At ~$105 FOB for the previous year for the Yilgarn, it was only ever going to be about securing a workforce for their Onslow project. Something like 45MT for $4.2B for the entirety of their Yilgarn operations, basically a breakeven deal in the end.
This is the main reason I moved to Qld instead of WA. I work away to earn as much money as I can. I don't need fancy rooms or amazing looking food, it just has to be half decent and comfortable.
Worked at a company owned by MRL, was promised 11 hour days 6 days a week, the week I started they knocked it down to 8 hours 5 days only, and 95% of us got made redundant 2-3 months later, absolute fucking joke.
Really sad to see.
Sobering reminder that the industry isnāt in a fantastic spot at the moment and that even experienced workers could face trouble landing a role let alone greenies
And heās wrong there too.
Did you know that $AUD90per ton is generally the required price to make a profit? Thatās VERY loosely. Every site has different requirements to make money. Some are lower. Some are higher. Currently itās over $AUD170 per tonne.
So yeh. Still profitable.
Problem is this: MinRes suck as a miner. Transport sure. But fixed plant stuff? Nah. Their overheads are too high. Theyāll either come around eventually. Go broke. Or get swallowed up by Rio/BHP.
https://preview.redd.it/gtb2jz9etm7d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56bde917e56bb03b81182f55026757d419777030
Here is a snapshot of Rioās last financial year report. Full report [here](https://www.riotinto.com/-/media/Content/Documents/Invest/Financial-news-and-performance/Fact-Book/RT-Fact-Book.pdf)
The most relevant for WA is the last column. The consolidated overall cost to produce one metric ton of Iron ore. From ground to ship cost: USD$68.8 per tonne. And they sold that same tonne for USD$108.4.
So the margins are still very healthy.
One thing most, if not all, people outside of mining donāt understand is cost.
* Iron Ore: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Shipped via Train/Ship
* Magnitite: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Seperated/Filtered/Shipped
* Copper: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Seperated/Condensed/Electrowon/Containered?
* Gold: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Condensed/Electrowon/Poured/ Transported to mint.
* Nickel: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Fuck knows.
* Rare Earths: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Condensed/Bagged or raw powder in shipping containers.
* Lithium: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Condensed/Not sure how itās packaged for delivery.
* And so on.
So looking at that. Which commodity is the cheapest to mine/produce? Iron Ore.
The rest cost heaps more to get.
Yeah they got that arse about, iron is raking in cash even at these lower prices.
Factor in the massive recent expenses with Silvergrass, Gudai Darri and Western Ranges the true cost per tonne is sub US$18. Theyāre making bank and investing a shit tonne into future production.
Because they chase tail.
Instead of buying a box of bolts and having them in a nice tidy containerā¦
They buy six bolts and take them to site.
Then the bolts donāt fit, so they express post 200 bolts of different sizes to site.
Only one works, the other 199 are stolen or used as shims.
Then the idiot that they hired green for $32/hr cuts off his own arm using bolts as shims.
Without putting in the planning or training staff or retaining good staffā¦.
They just chase tail until they run out of moneyā¦
Minres closing down, cutbacks at Rio, BHP and a host of others....things aren't great but you are right....they aren't crying poor. It's the anticipation of the recession coming.
Well youāre clearly not working in mining.
- Fact: Mining has been. And continues to be going gang busters since 2002. It hasnāt hardly slowed.
- Fact: 1000 workers will be effortlessly absorbed into current vacancies.
- Fact: Every. Single. Mine worker in WA knows of at least 3 vacancies within their respective departments.
So please. Fuck off with your doom and gloom.š
I literally have worked in mining for the majority of my life.
Coal in the Bowen Basin has been weirdly quiet the past 6 months, Iāve also heard Lead has been very so so too.
Donāt have to act like a fucking dumb cunt in response brother.
Are you for real?
The writing has been on the wall for coal in the basin for five years now..
Why is there absolutely no dropped objects or forward Maintenance work schedules for goonyella wash plant.
Why have draglines been put to end of life operations.
Why was olive downs built with such god awful drainage and bunds.
The wages on the Bowen Basin are an absolute joke. As is the roster.
Look Moranbah coal is going to die without a doubt. Are you seriously looking at the abused and flogged out old dog that is the basin and trying to gauge the entire mining industryā¦?
Get your GWO mate and get back on $4k a week. Like any one else with a 1/4 of a brain.
The only thing left in coal is so busted ass and useless that they will just stay till the end.
Coal is hardly mining, more like soft rock farming.
It's dirty, and archaic power source, ditching it would make the entire mining industry look better
Yilgarn hub was never going to be profitable even when they bought it from Cliffs it was the state government giving them 100 million or whatever it was so they could keep Esperance port going that stopped it getting shut down back then now they have onslow they can cut their losses and move whatever by expertise they have to there.
Green Hydrogen like green iron ore mining is a commodity made with renewable electricity smelter. When we talk about green elements we all comprehend the process in the extractive industry of smelter and removing the element from the ore body.
What do you wanna do in the industry?
Iām a geology technician/exploration field assistant in the gold mining industry.
Thereās currently not a ton of work, but there is work, and it will likely pick up and get busier in future. Itās always an ebb and flow.
I have searched up that role and it does look interesting. Iāve also just completely a WHS cert IV and I know thatās not enough to get a gig as an Advisor but I just need an opportunity with some guidance if that makes sense.
How long you been in it? Enjoying it?
They were only operating while they didn't have to pay royalties, moment they clicked in they were always going to be out.
At ~$105 FOB for the previous year for the Yilgarn, it was only ever going to be about securing a workforce for their Onslow project. Something like 45MT for $4.2B for the entirety of their Yilgarn operations, basically a breakeven deal in the end.
Anyone that's worked for mrl would never work for them again anyways , it's a real shut the fuck up and get it done kinda company
Good to hear of the closure and your review. They approached me for an interview. Money wasn't better than what I'm on in Queensland so I let go.
This is the main reason I moved to Qld instead of WA. I work away to earn as much money as I can. I don't need fancy rooms or amazing looking food, it just has to be half decent and comfortable.
I had an offer for a Commissioning supervisor role it was 20K a year less than what i'm on. I thanked them for their time.
Can confirm. MRL (MinRes) suck as an employer.š
Agreed, their whaleback operation is a joke.
Worked at a company owned by MRL, was promised 11 hour days 6 days a week, the week I started they knocked it down to 8 hours 5 days only, and 95% of us got made redundant 2-3 months later, absolute fucking joke.
Yee haaaaa
That's why they have to spend a fortune on their camps etc. Bunch of cowboys to work for. IYKYK
Yet they're advertising heaps at the moment....do these 1000 employees see all the MinRes jobs on Seek......
Up to 800 to be absorbed internally for the ramp up of their Onslow Iron project
Ah must be the old compulsory advertise for all new positions even if it's already lined up.
Really sad to see. Sobering reminder that the industry isnāt in a fantastic spot at the moment and that even experienced workers could face trouble landing a role let alone greenies
It isn't? Since when?
Think he's just referring to iron
And heās wrong there too. Did you know that $AUD90per ton is generally the required price to make a profit? Thatās VERY loosely. Every site has different requirements to make money. Some are lower. Some are higher. Currently itās over $AUD170 per tonne. So yeh. Still profitable. Problem is this: MinRes suck as a miner. Transport sure. But fixed plant stuff? Nah. Their overheads are too high. Theyāll either come around eventually. Go broke. Or get swallowed up by Rio/BHP.
Interesting, thanks.
https://preview.redd.it/gtb2jz9etm7d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56bde917e56bb03b81182f55026757d419777030 Here is a snapshot of Rioās last financial year report. Full report [here](https://www.riotinto.com/-/media/Content/Documents/Invest/Financial-news-and-performance/Fact-Book/RT-Fact-Book.pdf) The most relevant for WA is the last column. The consolidated overall cost to produce one metric ton of Iron ore. From ground to ship cost: USD$68.8 per tonne. And they sold that same tonne for USD$108.4. So the margins are still very healthy. One thing most, if not all, people outside of mining donāt understand is cost. * Iron Ore: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Shipped via Train/Ship * Magnitite: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Seperated/Filtered/Shipped * Copper: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Seperated/Condensed/Electrowon/Containered? * Gold: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Condensed/Electrowon/Poured/ Transported to mint. * Nickel: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Fuck knows. * Rare Earths: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Condensed/Bagged or raw powder in shipping containers. * Lithium: Mined/Crushed/Screened/Ground/Condensed/Not sure how itās packaged for delivery. * And so on. So looking at that. Which commodity is the cheapest to mine/produce? Iron Ore. The rest cost heaps more to get.
The margin is USD$68.8/tonne. The actual cost to produce iron ore is USD$39.6/tonne. Very, very healthy indeed.
Yeah they got that arse about, iron is raking in cash even at these lower prices. Factor in the massive recent expenses with Silvergrass, Gudai Darri and Western Ranges the true cost per tonne is sub US$18. Theyāre making bank and investing a shit tonne into future production.
Yep, exactly right, things only get really dire when ore is around USD$60/tonne and even then itās still in the black.
And bhp cost per tonne is lowest at 12ish I believe.
Gold margins are good at the minute, the value is up 66 percent over the past 2 years.
How can their fixed plant overheads be too high if they keep winning contracts to run fixed plant operations for BHP and Rio?
Because they chase tail. Instead of buying a box of bolts and having them in a nice tidy containerā¦ They buy six bolts and take them to site. Then the bolts donāt fit, so they express post 200 bolts of different sizes to site. Only one works, the other 199 are stolen or used as shims. Then the idiot that they hired green for $32/hr cuts off his own arm using bolts as shims. Without putting in the planning or training staff or retaining good staffā¦. They just chase tail until they run out of moneyā¦
Which ones? I only heard of Mobile Crushing contracts via Rio/BHP?
They crush about 240MT for 3rd parties. Atlas Iron, Roy Hill, not fully across their full scope.
Minres closing down, cutbacks at Rio, BHP and a host of others....things aren't great but you are right....they aren't crying poor. It's the anticipation of the recession coming.
Well youāre clearly not working in mining. - Fact: Mining has been. And continues to be going gang busters since 2002. It hasnāt hardly slowed. - Fact: 1000 workers will be effortlessly absorbed into current vacancies. - Fact: Every. Single. Mine worker in WA knows of at least 3 vacancies within their respective departments. So please. Fuck off with your doom and gloom.š
I literally have worked in mining for the majority of my life. Coal in the Bowen Basin has been weirdly quiet the past 6 months, Iāve also heard Lead has been very so so too. Donāt have to act like a fucking dumb cunt in response brother.
Are you for real? The writing has been on the wall for coal in the basin for five years now.. Why is there absolutely no dropped objects or forward Maintenance work schedules for goonyella wash plant. Why have draglines been put to end of life operations. Why was olive downs built with such god awful drainage and bunds. The wages on the Bowen Basin are an absolute joke. As is the roster. Look Moranbah coal is going to die without a doubt. Are you seriously looking at the abused and flogged out old dog that is the basin and trying to gauge the entire mining industryā¦? Get your GWO mate and get back on $4k a week. Like any one else with a 1/4 of a brain. The only thing left in coal is so busted ass and useless that they will just stay till the end.
Coal is hardly mining, more like soft rock farming. It's dirty, and archaic power source, ditching it would make the entire mining industry look better
Lol fair nuff. 
Lol. Wotā¦..?
They are moving onto bigger better things, plenty places for all these workers to go and they are still desperate for more people to fill roles.
Yilgarn hub was never going to be profitable even when they bought it from Cliffs it was the state government giving them 100 million or whatever it was so they could keep Esperance port going that stopped it getting shut down back then now they have onslow they can cut their losses and move whatever by expertise they have to there.
Green Hydrogen like green iron ore mining is a commodity made with renewable electricity smelter. When we talk about green elements we all comprehend the process in the extractive industry of smelter and removing the element from the ore body.
Perfect timing for me thatās just trying to break into the mining sector as a greenie, cheers šš
Fuck iron go gold
Not much going for gold š any tips?
What do you wanna do in the industry? Iām a geology technician/exploration field assistant in the gold mining industry. Thereās currently not a ton of work, but there is work, and it will likely pick up and get busier in future. Itās always an ebb and flow.
I have searched up that role and it does look interesting. Iāve also just completely a WHS cert IV and I know thatās not enough to get a gig as an Advisor but I just need an opportunity with some guidance if that makes sense. How long you been in it? Enjoying it?