MinRes to put lithium mine on ice, to cut 300 jobs
The company will put its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia under care and maintenance starting this week.
Exorbitant costs and the drying up of new developments have taken a severe toll on mining plant hire in the mineral-rich state of Western Australia.
Robert Gottliebsen writing for Business Spectator reports that Emeco (ASX:EHL), one of Australia’s leading equipment providers, announced last month that competition in the sector had heated up with one third of its Australian machinery was sitting idle and unleased.
Until recently the mining boom enabled equipment providers to charge exorbitant rates to mining and mining supply companies with near impunity, while lucrative profits drew a bevy of new competitors into the mining plant rental industry and machinery orders steadily accrued.
In just the past year, however, plunging commodities prices and an expensive Aussie dollar have changed the situation completely.
Mining and mining supply companies who are fed up with extravagant hire fees have increasingly opted to purchase their equipment themselves, considering it more economical to operate their own machinery.
At the same time Australia has become now one of the most costly places on the planet to develop new mining projects, leading to a lack of new developments and even more constricted business opportunities for equipment leasing.
According to Gottliebsen, while notorious iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart is still expected to go ahead with her Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara, few other new projects are proceeding as “Australia has priced itself out of the market.”
5 Comments
bunter
Australia now full of over paid fat lazy idiots and a useless government dictated by the unions work it out yourselves why all the gear is getting parked up
Gabsz
Pretty sure I am not fat, nor lazy nor overpaid if anything I am struggling to make ends meet, and the price of living is costly here but unless you are on the mines you don’t see those profits so this illusion that we are all over paid is just that, an illusion. So before you start overgeneralising mate, get your facts right.
HiJeckle
Canada is the Best place for developing a mine. It is free from the overzealous dictators of the 3rd world and burdensome unions of the free world.
Grit
True however, with more money comes more politicians
thinking and that leads to the issue with Australia. 5 years ago it was
Australia as the best place to do business. Now with the mining tax and other labor
union antics they are in the toilet. BEWARE thinking politician.
alber
Canada is far away from China, theshipping is not free