According to The Australian Financial Review, every Australian lithium mine is losing money at today’s prices except for Western Australia’s famously low-cost Greenbushes, which could withstand a deeper commodity price rout, according to broker Citi.
Greenbushes is a joint venture 49 per cent-owned by US-listed Albemarle, and 51 per cent by ASX-listed IGO and China’s Tianqi.
The world’s biggest hard rock lithium mine is the only one of Australia’s seven producing lithium projects to be profitable, the broker argued, based on its analysis of their running costs at spot prices.
UBS warns the lithium sector will face a wave of mine closures as prices for the battery material struggle despite some companies putting projects on ice to sit out the bear market.
Prices for the lithium ore typical of Australia have collapsed more than 23 per cent over the past 45 days, fetching $US720 a tonne ($1066) on September 2, according to S&P Global’s Platts. That ore, which is spodumene concentrate with 6 per cent lithium content, was fetching more than $US8000 a tonne in 2022.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/the-only-profitable-lithium-mine-in-australia-revealed-20240903-p5k7gh
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According to The Australian Financial Review, BHP has vowed to grow iron ore export volumes in the face of declining demand from China and has warned higher-cost competitors will be “driven out of the market” as the commodity price softens.
BHP sold 287.7 million tonnes of Australian iron ore last year and plans to grow exports to 305 million tonnes in the “medium term” through low-cost initiatives.
BHP continues to study more expensive and longer-dated options to grow Australian iron ore exports to 330 million tonnes annually, but Mr Henry stressed the miner would consider the impact of those extra volumes on iron ore prices before investing in such an expansion.
BHP believes Chinese iron ore demand has peaked and will remain near current levels for several years before starting to decline. Sliding demand will coincide with increased supply from the likes of BHP and Rio Tinto’s Simandou project in Guinea.
“Should [iron ore supply] surpluses persist as we forecast, we would expect some high-cost suppliers to be driven out of the market over time,” said BHP in a market filing.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/bhp-cuts-dividend-to-fund-growth-splurge-20240826-p5k5ij

According to The Australian Financial Review, West Australian business wants the Albanese government to give carbon capture technology the same attention as green hydrogen, warning a lack of political will is jeopardising development of an industry critical to the state’s downstream processing ambitions.
The Cook Labor government wants to market WA as “the perfect place” for Asia to store its carbon emissions, but local industry is frustrated that Canberra reluctance to champion the technology is stifling an opportunity worth billions of dollars to the state.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/wa-urges-albanese-to-back-carbon-storage-20240819-p5k3h3
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese giant Nippon Steel says the Queensland government’s coal royalties grab influenced its decision to spend $1 billion buying a stake in Whitehaven’s Blackwater coking coal mine, amid rising concerns over supply security.
Nippon Steel and Japanese company JFE Steel collectively bought 30 per cent of Blackwater in a deal disclosed on Thursday, giving owner Whitehaven Coal a $US1.1 billion ($1.6 billion) cash injection.
In rare public comments, Nippon Steel said the Queensland government’s decision to raise coal royalty rates in 2022 would “certainly” decrease the supply of coking coal long term by discouraging investment in new mines.
The steel maker said fears of a future supply shortage had given it “a strong sense of urgency” to own more of the coal mines that feed its mills.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/japan-s-urgent-1-6b-mine-purchase-driven-by-qld-coal-royalties-20240821-p5k4at
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, environmental approval processes are obstructing critical renewable energy infrastructure needed to develop a lucrative green steel industry in Western Australia’s resource-rich Pilbara, experts warn.
A Climate Energy Finance report estimates Australia has the potential to double its iron export value to $250 billion by producing green iron, but not if it loses out to international competitors because governments and industry fail to develop the sector.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/slow-approvals-are-risking-the-next-mining-boom-report-20240812-p5k1o3

According to The Australian Financial Review, a reinvigorated AGL Energy has flagged a smaller-than-expected drop in earnings this coming year and announced $250 million of battery and solar acquisitions as it seeks to accelerate its build-out of clean energy and prepare for the exit of coal power.
Betashares responsible investments director Greg Liddell said the acquisitions of battery developer Firm Power and solar farm developer Terrain Solar “shows the transition to clean energy will create a range of opportunities across the energy sector”.
The acquisitions will boost AGL’s pipeline for potential projects by 8.1 gigawatts of capacity, with the most promising projects in Queensland and NSW. It will help AGL towards its target to deliver 12GW of new clean energy supply – split roughly equally between renewables and firming – by 2036.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/resurgent-agl-sprints-into-the-black-as-profits-surge-20240809-p5k151

According to The Australian Financial Review, Woodside Energy will spend $US2.35 billion ($3.7 billion) to purchase a gas-based ammonia project on the US Gulf Coast, representing its biggest investment yet in lower-carbon energy but fuelling market concerns that shareholder returns will suffer.
The cash acquisition of OCI Clean Ammonia Holding and its ammonia project under construction in Texas comes just two weeks after Woodside struck a $US900 million deal to buy the Driftwood LNG export venture in Louisiana, which will significantly increase its LNG production and trading capacity.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/woodside-signs-3-7b-deal-to-buy-lower-carbon-ammonia-project-20240805-p5jzoz
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, the growing list of warnings from independent energy regulators about looming gas shortfalls in Australia, and the urgent need for investment in new gas supply, seems to finally be sinking in with governments.
Yet despite the growing acceptance from the federal and east coast state governments of the long-term role of gas in Australia’s energy transition, this is yet to translate into actions to encourage new investment in gas supply and clear the long backlog of projects stuck in regulatory approval purgatory.

https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/we-need-to-clear-the-runway-for-new-gas-supply-20240729-p5jxb2
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm wants to expand the company’s lithium and copper divisions at a time when investors are increasingly supportive of deals and his big mining rivals are consolidating.
Fresh from reporting a $US5.75 billion ($8.9 billion) half-year profit, Mr Stausholm said Rio had reached an “inflection point” as internal growth projects such as Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi copper mine and Argentina’s Rincon lithium approached important delivery milestones.
“We would like to strengthen our lithium business, and we also have opportunities to grow our copper business,” he said. “I couldn’t care less about what the lithium price is in the next 12 months, I’m more thinking about how will the market and demand be over the next decade or two, and lithium is necessary in almost any construct of a battery.”

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/rio-tinto-interim-dividend-misses-estimates-20240730-p5jxqq

According to The Australian Financial Review, Origin Energy has moved quickly to expand its battery storage capacity at its Eraring generation site in NSW in a $450 million commitment that will add the type of longer-duration storage increasingly needed by the transitioning power grid.
The second stage of the Eraring battery will involve a storage system with more than four hours of capacity at a maximum output of 240 megawatts, and is due online in the March quarter of 2027.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/origin-energy-ups-battery-investments-with-450m-eraring-project-20240725-p5jwfc