Latest news with #Kalgoorlie-based
The Advertiser
7 hours ago
- Business
- The Advertiser
Fears FIFO work will turn gold towns into ghost towns
As mining executive Ron Heeks spruiks a major project to investors, he makes a pointed effort to highlight an attribute unrelated to the massive returns it will bring. "Importantly, it's not a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) operation," he tells the mining industry's annual Diggers and Dealers gabfest in Kalgoorlie. Mr Heeks, who spent 16 years working and living in the WA Goldfields hub, has been disheartened watching it be "destroyed by FIFO". He doesn't want to see the NSW Northern Tablelands town of Armidale - 23km west of Hillgrove - suffer the same fate. Larvotto Resources has fired the starter's gun on the development of a $140 million antimony mine at Hillgrove, with production to begin next year. "You drive through Kalgoorlie now and, you know, the bottom half of Hannan Street, every second shop - or nearly all of them - are shut. It's very, very sad," the Larvotto managing director tells AAP. "I think the industry as a whole does not do a particularly good job of putting back." Despite the huge boon miners have pocketed in recent years, with soaring gold prices delivering billions in windfall revenues, the permanent residents of Kalgoorlie feel little benefit has flowed their way. The town's resident population has declined by about a tenth over the past decade to just under 30,000, but housing is scarce, with much of it taken up to accommodate FIFO workers. A recent application by goldminer Northern Star, which owns the mammoth open-cut mine that looms over the town, to build an 800-bed workers camp for staff working on a mill upgrade was met with concerted local opposition. The project was approved by council in a three-two vote, despite 144 out of 148 submissions by members of the public opposed to the application. The vast majority were concerned FIFO accommodation resulted in a lack of connection and contribution to the local community. The workers would not support local businesses, they feared. "Get people to come and live here instead of FIFO. Get the population up, instead of down, otherwise Kalgoorlie will be a ghost town. Is that what we really want?" one submission asked. The assessing officer noted Northern Star had proposed operating a daily shuttle bus transporting workers to and from the local shops to improve social and economic connections to the town. "Our priority is always around residential workforce," Northern Star chief executive Stuart Tonkin told reporters during a visit to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit site. But the reality was the resident workforce could not support construction and other short-term jobs on its own, he said. "We are filling up local facilities and hotels and utilising local places, as well as those temporary camps." Local businessman Murray Leahy fought tooth and nail to avoid using FIFO workers for his Kalgoorlie-based mining services company MLG OZ. But as the business took off, he hit a crossroads: bring in employees from out of town or stop growing. "We started putting people in houses, and we established a structure whereby we'd fly you in and out for six months and if you wanted to transition your family in, we would pay for you and your family to move to Kalgoorlie," he said. "We would provide a house for you free of charge for six months and after that you could salary sacrifice it, so we were transitioning people from being flyers into being residents. "Then we ran out of houses to do that with and the market became so strained that we had to stop that program." Mr Leahy said ideally all the company's 450-odd workforce would be full-time residents, but he was still relying on 200 or so FIFO workers. There was a desire among workers to join the community. About 14 of MLG's FIFO employees were looking to move their families to live in Kalgoorlie residentially but simply could not find a house, he said. "Fundamentally, the issue that the Goldfields community has stems purely from the fact that we have had very poor state and local government planning over a long period of time," Mr Leahy said. The state has been "immensely slow" in releasing land to alleviate the situation, while provision of water and power to enable development has also been lagging. The current council was working hard to try and rectify the issues, "but they are dealing with a 15-year legacy here of poor planning and poor management". "To effectively make the change that's needed, it's 100 per cent reliant upon our state releasing land and key services to be able to drive development." The government was investing significantly in the Goldfields region, said WA Mining Minister David Michael. The WA budget included $16.8 million in funding to boost development-ready land in Kalgoorlie. Planning was also underway to redevelop Kalgoorlie Health Campus, the state developer was selling houses at its Karlkurla estate project for as low as $205,000 and a new $150 million vanadium flow battery was being installed to secure Kalgoorlie's energy supply, "Government agencies are also working together, and with industry, to ensure there is sufficient land for housing across our state," Mr Michael said. "Land and housing development in the regions is constrained by contractor availability, infrastructure capacity and upgrade timing constraints, native title and higher development costs." Ballard Mining chairman Simon Lill said he would like to see the government provide more tax incentives for living in Kalgoorlie long term. "I would love to, and I think Northern Star would love to, see more people in Kalgoorlie. And Lynus would love to see more people in Kalgoorlie. But in the current FIFO world, I'm not sure I can see that happening," he said. "Can they make life in Kalgoorlie tax-free for a period or no stamp duty on houses or something like that? "It is sad to walk down the main street and see so many of the shops boarded up." Mr Leahy also called for a more generous regional zone tax offset to incentivise people to live there permanently. Kalgoorlie residents can currently claim $57 off their tax through the scheme. Mr Michael said Kalgoorlie residents could already access generous stamp duty concessions, which the government expanded in the recent budget, and complemented other incentives like low-deposit loans for modular homes. As mining executive Ron Heeks spruiks a major project to investors, he makes a pointed effort to highlight an attribute unrelated to the massive returns it will bring. "Importantly, it's not a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) operation," he tells the mining industry's annual Diggers and Dealers gabfest in Kalgoorlie. Mr Heeks, who spent 16 years working and living in the WA Goldfields hub, has been disheartened watching it be "destroyed by FIFO". He doesn't want to see the NSW Northern Tablelands town of Armidale - 23km west of Hillgrove - suffer the same fate. Larvotto Resources has fired the starter's gun on the development of a $140 million antimony mine at Hillgrove, with production to begin next year. "You drive through Kalgoorlie now and, you know, the bottom half of Hannan Street, every second shop - or nearly all of them - are shut. It's very, very sad," the Larvotto managing director tells AAP. "I think the industry as a whole does not do a particularly good job of putting back." Despite the huge boon miners have pocketed in recent years, with soaring gold prices delivering billions in windfall revenues, the permanent residents of Kalgoorlie feel little benefit has flowed their way. The town's resident population has declined by about a tenth over the past decade to just under 30,000, but housing is scarce, with much of it taken up to accommodate FIFO workers. A recent application by goldminer Northern Star, which owns the mammoth open-cut mine that looms over the town, to build an 800-bed workers camp for staff working on a mill upgrade was met with concerted local opposition. The project was approved by council in a three-two vote, despite 144 out of 148 submissions by members of the public opposed to the application. The vast majority were concerned FIFO accommodation resulted in a lack of connection and contribution to the local community. The workers would not support local businesses, they feared. "Get people to come and live here instead of FIFO. Get the population up, instead of down, otherwise Kalgoorlie will be a ghost town. Is that what we really want?" one submission asked. The assessing officer noted Northern Star had proposed operating a daily shuttle bus transporting workers to and from the local shops to improve social and economic connections to the town. "Our priority is always around residential workforce," Northern Star chief executive Stuart Tonkin told reporters during a visit to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit site. But the reality was the resident workforce could not support construction and other short-term jobs on its own, he said. "We are filling up local facilities and hotels and utilising local places, as well as those temporary camps." Local businessman Murray Leahy fought tooth and nail to avoid using FIFO workers for his Kalgoorlie-based mining services company MLG OZ. But as the business took off, he hit a crossroads: bring in employees from out of town or stop growing. "We started putting people in houses, and we established a structure whereby we'd fly you in and out for six months and if you wanted to transition your family in, we would pay for you and your family to move to Kalgoorlie," he said. "We would provide a house for you free of charge for six months and after that you could salary sacrifice it, so we were transitioning people from being flyers into being residents. "Then we ran out of houses to do that with and the market became so strained that we had to stop that program." Mr Leahy said ideally all the company's 450-odd workforce would be full-time residents, but he was still relying on 200 or so FIFO workers. There was a desire among workers to join the community. About 14 of MLG's FIFO employees were looking to move their families to live in Kalgoorlie residentially but simply could not find a house, he said. "Fundamentally, the issue that the Goldfields community has stems purely from the fact that we have had very poor state and local government planning over a long period of time," Mr Leahy said. The state has been "immensely slow" in releasing land to alleviate the situation, while provision of water and power to enable development has also been lagging. The current council was working hard to try and rectify the issues, "but they are dealing with a 15-year legacy here of poor planning and poor management". "To effectively make the change that's needed, it's 100 per cent reliant upon our state releasing land and key services to be able to drive development." The government was investing significantly in the Goldfields region, said WA Mining Minister David Michael. The WA budget included $16.8 million in funding to boost development-ready land in Kalgoorlie. Planning was also underway to redevelop Kalgoorlie Health Campus, the state developer was selling houses at its Karlkurla estate project for as low as $205,000 and a new $150 million vanadium flow battery was being installed to secure Kalgoorlie's energy supply, "Government agencies are also working together, and with industry, to ensure there is sufficient land for housing across our state," Mr Michael said. "Land and housing development in the regions is constrained by contractor availability, infrastructure capacity and upgrade timing constraints, native title and higher development costs." Ballard Mining chairman Simon Lill said he would like to see the government provide more tax incentives for living in Kalgoorlie long term. "I would love to, and I think Northern Star would love to, see more people in Kalgoorlie. And Lynus would love to see more people in Kalgoorlie. But in the current FIFO world, I'm not sure I can see that happening," he said. "Can they make life in Kalgoorlie tax-free for a period or no stamp duty on houses or something like that? "It is sad to walk down the main street and see so many of the shops boarded up." Mr Leahy also called for a more generous regional zone tax offset to incentivise people to live there permanently. Kalgoorlie residents can currently claim $57 off their tax through the scheme. Mr Michael said Kalgoorlie residents could already access generous stamp duty concessions, which the government expanded in the recent budget, and complemented other incentives like low-deposit loans for modular homes. As mining executive Ron Heeks spruiks a major project to investors, he makes a pointed effort to highlight an attribute unrelated to the massive returns it will bring. "Importantly, it's not a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) operation," he tells the mining industry's annual Diggers and Dealers gabfest in Kalgoorlie. Mr Heeks, who spent 16 years working and living in the WA Goldfields hub, has been disheartened watching it be "destroyed by FIFO". He doesn't want to see the NSW Northern Tablelands town of Armidale - 23km west of Hillgrove - suffer the same fate. Larvotto Resources has fired the starter's gun on the development of a $140 million antimony mine at Hillgrove, with production to begin next year. "You drive through Kalgoorlie now and, you know, the bottom half of Hannan Street, every second shop - or nearly all of them - are shut. It's very, very sad," the Larvotto managing director tells AAP. "I think the industry as a whole does not do a particularly good job of putting back." Despite the huge boon miners have pocketed in recent years, with soaring gold prices delivering billions in windfall revenues, the permanent residents of Kalgoorlie feel little benefit has flowed their way. The town's resident population has declined by about a tenth over the past decade to just under 30,000, but housing is scarce, with much of it taken up to accommodate FIFO workers. A recent application by goldminer Northern Star, which owns the mammoth open-cut mine that looms over the town, to build an 800-bed workers camp for staff working on a mill upgrade was met with concerted local opposition. The project was approved by council in a three-two vote, despite 144 out of 148 submissions by members of the public opposed to the application. The vast majority were concerned FIFO accommodation resulted in a lack of connection and contribution to the local community. The workers would not support local businesses, they feared. "Get people to come and live here instead of FIFO. Get the population up, instead of down, otherwise Kalgoorlie will be a ghost town. Is that what we really want?" one submission asked. The assessing officer noted Northern Star had proposed operating a daily shuttle bus transporting workers to and from the local shops to improve social and economic connections to the town. "Our priority is always around residential workforce," Northern Star chief executive Stuart Tonkin told reporters during a visit to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit site. But the reality was the resident workforce could not support construction and other short-term jobs on its own, he said. "We are filling up local facilities and hotels and utilising local places, as well as those temporary camps." Local businessman Murray Leahy fought tooth and nail to avoid using FIFO workers for his Kalgoorlie-based mining services company MLG OZ. But as the business took off, he hit a crossroads: bring in employees from out of town or stop growing. "We started putting people in houses, and we established a structure whereby we'd fly you in and out for six months and if you wanted to transition your family in, we would pay for you and your family to move to Kalgoorlie," he said. "We would provide a house for you free of charge for six months and after that you could salary sacrifice it, so we were transitioning people from being flyers into being residents. "Then we ran out of houses to do that with and the market became so strained that we had to stop that program." Mr Leahy said ideally all the company's 450-odd workforce would be full-time residents, but he was still relying on 200 or so FIFO workers. There was a desire among workers to join the community. About 14 of MLG's FIFO employees were looking to move their families to live in Kalgoorlie residentially but simply could not find a house, he said. "Fundamentally, the issue that the Goldfields community has stems purely from the fact that we have had very poor state and local government planning over a long period of time," Mr Leahy said. The state has been "immensely slow" in releasing land to alleviate the situation, while provision of water and power to enable development has also been lagging. The current council was working hard to try and rectify the issues, "but they are dealing with a 15-year legacy here of poor planning and poor management". "To effectively make the change that's needed, it's 100 per cent reliant upon our state releasing land and key services to be able to drive development." The government was investing significantly in the Goldfields region, said WA Mining Minister David Michael. The WA budget included $16.8 million in funding to boost development-ready land in Kalgoorlie. Planning was also underway to redevelop Kalgoorlie Health Campus, the state developer was selling houses at its Karlkurla estate project for as low as $205,000 and a new $150 million vanadium flow battery was being installed to secure Kalgoorlie's energy supply, "Government agencies are also working together, and with industry, to ensure there is sufficient land for housing across our state," Mr Michael said. "Land and housing development in the regions is constrained by contractor availability, infrastructure capacity and upgrade timing constraints, native title and higher development costs." Ballard Mining chairman Simon Lill said he would like to see the government provide more tax incentives for living in Kalgoorlie long term. "I would love to, and I think Northern Star would love to, see more people in Kalgoorlie. And Lynus would love to see more people in Kalgoorlie. But in the current FIFO world, I'm not sure I can see that happening," he said. "Can they make life in Kalgoorlie tax-free for a period or no stamp duty on houses or something like that? "It is sad to walk down the main street and see so many of the shops boarded up." Mr Leahy also called for a more generous regional zone tax offset to incentivise people to live there permanently. Kalgoorlie residents can currently claim $57 off their tax through the scheme. Mr Michael said Kalgoorlie residents could already access generous stamp duty concessions, which the government expanded in the recent budget, and complemented other incentives like low-deposit loans for modular homes. As mining executive Ron Heeks spruiks a major project to investors, he makes a pointed effort to highlight an attribute unrelated to the massive returns it will bring. "Importantly, it's not a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) operation," he tells the mining industry's annual Diggers and Dealers gabfest in Kalgoorlie. Mr Heeks, who spent 16 years working and living in the WA Goldfields hub, has been disheartened watching it be "destroyed by FIFO". He doesn't want to see the NSW Northern Tablelands town of Armidale - 23km west of Hillgrove - suffer the same fate. Larvotto Resources has fired the starter's gun on the development of a $140 million antimony mine at Hillgrove, with production to begin next year. "You drive through Kalgoorlie now and, you know, the bottom half of Hannan Street, every second shop - or nearly all of them - are shut. It's very, very sad," the Larvotto managing director tells AAP. "I think the industry as a whole does not do a particularly good job of putting back." Despite the huge boon miners have pocketed in recent years, with soaring gold prices delivering billions in windfall revenues, the permanent residents of Kalgoorlie feel little benefit has flowed their way. The town's resident population has declined by about a tenth over the past decade to just under 30,000, but housing is scarce, with much of it taken up to accommodate FIFO workers. A recent application by goldminer Northern Star, which owns the mammoth open-cut mine that looms over the town, to build an 800-bed workers camp for staff working on a mill upgrade was met with concerted local opposition. The project was approved by council in a three-two vote, despite 144 out of 148 submissions by members of the public opposed to the application. The vast majority were concerned FIFO accommodation resulted in a lack of connection and contribution to the local community. The workers would not support local businesses, they feared. "Get people to come and live here instead of FIFO. Get the population up, instead of down, otherwise Kalgoorlie will be a ghost town. Is that what we really want?" one submission asked. The assessing officer noted Northern Star had proposed operating a daily shuttle bus transporting workers to and from the local shops to improve social and economic connections to the town. "Our priority is always around residential workforce," Northern Star chief executive Stuart Tonkin told reporters during a visit to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit site. But the reality was the resident workforce could not support construction and other short-term jobs on its own, he said. "We are filling up local facilities and hotels and utilising local places, as well as those temporary camps." Local businessman Murray Leahy fought tooth and nail to avoid using FIFO workers for his Kalgoorlie-based mining services company MLG OZ. But as the business took off, he hit a crossroads: bring in employees from out of town or stop growing. "We started putting people in houses, and we established a structure whereby we'd fly you in and out for six months and if you wanted to transition your family in, we would pay for you and your family to move to Kalgoorlie," he said. "We would provide a house for you free of charge for six months and after that you could salary sacrifice it, so we were transitioning people from being flyers into being residents. "Then we ran out of houses to do that with and the market became so strained that we had to stop that program." Mr Leahy said ideally all the company's 450-odd workforce would be full-time residents, but he was still relying on 200 or so FIFO workers. There was a desire among workers to join the community. About 14 of MLG's FIFO employees were looking to move their families to live in Kalgoorlie residentially but simply could not find a house, he said. "Fundamentally, the issue that the Goldfields community has stems purely from the fact that we have had very poor state and local government planning over a long period of time," Mr Leahy said. The state has been "immensely slow" in releasing land to alleviate the situation, while provision of water and power to enable development has also been lagging. The current council was working hard to try and rectify the issues, "but they are dealing with a 15-year legacy here of poor planning and poor management". "To effectively make the change that's needed, it's 100 per cent reliant upon our state releasing land and key services to be able to drive development." The government was investing significantly in the Goldfields region, said WA Mining Minister David Michael. The WA budget included $16.8 million in funding to boost development-ready land in Kalgoorlie. Planning was also underway to redevelop Kalgoorlie Health Campus, the state developer was selling houses at its Karlkurla estate project for as low as $205,000 and a new $150 million vanadium flow battery was being installed to secure Kalgoorlie's energy supply, "Government agencies are also working together, and with industry, to ensure there is sufficient land for housing across our state," Mr Michael said. "Land and housing development in the regions is constrained by contractor availability, infrastructure capacity and upgrade timing constraints, native title and higher development costs." Ballard Mining chairman Simon Lill said he would like to see the government provide more tax incentives for living in Kalgoorlie long term. "I would love to, and I think Northern Star would love to, see more people in Kalgoorlie. And Lynus would love to see more people in Kalgoorlie. But in the current FIFO world, I'm not sure I can see that happening," he said. "Can they make life in Kalgoorlie tax-free for a period or no stamp duty on houses or something like that? "It is sad to walk down the main street and see so many of the shops boarded up." Mr Leahy also called for a more generous regional zone tax offset to incentivise people to live there permanently. Kalgoorlie residents can currently claim $57 off their tax through the scheme. Mr Michael said Kalgoorlie residents could already access generous stamp duty concessions, which the government expanded in the recent budget, and complemented other incentives like low-deposit loans for modular homes.
7NEWS
10 hours ago
- Business
- 7NEWS
Fears FIFO work will turn gold towns into ghost towns
As mining executive Ron Heeks spruiks a major project to investors, he makes a pointed effort to highlight an attribute unrelated to the massive returns it will bring. 'Importantly, it's not a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) operation,' he tells the mining industry's annual Diggers and Dealers gabfest in Kalgoorlie. Heeks, who spent 16 years working and living in the WA Goldfields hub, has been disheartened watching it be 'destroyed by FIFO'. He doesn't want to see the NSW Northern Tablelands town of Armidale — 23km west of Hillgrove — suffer the same fate. Larvotto Resources has fired the starter's gun on the development of a $140 million antimony mine at Hillgrove, with production to begin next year. 'You drive through Kalgoorlie now and, you know, the bottom half of Hannan Street, every second shop - or nearly all of them - are shut. It's very, very sad,' the Larvotto managing director said.. 'I think the industry as a whole does not do a particularly good job of putting back.' Despite the huge boon miners have pocketed in recent years, with soaring gold prices delivering billions in windfall revenues, the permanent residents of Kalgoorlie feel little benefit has flowed their way. The town's resident population has declined by about a tenth over the past decade to just under 30,000, but housing is scarce, with much of it taken up to accommodate FIFO workers. A recent application by goldminer Northern Star, which owns the mammoth open-cut mine that looms over the town, to build an 800-bed workers camp for staff working on a mill upgrade was met with concerted local opposition. The project was approved by council in a three-two vote, despite 144 out of 148 submissions by members of the public opposed to the application. The vast majority were concerned FIFO accommodation resulted in a lack of connection and contribution to the local community. The workers would not support local businesses, they feared. 'Get people to come and live here instead of FIFO. Get the population up, instead of down, otherwise Kalgoorlie will be a ghost town. Is that what we really want?' one submission asked. The assessing officer noted Northern Star had proposed operating a daily shuttle bus transporting workers to and from the local shops to improve social and economic connections to the town. 'Our priority is always around residential workforce,' Northern Star chief executive Stuart Tonkin told reporters during a visit to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit site. But the reality was the resident workforce could not support construction and other short-term jobs on its own, he said. 'We are filling up local facilities and hotels and utilising local places, as well as those temporary camps.' Local businessman Murray Leahy fought tooth and nail to avoid using FIFO workers for his Kalgoorlie-based mining services company MLG OZ. But as the business took off, he hit a crossroads: bring in employees from out of town or stop growing. 'We started putting people in houses, and we established a structure whereby we'd fly you in and out for six months and if you wanted to transition your family in, we would pay for you and your family to move to Kalgoorlie,' he said. 'We would provide a house for you free of charge for six months and after that you could salary sacrifice it, so we were transitioning people from being flyers into being residents. 'Then we ran out of houses to do that with and the market became so strained that we had to stop that program.' Leahy said ideally all the company's 450-odd workforce would be full-time residents, but he was still relying on 200 or so FIFO workers. There was a desire among workers to join the community. About 14 of MLG's FIFO employees were looking to move their families to live in Kalgoorlie residentially but simply could not find a house, he said. 'Fundamentally, the issue that the Goldfields community has stems purely from the fact that we have had very poor state and local government planning over a long period of time,' Leahy said. The state has been 'immensely slow' in releasing land to alleviate the situation, while provision of water and power to enable development has also been lagging. The current council was working hard to try and rectify the issues, 'but they are dealing with a 15-year legacy here of poor planning and poor management'. 'To effectively make the change that's needed, it's 100 per cent reliant upon our state releasing land and key services to be able to drive development.' The government was investing significantly in the Goldfields region, said WA Mining Minister David Michael. The WA budget included $16.8 million in funding to boost development-ready land in Kalgoorlie. Planning was also underway to redevelop Kalgoorlie Health Campus, the state developer was selling houses at its Karlkurla estate project for as low as $205,000 and a new $150 million vanadium flow battery was being installed to secure Kalgoorlie's energy supply, 'Government agencies are also working together, and with industry, to ensure there is sufficient land for housing across our state,' Mr Michael said. 'Land and housing development in the regions is constrained by contractor availability, infrastructure capacity and upgrade timing constraints, native title and higher development costs.' Ballard Mining chairman Simon Lill said he would like to see the government provide more tax incentives for living in Kalgoorlie long term. 'I would love to, and I think Northern Star would love to, see more people in Kalgoorlie. And Lynus would love to see more people in Kalgoorlie. But in the current FIFO world, I'm not sure I can see that happening,' he said. 'Can they make life in Kalgoorlie tax-free for a period or no stamp duty on houses or something like that? 'It is sad to walk down the main street and see so many of the shops boarded up.' Leahy also called for a more generous regional zone tax offset to incentivise people to live there permanently. Kalgoorlie residents can currently claim $57 off their tax through the scheme. Michael said Kalgoorlie residents could already access generous stamp duty concessions, which the government expanded in the recent budget, and complemented other incentives like low-deposit loans for modular homes.
Perth Now
10 hours ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Fears FIFO work will turn gold towns into ghost towns
As mining executive Ron Heeks spruiks a major project to investors, he makes a pointed effort to highlight an attribute unrelated to the massive returns it will bring. "Importantly, it's not a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) operation," he tells the mining industry's annual Diggers and Dealers gabfest in Kalgoorlie. Mr Heeks, who spent 16 years working and living in the WA Goldfields hub, has been disheartened watching it be "destroyed by FIFO". He doesn't want to see the NSW Northern Tablelands town of Armidale - 23km west of Hillgrove - suffer the same fate. Larvotto Resources has fired the starter's gun on the development of a $140 million antimony mine at Hillgrove, with production to begin next year. "You drive through Kalgoorlie now and, you know, the bottom half of Hannan Street, every second shop - or nearly all of them - are shut. It's very, very sad," the Larvotto managing director tells AAP. "I think the industry as a whole does not do a particularly good job of putting back." Despite the huge boon miners have pocketed in recent years, with soaring gold prices delivering billions in windfall revenues, the permanent residents of Kalgoorlie feel little benefit has flowed their way. The town's resident population has declined by about a tenth over the past decade to just under 30,000, but housing is scarce, with much of it taken up to accommodate FIFO workers. A recent application by goldminer Northern Star, which owns the mammoth open-cut mine that looms over the town, to build an 800-bed workers camp for staff working on a mill upgrade was met with concerted local opposition. The project was approved by council in a three-two vote, despite 144 out of 148 submissions by members of the public opposed to the application. The vast majority were concerned FIFO accommodation resulted in a lack of connection and contribution to the local community. The workers would not support local businesses, they feared. "Get people to come and live here instead of FIFO. Get the population up, instead of down, otherwise Kalgoorlie will be a ghost town. Is that what we really want?" one submission asked. The assessing officer noted Northern Star had proposed operating a daily shuttle bus transporting workers to and from the local shops to improve social and economic connections to the town. "Our priority is always around residential workforce," Northern Star chief executive Stuart Tonkin told reporters during a visit to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit site. But the reality was the resident workforce could not support construction and other short-term jobs on its own, he said. "We are filling up local facilities and hotels and utilising local places, as well as those temporary camps." Local businessman Murray Leahy fought tooth and nail to avoid using FIFO workers for his Kalgoorlie-based mining services company MLG OZ. But as the business took off, he hit a crossroads: bring in employees from out of town or stop growing. "We started putting people in houses, and we established a structure whereby we'd fly you in and out for six months and if you wanted to transition your family in, we would pay for you and your family to move to Kalgoorlie," he said. "We would provide a house for you free of charge for six months and after that you could salary sacrifice it, so we were transitioning people from being flyers into being residents. "Then we ran out of houses to do that with and the market became so strained that we had to stop that program." Mr Leahy said ideally all the company's 450-odd workforce would be full-time residents, but he was still relying on 200 or so FIFO workers. There was a desire among workers to join the community. About 14 of MLG's FIFO employees were looking to move their families to live in Kalgoorlie residentially but simply could not find a house, he said. "Fundamentally, the issue that the Goldfields community has stems purely from the fact that we have had very poor state and local government planning over a long period of time," Mr Leahy said. The state has been "immensely slow" in releasing land to alleviate the situation, while provision of water and power to enable development has also been lagging. The current council was working hard to try and rectify the issues, "but they are dealing with a 15-year legacy here of poor planning and poor management". "To effectively make the change that's needed, it's 100 per cent reliant upon our state releasing land and key services to be able to drive development." The government was investing significantly in the Goldfields region, said WA Mining Minister David Michael. The WA budget included $16.8 million in funding to boost development-ready land in Kalgoorlie. Planning was also underway to redevelop Kalgoorlie Health Campus, the state developer was selling houses at its Karlkurla estate project for as low as $205,000 and a new $150 million vanadium flow battery was being installed to secure Kalgoorlie's energy supply, "Government agencies are also working together, and with industry, to ensure there is sufficient land for housing across our state," Mr Michael said. "Land and housing development in the regions is constrained by contractor availability, infrastructure capacity and upgrade timing constraints, native title and higher development costs." Ballard Mining chairman Simon Lill said he would like to see the government provide more tax incentives for living in Kalgoorlie long term. "I would love to, and I think Northern Star would love to, see more people in Kalgoorlie. And Lynus would love to see more people in Kalgoorlie. But in the current FIFO world, I'm not sure I can see that happening," he said. "Can they make life in Kalgoorlie tax-free for a period or no stamp duty on houses or something like that? "It is sad to walk down the main street and see so many of the shops boarded up." Mr Leahy also called for a more generous regional zone tax offset to incentivise people to live there permanently. Kalgoorlie residents can currently claim $57 off their tax through the scheme. Mr Michael said Kalgoorlie residents could already access generous stamp duty concessions, which the government expanded in the recent budget, and complemented other incentives like low-deposit loans for modular homes.
West Australian
25-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Venus locks in mining lease for WA Sandstone gold project
Venus Metals Corporation has added serious momentum to its Sandstone region ambitions by locking in a granted mining lease over its Bellchambers gold deposit in the Western Australia Goldfields. The newly secured tenure covers the company's 30,500-ounce gold resource and firmly sets the stage for a potential open-pit operation. Achieving mining lease status is a critical step towards monetising the deposit at a time when gold prices are nipping at the heels of all-time highs of more than $5100 per ounce. The lease, which spans 415 hectares, includes the broader Range View area where a recent drilling program unearthed some compelling numbers. Standout shallow reverse circulation hits from the Bellchambers deposit include 29 metres at 1.55 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 11m, 30m at 1.72g/t from 45m and a chunky 19m at 3.74g/t from 11m. Meanwhile, the company's nearby Range View and Range View South prospects have continued to impress with wide intercepts of 13m at 1.60g/t from 19m, 18m at 1.24g/t from 47m and 9m at 1.12g/t from 17m. Venus says the results at Bellchambers hint at a broader mineralised system and set the tone for what it hopes will evolve into a cash-generating open pit. The current mineral resource on site totals 722,000 tonnes grading 1.31g/t for 30,500 ounces of gold. Notably, 22,100 ounces sit in the indicated category, providing a level of confidence as the company pushes the project towards production. To further de-risk the development, Venus has completed two diamond holes to support geotechnical analysis and metallurgical test work. Samples are now in the hands of ALS Laboratory Group for metallurgical evaluation to fine-tune gold recoveries and optimise the pit design. With additional data in hand, Venus says it expects to deliver a revised mineral resource estimate at Bellchambers within the next month. Apart from providing a tasty uplift in the size of the resource, the update will also offer further valuable insights into pit optimisation studies and mine layout plans. These plans are in the hands of an experienced Kalgoorlie-based mining engineering team. The upgraded lease additionally allows Venus to finalise a mining development and closure proposal. The company is fielding contractor quotes to get that box ticked. Moving on to processing, Venus is in advanced discussions on a possible farm gate sale or toll treatment with nearby Rox Resources. Rox owns and operates the Youanmi gold project, which hosts 16.2 million tonnes at a grade of 4.4 grams per tonne for 2.3 million ounces of gold. The project, 70km south of Bellchambers, is in the latter stages of a final investment decision on its own development. A straight ore sale or a processing agreement with Rox would neatly sidestep the need for Venus to build a standalone plant, thereby front-loading cash flow from the project and negating the huge capital costs involved. Elsewhere at the company's Henderson project near Menzies, early drilling under the historic Hilltop mine has hit paydirt and is shaping up as another standout project. A juicy intercept of 4m going 10.3g/t gold, including a blazing 1m at 25.1g/t, suggests the old workings still have plenty of sting in the tail. Rock chip samples collected nearby have turned up grades as high as 77g/t, adding more fuel to the fire. A follow-up drilling campaign is already on the drawing board. Meanwhile, on another of its leases near Youanmi, Venus has uncovered what could be a copper monster. A recent ground survey revealed a whopping 5000 Siemens electromagnetic anomaly. The company is now targeting the eye-catching bullseye with reverse circulation and diamond drilling. Results are expected within weeks. Shallow zinc hits in the same area are also in line for infill drilling, with an updated resource potentially on the horizon. Adding to Venus' extensive inventory, the company owns 55 million shares in Rox worth $17.35 million and a 1 per cent royalty over the Youanmi mine. The royalty was independently valued 12 months ago at $9.5 million, when gold prices were 40 per cent lower. With so many irons in the fire and a market capitalisation of $21 million - backed by almost $18.5 million in cash and liquid assets - Venus has built a compelling story. By adding a granted mining lease across 30,000 ounces of gold, the company appears locked and loaded to move up the development curve and potentially onto the list of WA's next producers. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
West Australian
09-07-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Auric eyes $4.5M windfall from final Jeffreys Find WA mining campaign
Auric Mining has fired up a final toll milling campaign at its Jeffreys Find gold mine near Norseman in Western Australia's Goldfields. The final 60,000-tonne batch of ore is set to produce a handy 2750 ounces of gold to close out the company's wildly successful joint venture with BML Ventures. The ore is now being processed at Focus Minerals' Three Mile Hill mill in Coolgardie, tying a bow on Auric's 30,000-ounce total gold target from Jeffreys Find. The final push is projected to generate up to $9 million in surplus cash. Auric's 50:50 share is expected to be between $4 million and $4.5 million. Under the joint venture, Kalgoorlie-based BML will again carry the mining, haulage and milling costs for Jeffreys Find. Auric says it has already invoiced BML for a $3.6 million interim distribution to be paid in July and August, with final accounting slated for the next quarter. Auric has closely studied BML's toll treating strategy, as it looks to replicate the joint venture's success and mining practices at its latest and largest flagship Munda gold project, just up the road from Jeffreys Find. The Jeffreys Find project has been a financial springboard for Auric. With its $17 million war chest from its share of gold sales, the company will now deploy its fully funded mining operation at the 125,000-tonne starter pit, which is already underway at Munda. The initial pit is targeting a minimum 6100 ounces at 1.8 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from a broader resource at Munda of 3.65 million tonnes grading 1.23g/t gold for 145,000 ounces. The 145,000-ounce Munda deposit is one of the largest undeveloped gold resources in the Kalgoorlie region, which is a key factor in Auric securing a lucrative toll treatment agreement with mid-cap gold producer Black Cat Syndicate for the Munda starter pit ore. Black Cat has opened its gates to Auric and will process ore at its currently under-capacity Lakewood mill in Kalgoorlie. Spare capacity is an absolute rarity in the region. The soaring gold price means toll treating options have become notoriously hard to find and the region's mills are reportedly backed up well into 2027. Auric says its Munda deal will generate more than $28 million in revenue at current gold prices. The deal also benefits Black Cat, slotting nicely into its 'more gold, sooner' strategy in the booming Kalgoorlie goldfields. Auric's first 40,000t ore parcel from a smaller starter pit is slated for September, with one or two additional campaigns to follow, wrapping up by early next year. Auric's 2023 scoping study - based on a then $2600 per ounce gold price - projected $76.9 million in surplus cash from Munda's main pit. With gold now trading at nearly double that figure, the financial upside could be staggering for the company as it looks to become a standalone gold producer. The company recently scooped up the old Burbanks processing plant outside Coolgardie, two prospective leases near Westgold's Higginsville operation and the Lindsay's gold project for $4 million, signalling its ambition to become self-sufficient in the not-too-distant future. With Jeffreys Finds final gold haul hitting the mill and Munda's starter pit in full swing, Auric looks to be turning its once modest toll-mining plays into fully-fledged standalone Aussie gold production. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact:
