “As a vital industrial site for the Mount Isa community and the broader region, any closure of the Mount Isa copper smelter would have a detrimental impact on Australia’s sovereign capability and other facilities downstream that rely on the smelter,” said Ayres. “It’s good to be here on the ground in Queensland to work closely with the Queensland Government and hear directly from workers and industry to ensure we have a common foundation from which to continue working.” The Swiss commodity trader Glencore announced in 2023 that it will close its underground copper mine by July 2025, and the future of its copper smelter in Mount Isa and copper refinery in Townsville is uncertain.

Whyalla worker’s 56-year record commemorated

Noel Goldsworthy, the current Transport Projects Lead at OneSteel Manufacturing, has had a road named in his honour following a record-breaking milestone of 56.731 years service. According to a statement from OneSteel (which is currently under administration) on Wednesday, Goldsworthy (pictured) set the record of longest-serving employee at the Whyalla steelworks on June 18, surpassing “former colleague and good friend Brian Kennedy who managed 56.73 years.” The company said the record is unlikely to be bested, and that Goldsworthy began work at the steelworks on September 25, 1968, when it was owned and operated by BHP. It added: “Transferring to BHP Transport and taking over wharf operations and land logistics for steel distribution, Noel witnessed the BHP closure in 2000 and the spin off to ancillary company Arrium, the handover to GFG Alliance from the Arrium liquidation in 2016 and now the latest move into administration under KordaMentha.” Goldsworthy has also been Whyalla Golf Club Chairman for 25 years and is also involved in “community endeavours such as Apex, sporting committees and multiple fundraising ventures.”

SEMMA welcomes Victorian government gas backdown

Local industry representative the South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) said it welcomed this week’s Victorian government “about face on the immediate banning of gas appliances”. According to a statement from SEMMA on Tuesday, the move will help manufacturers who need to transition “to enable them to convert their current processes from manufacturing a gas appliance to an electric appliance” and that it had advocated for changes to the legislation since it was proposed. “These changes mean local manufacturers who currently produce gas appliances will be able to transition their processes to manufacture electric appliances,” said Honi Walker CEO SEMMA. “They will be able to keep their businesses and their employees and even grow as the need increases.” The government had previously wanted households to replace gas cookers and heaters, though will now phase in electric systems from March 2027 for new builds and when gas systems reach end of life.

Picture: supplied