Pantoro Gold will start developing a third underground mine at its Norseman gold project in Western Australia later this year, expanding beyond the existing OK and Scotia underground operations. The new decline will target additional high-grade lodes within the historic Norseman field, where past production has exceeded 5Moz, using conventional longhole stoping and existing processing capacity at the 1Mtpa Norseman plant. For geotechnical and mine planners, the move signals further sequencing of narrow-vein underground stopes and potential updates to ground support and dewatering strategies across the multi-mine complex.

Rox Resources has secured a $350 million funding package from three financiers to take the Youanmi gold project in Western Australia through to production, covering mine development, processing plant construction and associated infrastructure. The brownfields operation, centred on the historic Youanmi underground and open-pit workings, is planned as a conventional gold operation using a new processing facility rather than refurbishing legacy plant. For geotechnical and civil contractors, the funding clears the way for portal rehabilitation, new decline development, tailings storage facility construction and upgrades to site power and haul roads.

The Federal Government will provide $53 million to establish a new Cooperative Research Centre focused on boosting Australia’s critical minerals refining capability, targeting value-adding beyond raw lithium, rare earths and other battery and magnet metals. The CRC is expected to link universities, CSIRO and industry to develop refining flowsheets, pilot-scale processing and advanced materials, building domestic capability in hydrometallurgy, separation technologies and product qualification. For miners and processors, this signals stronger support for downstream projects, process innovation and local supply chains for cathode, permanent magnet and alloy precursors.