Electric expectations as mining conference goes nuclear
While goldminers dominate the speaking program of the three-day mining industry networking fest, uranium will be the focus of the curtain-raiser keynote on Monday morning.
For the first time in the conference's 34-year history, the keynote will take the form of a panel discussion.
Canadian physician turned nuclear evangelist Chris Keefer has been flown into the Western Australian gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie, alongside Centre for Independent Studies energy analyst Aidan Morrison and the free market think tank's executive director Tom Switzer.
The panel was scheduled before the coalition's catastrophic federal election meltdown in May, when their nuclear power ambitions went up in flames.
But Diggers chairman Jim Walker says the setback doesn't dim the importance of the topic.
As Australia grapples with the question of how to power its energy transition, it's worth listening to an international perspective, he says.
"Look, we've seen a change going from diesel-powered submarines to nuclear-powered submarines," he told AAP.
"We are non-political, all right. We are definitely non-political. We just thought, from the interest we've had from miners around the place asking the question about where we're going to get our power from, let's grab hold of these people and let them give their presentation."
Paul Hemburrow, chief operating officer of the ASX's largest dedicated uranium miner, Paladin Energy, will try to drum up investor interest as he follows up the keynote with the first presentation of the forum.
Even without the evaporated prospect of a domestic nuclear market, it's been a tricky time for the uranium sector.
Prices have slumped in 2025 after the emergence of Chinese AI disruptor DeepSeek challenged assumptions that the technology would fuel a massive increase in energy demand globally.
Uranium has rebounded slightly since but Paladin faced a further setback in late July when its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia missed its output guidance.
Traders dumped shares in the Perth-based miner, which is down nearly 21 per cent since the start of 2025.
Paladin has taken the title of the most shorted stock on the ASX, while second-placed Boss Energy suffered an even more brutal 40 per cent sell-off after it warned traders it would miss its projected output at its Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia.
Boss Energy chief executive Duncan Craib will be second cab off the rank to deliver a presentation at Diggers.
The previous prime target for short sellers - lithium miners - will be feeling slightly more bullish as they look to revive interest in the industry at the forum.
There is increasing optimism that prices for the battery ingredient may have bottomed out following a dire three-year bear market, as China looks to stamp out oversupply.
The Diggers and Dealers mining forum will take on a radioactive yellow hue as uranium miners take centre stage on opening day.
While goldminers dominate the speaking program of the three-day mining industry networking fest, uranium will be the focus of the curtain-raiser keynote on Monday morning.
For the first time in the conference's 34-year history, the keynote will take the form of a panel discussion.
Canadian physician turned nuclear evangelist Chris Keefer has been flown into the Western Australian gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie, alongside Centre for Independent Studies energy analyst Aidan Morrison and the free market think tank's executive director Tom Switzer.
The panel was scheduled before the coalition's catastrophic federal election meltdown in May, when their nuclear power ambitions went up in flames.
But Diggers chairman Jim Walker says the setback doesn't dim the importance of the topic.
As Australia grapples with the question of how to power its energy transition, it's worth listening to an international perspective, he says.
"Look, we've seen a change going from diesel-powered submarines to nuclear-powered submarines," he told AAP.
"We are non-political, all right. We are definitely non-political. We just thought, from the interest we've had from miners around the place asking the question about where we're going to get our power from, let's grab hold of these people and let them give their presentation."
Paul Hemburrow, chief operating officer of the ASX's largest dedicated uranium miner, Paladin Energy, will try to drum up investor interest as he follows up the keynote with the first presentation of the forum.
Even without the evaporated prospect of a domestic nuclear market, it's been a tricky time for the uranium sector.
Prices have slumped in 2025 after the emergence of Chinese AI disruptor DeepSeek challenged assumptions that the technology would fuel a massive increase in energy demand globally.
Uranium has rebounded slightly since but Paladin faced a further setback in late July when its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia missed its output guidance.
Traders dumped shares in the Perth-based miner, which is down nearly 21 per cent since the start of 2025.
Paladin has taken the title of the most shorted stock on the ASX, while second-placed Boss Energy suffered an even more brutal 40 per cent sell-off after it warned traders it would miss its projected output at its Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia.
Boss Energy chief executive Duncan Craib will be second cab off the rank to deliver a presentation at Diggers.
The previous prime target for short sellers - lithium miners - will be feeling slightly more bullish as they look to revive interest in the industry at the forum.
There is increasing optimism that prices for the battery ingredient may have bottomed out following a dire three-year bear market, as China looks to stamp out oversupply.
The Diggers and Dealers mining forum will take on a radioactive yellow hue as uranium miners take centre stage on opening day.
While goldminers dominate the speaking program of the three-day mining industry networking fest, uranium will be the focus of the curtain-raiser keynote on Monday morning.
For the first time in the conference's 34-year history, the keynote will take the form of a panel discussion.
Canadian physician turned nuclear evangelist Chris Keefer has been flown into the Western Australian gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie, alongside Centre for Independent Studies energy analyst Aidan Morrison and the free market think tank's executive director Tom Switzer.
The panel was scheduled before the coalition's catastrophic federal election meltdown in May, when their nuclear power ambitions went up in flames.
But Diggers chairman Jim Walker says the setback doesn't dim the importance of the topic.
As Australia grapples with the question of how to power its energy transition, it's worth listening to an international perspective, he says.
"Look, we've seen a change going from diesel-powered submarines to nuclear-powered submarines," he told AAP.
"We are non-political, all right. We are definitely non-political. We just thought, from the interest we've had from miners around the place asking the question about where we're going to get our power from, let's grab hold of these people and let them give their presentation."
Paul Hemburrow, chief operating officer of the ASX's largest dedicated uranium miner, Paladin Energy, will try to drum up investor interest as he follows up the keynote with the first presentation of the forum.
Even without the evaporated prospect of a domestic nuclear market, it's been a tricky time for the uranium sector.
Prices have slumped in 2025 after the emergence of Chinese AI disruptor DeepSeek challenged assumptions that the technology would fuel a massive increase in energy demand globally.
Uranium has rebounded slightly since but Paladin faced a further setback in late July when its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia missed its output guidance.
Traders dumped shares in the Perth-based miner, which is down nearly 21 per cent since the start of 2025.
Paladin has taken the title of the most shorted stock on the ASX, while second-placed Boss Energy suffered an even more brutal 40 per cent sell-off after it warned traders it would miss its projected output at its Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia.
Boss Energy chief executive Duncan Craib will be second cab off the rank to deliver a presentation at Diggers.
The previous prime target for short sellers - lithium miners - will be feeling slightly more bullish as they look to revive interest in the industry at the forum.
There is increasing optimism that prices for the battery ingredient may have bottomed out following a dire three-year bear market, as China looks to stamp out oversupply.
The Diggers and Dealers mining forum will take on a radioactive yellow hue as uranium miners take centre stage on opening day.
While goldminers dominate the speaking program of the three-day mining industry networking fest, uranium will be the focus of the curtain-raiser keynote on Monday morning.
For the first time in the conference's 34-year history, the keynote will take the form of a panel discussion.
Canadian physician turned nuclear evangelist Chris Keefer has been flown into the Western Australian gold-mining town of Kalgoorlie, alongside Centre for Independent Studies energy analyst Aidan Morrison and the free market think tank's executive director Tom Switzer.
The panel was scheduled before the coalition's catastrophic federal election meltdown in May, when their nuclear power ambitions went up in flames.
But Diggers chairman Jim Walker says the setback doesn't dim the importance of the topic.
As Australia grapples with the question of how to power its energy transition, it's worth listening to an international perspective, he says.
"Look, we've seen a change going from diesel-powered submarines to nuclear-powered submarines," he told AAP.
"We are non-political, all right. We are definitely non-political. We just thought, from the interest we've had from miners around the place asking the question about where we're going to get our power from, let's grab hold of these people and let them give their presentation."
Paul Hemburrow, chief operating officer of the ASX's largest dedicated uranium miner, Paladin Energy, will try to drum up investor interest as he follows up the keynote with the first presentation of the forum.
Even without the evaporated prospect of a domestic nuclear market, it's been a tricky time for the uranium sector.
Prices have slumped in 2025 after the emergence of Chinese AI disruptor DeepSeek challenged assumptions that the technology would fuel a massive increase in energy demand globally.
Uranium has rebounded slightly since but Paladin faced a further setback in late July when its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia missed its output guidance.
Traders dumped shares in the Perth-based miner, which is down nearly 21 per cent since the start of 2025.
Paladin has taken the title of the most shorted stock on the ASX, while second-placed Boss Energy suffered an even more brutal 40 per cent sell-off after it warned traders it would miss its projected output at its Honeymoon uranium mine in South Australia.
Boss Energy chief executive Duncan Craib will be second cab off the rank to deliver a presentation at Diggers.
The previous prime target for short sellers - lithium miners - will be feeling slightly more bullish as they look to revive interest in the industry at the forum.
There is increasing optimism that prices for the battery ingredient may have bottomed out following a dire three-year bear market, as China looks to stamp out oversupply.
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Trump under mounting pressure over Epstein documents
Donald Trump is seeking to quell discontent from his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over his administration's handling of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases. Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted in 2021 of helping him sexually abuse teenage girls, says she opposed the US government's bid to release transcripts of proceedings before the grand jury that indicted her. In a court filing on Tuesday, Maxwell's lawyers said the release of the materials would jeopardise a potential re-trial if she succeeds in persuading the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. "The reputational harm from releasing incomplete, potentially misleading grand jury testimony, untested by cross-examination, would be severe and irrevocable," her lawyers wrote. Trump in July instructed Attorney-General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material. Republican Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if re-elected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump's supporters. Epstein took his own life in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Grand juries meet in secret to guard against interference in criminal investigations, and records of their proceedings cannot be disclosed without a judge's permission. The Justice Department has cited what it calls continuing public interest in the cases in asking Manhattan-based judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to authorise the disclosure of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury transcripts. The judges asked lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein's estate, and the alleged victims to weigh in on the possible disclosure by Tuesday. Lawyers for Epstein's estate said they took no position on whether the transcripts should be released. A lawyer for Annie Farmer, who testified at Maxwell's trial that Maxwell and Epstein abused her at Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16, said disclosing the transcripts may provide additional details about people who facilitated Epstein's alleged abuse. "The public has a legitimate interest in understanding the full scope of Epstein's and Maxwell's crimes," wrote the lawyer, Sigrid McCawley. Bradley Edwards, a lawyer for several alleged victims of Epstein and Maxwell, wrote in a filing that any disclosure of grand jury material should shield the alleged victims' identities, and that their lawyers should be able to review the material before it is made public. It is unclear whether the public would learn anything new or noteworthy if such material were released. Earlier on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a court filing that much of the testimony from law enforcement officers at Maxwell's grand jury proceedings in 2020 was corroborated by the victims and witnesses who testified publicly at her trial the following year. Maxwell's lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates. The court is due to consider whether to take up the appeal in late September. Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell in July o see if she had any information about other people who may have committed crimes. Neither party has provided a detailed account of what they discussed. Maxwell last week was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security facility in Texas. Donald Trump is seeking to quell discontent from his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over his administration's handling of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases. Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted in 2021 of helping him sexually abuse teenage girls, says she opposed the US government's bid to release transcripts of proceedings before the grand jury that indicted her. In a court filing on Tuesday, Maxwell's lawyers said the release of the materials would jeopardise a potential re-trial if she succeeds in persuading the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. "The reputational harm from releasing incomplete, potentially misleading grand jury testimony, untested by cross-examination, would be severe and irrevocable," her lawyers wrote. Trump in July instructed Attorney-General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material. Republican Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if re-elected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump's supporters. Epstein took his own life in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Grand juries meet in secret to guard against interference in criminal investigations, and records of their proceedings cannot be disclosed without a judge's permission. The Justice Department has cited what it calls continuing public interest in the cases in asking Manhattan-based judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to authorise the disclosure of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury transcripts. The judges asked lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein's estate, and the alleged victims to weigh in on the possible disclosure by Tuesday. Lawyers for Epstein's estate said they took no position on whether the transcripts should be released. A lawyer for Annie Farmer, who testified at Maxwell's trial that Maxwell and Epstein abused her at Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16, said disclosing the transcripts may provide additional details about people who facilitated Epstein's alleged abuse. "The public has a legitimate interest in understanding the full scope of Epstein's and Maxwell's crimes," wrote the lawyer, Sigrid McCawley. Bradley Edwards, a lawyer for several alleged victims of Epstein and Maxwell, wrote in a filing that any disclosure of grand jury material should shield the alleged victims' identities, and that their lawyers should be able to review the material before it is made public. It is unclear whether the public would learn anything new or noteworthy if such material were released. Earlier on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a court filing that much of the testimony from law enforcement officers at Maxwell's grand jury proceedings in 2020 was corroborated by the victims and witnesses who testified publicly at her trial the following year. Maxwell's lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates. The court is due to consider whether to take up the appeal in late September. Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell in July o see if she had any information about other people who may have committed crimes. Neither party has provided a detailed account of what they discussed. Maxwell last week was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security facility in Texas. Donald Trump is seeking to quell discontent from his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over his administration's handling of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases. Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted in 2021 of helping him sexually abuse teenage girls, says she opposed the US government's bid to release transcripts of proceedings before the grand jury that indicted her. In a court filing on Tuesday, Maxwell's lawyers said the release of the materials would jeopardise a potential re-trial if she succeeds in persuading the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. "The reputational harm from releasing incomplete, potentially misleading grand jury testimony, untested by cross-examination, would be severe and irrevocable," her lawyers wrote. Trump in July instructed Attorney-General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material. Republican Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if re-elected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump's supporters. Epstein took his own life in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Grand juries meet in secret to guard against interference in criminal investigations, and records of their proceedings cannot be disclosed without a judge's permission. The Justice Department has cited what it calls continuing public interest in the cases in asking Manhattan-based judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to authorise the disclosure of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury transcripts. The judges asked lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein's estate, and the alleged victims to weigh in on the possible disclosure by Tuesday. Lawyers for Epstein's estate said they took no position on whether the transcripts should be released. A lawyer for Annie Farmer, who testified at Maxwell's trial that Maxwell and Epstein abused her at Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16, said disclosing the transcripts may provide additional details about people who facilitated Epstein's alleged abuse. "The public has a legitimate interest in understanding the full scope of Epstein's and Maxwell's crimes," wrote the lawyer, Sigrid McCawley. Bradley Edwards, a lawyer for several alleged victims of Epstein and Maxwell, wrote in a filing that any disclosure of grand jury material should shield the alleged victims' identities, and that their lawyers should be able to review the material before it is made public. It is unclear whether the public would learn anything new or noteworthy if such material were released. Earlier on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a court filing that much of the testimony from law enforcement officers at Maxwell's grand jury proceedings in 2020 was corroborated by the victims and witnesses who testified publicly at her trial the following year. Maxwell's lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates. The court is due to consider whether to take up the appeal in late September. Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell in July o see if she had any information about other people who may have committed crimes. Neither party has provided a detailed account of what they discussed. Maxwell last week was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security facility in Texas. Donald Trump is seeking to quell discontent from his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over his administration's handling of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases. Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted in 2021 of helping him sexually abuse teenage girls, says she opposed the US government's bid to release transcripts of proceedings before the grand jury that indicted her. In a court filing on Tuesday, Maxwell's lawyers said the release of the materials would jeopardise a potential re-trial if she succeeds in persuading the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. "The reputational harm from releasing incomplete, potentially misleading grand jury testimony, untested by cross-examination, would be severe and irrevocable," her lawyers wrote. Trump in July instructed Attorney-General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material. Republican Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if re-elected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump's supporters. Epstein took his own life in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Grand juries meet in secret to guard against interference in criminal investigations, and records of their proceedings cannot be disclosed without a judge's permission. The Justice Department has cited what it calls continuing public interest in the cases in asking Manhattan-based judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to authorise the disclosure of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury transcripts. The judges asked lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein's estate, and the alleged victims to weigh in on the possible disclosure by Tuesday. Lawyers for Epstein's estate said they took no position on whether the transcripts should be released. A lawyer for Annie Farmer, who testified at Maxwell's trial that Maxwell and Epstein abused her at Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16, said disclosing the transcripts may provide additional details about people who facilitated Epstein's alleged abuse. "The public has a legitimate interest in understanding the full scope of Epstein's and Maxwell's crimes," wrote the lawyer, Sigrid McCawley. Bradley Edwards, a lawyer for several alleged victims of Epstein and Maxwell, wrote in a filing that any disclosure of grand jury material should shield the alleged victims' identities, and that their lawyers should be able to review the material before it is made public. It is unclear whether the public would learn anything new or noteworthy if such material were released. Earlier on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a court filing that much of the testimony from law enforcement officers at Maxwell's grand jury proceedings in 2020 was corroborated by the victims and witnesses who testified publicly at her trial the following year. Maxwell's lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates. The court is due to consider whether to take up the appeal in late September. Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell in July o see if she had any information about other people who may have committed crimes. Neither party has provided a detailed account of what they discussed. Maxwell last week was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security facility in Texas.
Perth Now
2 hours ago
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Trump under mounting pressure over Epstein documents
Donald Trump is seeking to quell discontent from his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats over his administration's handling of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases. Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted in 2021 of helping him sexually abuse teenage girls, says she opposed the US government's bid to release transcripts of proceedings before the grand jury that indicted her. In a court filing on Tuesday, Maxwell's lawyers said the release of the materials would jeopardise a potential re-trial if she succeeds in persuading the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. "The reputational harm from releasing incomplete, potentially misleading grand jury testimony, untested by cross-examination, would be severe and irrevocable," her lawyers wrote. Trump in July instructed Attorney-General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury material. Republican Trump had promised to make public Epstein-related files if re-elected and accused Democrats of covering up the truth. But in July, the Justice Department said a previously touted Epstein client list did not exist, angering Trump's supporters. Epstein took his own life in jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Grand juries meet in secret to guard against interference in criminal investigations, and records of their proceedings cannot be disclosed without a judge's permission. The Justice Department has cited what it calls continuing public interest in the cases in asking Manhattan-based judges Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer to authorise the disclosure of the Epstein and Maxwell grand jury transcripts. The judges asked lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein's estate, and the alleged victims to weigh in on the possible disclosure by Tuesday. Lawyers for Epstein's estate said they took no position on whether the transcripts should be released. A lawyer for Annie Farmer, who testified at Maxwell's trial that Maxwell and Epstein abused her at Epstein's New Mexico ranch when she was 16, said disclosing the transcripts may provide additional details about people who facilitated Epstein's alleged abuse. "The public has a legitimate interest in understanding the full scope of Epstein's and Maxwell's crimes," wrote the lawyer, Sigrid McCawley. Bradley Edwards, a lawyer for several alleged victims of Epstein and Maxwell, wrote in a filing that any disclosure of grand jury material should shield the alleged victims' identities, and that their lawyers should be able to review the material before it is made public. It is unclear whether the public would learn anything new or noteworthy if such material were released. Earlier on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a court filing that much of the testimony from law enforcement officers at Maxwell's grand jury proceedings in 2020 was corroborated by the victims and witnesses who testified publicly at her trial the following year. Maxwell's lawyers have told the Supreme Court that her conviction was invalid because a non-prosecution and plea agreement that federal prosecutors had made with Epstein in Florida in 2007 also shielded his associates. The court is due to consider whether to take up the appeal in late September. Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche met with Maxwell in July o see if she had any information about other people who may have committed crimes. Neither party has provided a detailed account of what they discussed. Maxwell last week was moved from a prison in Florida to a lower-security facility in Texas.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Diggers and Dealers panel questions Australia's energy future and emissions target
Duelling perspectives on Australia's transition to renewables and whether it is dead in the water have played out on the floor of one of the country's major annual mining conferences. More than 2,300 delegates are in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 600 kilometres east of Perth, for the annual Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum, bringing the industry's practical and financial arms together for the 34th time in Western Australia's gold mining capital. While this year's gathering comes amid a surging gold price, questions over housing the industry's local workforce, and shaky futures for nickel and rare earths, organisers chose to shine a spotlight on the future and feasibility of Australia's shift to renewables. While miners, particularly in remote parts of Western Australia, have followed the state's smaller communities in setting up their own independent renewable energy infrastructure, the forum's keynote panel questioned the likelihood of renewables meeting the nation's total energy needs. The panel, featuring Canadian nuclear energy advocate Chris Keefer and Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) director of energy research Aidan Morrison, urged attendees to question the assumptions being made by industry and political leaders. "There is no serious intellectual defence for the prospect we'd meet net-zero targets in 2050," Mr Morrison said. He told the forum that the transition to a fully renewable grid was only being propelled by increasingly generous state and federal subsidies. "Forcibly intubated and resuscitated by government subsidies," he said. "It shows what it looks like to have a resuscitated zombie coming to life, the dead starting to walk again." Dr Keefer said nations such as Australia and Canada were getting caught up in a geopolitical fight over energy between China and the United States that they had no part in. "The levers of emissions reduction are not really in the hands of countries like Canada and Australia anymore," he said. "In Inner Mongolia, [China is] building what they call 'energy bases' — something like 6 gigawatts of solar, similar amounts of wind and batteries. "But also coal, mine-mouth coal, 4 to 5 gigawatts." The panel, moderated by broadcaster and CIS executive director Tom Switzer, also questioned the feasibility of renewables powering Australia's enormous grids on the largest possible scale. "As if we're some singular, big bucket where if it's sunny somewhere, it's immediately shareable somewhere else on the continent," Mr Morrison said. "If you think about that from a cold, hard engineering perspective, it is absolutely bonkers." Others at the conference were more positive about renewables and pointed to smaller, localised successes. Australia's first "net-zero" gold mine was announced at the forum late on Tuesday. Bellevue Resources managing director Darren Stralow said the mine, 40km north of Leinster in the northern Goldfields, recorded net-zero carbon emissions for the first half of 2025. "It's allowed us to work with some like-minded partners, to see if there's a benefit to that in terms of revenue, and to look to sell our gold in a bit of a different way." The mine is forecast to be 80–90 per cent powered by renewable energy, the highest penetration in Australia. For Regis Resources managing director Jim Beyer, renewables were a question of economics rather than advocacy. "For a remote mine site, renewables make good economic sense," Mr Beyer said. "At Duketon [1,000km north-east of Perth] we put in a solar farm and it saved us diesel. It is a similar story with wind and solar infrastructure at the remote Tropicana Gold Mine, about 1,000km east of Perth. "Power there runs off gas," Mr Beyer said. "But when the blades are turning and the sun's out … it's cost-sensible as well as carbon reduction." Resources Minister Madeleine King pointed to heavy renewable energy investment at the Kathleen Valley Lithium Mine and the Bellevue Gold Mine, while reiterating the government's position. "I don't mind people having an opinion; I don't share that opinion," she said, in response to the keynote panel's comments. Her West Australian counterpart, David Michael, said there would be no shift in the government's position on uranium mining, ruling out any further approvals following those granted by the Barnett Liberal Government in 2017. Deep Yellow's project at Mulga Rock, estimated to be Australia's third-largest untapped uranium resource, is the only project in WA free to proceed under current laws.
