According to The Australian Financial Review, an imminent return to boom-time employment levels in the Australian mining sector is likely to accelerate labour cost inflation that is already evident in the industry’s most active hubs in Western Australia and Queensland.
A landmark review of near-term investment intentions by the Australian Mines & Metals Association has identified $41 billion worth of projects that are likely to be installed across our mining nation over the five years to 2024.
As a result, AMMA anticipates that direct employment by the mining sector will grow by about 8 per cent – or more than 20,000 – between now and 2024.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/mining-employment-returns-to-boom-time-footing-20190916-p52rvp

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9828126 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia's fast-moving transition towards renewable energy has driven an explosion of interest in grid-scale battery projects nationwide but their wide-scale deployment is expected to require changes in regulation and market rules to ascribe value to the services they can deliver.
Battery proponents point to the ability of large-scale storage not only to provide grid balancing and smoothing services much more quickly and accurately than coal and gas plants, but to act as peaking power plants, replace the need to augment interstate transmission lines and help unlock new renewable energy resources.
Consultancy Rystad Energy has identified about 7000 megawatts of storage projects – either pumped hydro or battery – that have been proposed so far this year around the country.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/battery-project-line-up-defies-lingering-market-risks-20190912-p52qk9

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2974340
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According to The Australian Financial Review, BHP has agreed to buy 41 autonomous trucks from Japanese manufacturer Komatsu for its new South Flank mine, in a deal that could be worth up to $700 million over a decade once maintenance and support activities are included.
The deal with Komatsu comes despite BHP's iron ore division traditionally being aligned to American manufacturer Caterpillar, and despite Komatsu's long-standing status as a supplier of autonomous trucks to Rio Tinto's iron ore division.
BHP and Komatsu's partnership means the big miners have effectively swapped partners, after Rio's decision in May to choose Caterpillar as the supplier of 20 haul trucks, four autonomous drill rigs as well as bulldozers, diggers and loaders for the $US2.6 billion ($3.86 billion) Koodaideri mine that Rio is building in Western Australia.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/grass-always-greener-as-bhp-and-rio-swap-partners-20190904-p52nyu

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/bhp4265016 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Afterpay has been attracting more than 11,000 new customers each day for the past eight weeks, a faster-than-expected growth rate that has boosted total customers to 5.2 million.
Afterpay announced a strategic partnership with Visa in the United States to help it acquire new merchants by smoothing integration processes, and said customers and merchants had been joining the platform in its newest market of the United Kingdom at a faster rate than they did in the US.
Analysts say Afterpay’s ability to serve data insights to retailers will attract it to merchants. “Domestically, they have strong market share and with their data they know a lot about customer behaviour, spending trends, and how different generations spend.

https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/afterpay-customers-exceed-5-million-20190828-p52lfw
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If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5008654628
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher has highlighted the oil and gas producer's ability to pursue its two near-term growth projects in Western and northern Australia after posting a bigger-than-expected surge in first-half profits and a beefed-up dividend.
Both the Dorado oil and gas project in Western Australia, where Santos is fielding keen interest from prospective partners, and the Barossa gas project in the Timor Sea are rapidly heading towards development.
Mr Gallagher said that Dorado, where Santos announced a 68 per cent increase in resources, now represented a bigger reserves pool for the company than its business in Papua New Guinea, where an expansion project has been slowed by the change of prime minister.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/santos-chases-new-projects-after-bumper-profit-20190821-p52j7a

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3719698
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According to The Australian Financial Review, an insurance offering for gig economy workers and a new visual detection technology are among the first Australian companies funded by international incubator Antler, which plucks entrepreneurs from their day job for a tilt at start-up success.
The start-up "generator's" Australian outpost, which launched in March, has finalised its first 12 companies, where the fledgling entrepreneurs leave their jobs and get an $8000 stipend for their first two months, as they set about starting a new company.
The companies aim to get pre-seed investment $100,000 and a further seed investment at the end of the program.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/start-up-generator-funds-12-australian-companies-20190809-p52fin

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/6177056
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According to The Australian Financial Review, tourism jobs have grown 34 per cent in the past 10 years, leapfrogging the transport sector and wholesale industry, underlining its growing importance to the economy.
Tourist spending grew for the ninth year in a row to reach $143 billion a year, an increase of $50 billion in the past decade, according to new figures from Austrade. As a result tourism now employs almost 1 million people – or 1 in 13 of Australia's workforce.
The rapid growth of the tourism sector across all states and territories means it is close to overtaking the manufacturing sector in terms of total jobs created.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/tourism/tourism-now-employs-one-in-13-australians-20190815-p52hbv

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1316170395
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Sydney base start-up company, OpenSparkz, has built a loyalty platform that allows consumers to link their loyalty schemes to their credit card.
For the shopper, a purchase becomes a two-stage process, requiring them to fish around in their wallet for their loyalty card or find its digital equivalent on their phone.
For the retailer, it means added complexity. They usually have to install some kind of data capture system at the point of sale to recognise the card and capture the valuable customer data.
“Then they pay with that card and get the reward automatically. So it turns a two-step process that's high friction into a one-step process,” says McMullen. “They simply pay, get a real-time message to their phone to say, you are entitled to a discount or some frequent flyer points, whatever it might be.”
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https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/startup-links-loyalty-schemes-20190806-p52eic

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5461539
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According to The Australian Financial Review, BHP has given a downbeat view on lithium as it pushes ahead with development of a new nickel sulphate plant aimed at meeting what it predicts will be a "profound" increase in demand from the battery sector.
The company's born-again nickel division was on the chopping block until recently, but in May, chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said it was back in favour because it afforded extra exposure to the battery boom.
BHP Nickel West asset president Eddy Haegel revealed on Friday that the boss's backing for nickel came after the company had considered cobalt and lithium options and opted to pass on them.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/born-again-bhp-nickel-unit-eyes-battery-market-20190802-p52d62

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/bhp5018022
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia will need to develop a domestic hydrogen sector if it wants to capitalise on its huge potential as an exporter, amid competition from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Chile, which are also eagerly eyeing a potential $US2 trillion global market by 2050, said Pierre-Etienne Franc, secretary of the Hydrogen Council.
Mr Franc, who is also vice-president at Air Liquide, pointed to captive and back-to-base transport fleets, such as those used at mining sites, among the sectors that could be suitable for the early adoption of hydrogen fuel within Australia, while acknowledging the obvious major infrastructure hurdles in the way of a wider uptake of hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars.
Australia also needs to bring other countries alongside it in developing the hydrogen market, helping to foster use of the potential export markets of Japan and South Korea, and  to work with the industry internationally to develop and harmonise international standards for hydrogen products, he said during a visit this week to Australia.
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https://www.afr.com/business/energy/blessed-australia-needs-broader-effort-on-hydrogen-20190722-p529mj

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4305830 
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