News

A large gas sale struck between Senex Energy and AGL Energy will provide a critical test for the Albanese government’s new price controls on east coast gas, with the future of the $1 billion Atlas project at the heart of the deal dependent upon the rules being workable.The Australian Financial Review understands that Senex, owned by South Korean steel giant Posco and Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Energy, requires all approvals in the coming few months to be able to start delivering gas to AGL in January 2025.

Australia claimed three gold medals in a fantastic final day of racing at the World Cup II regatta in Italy on Sunday. Annabelle McIntyre and Jess Morrison claimed Australia’s first gold with a cool-headed win over the USA and Spain in the Coxless Pair. In a reunion for the duo, who won gold together at the Tokyo Olympics in Australia’s Women’s Coxless Four lineup, McIntyre said it was exciting to be back together.

GINA RINEHART-backed Senex Energy has entered into a conditional gas supply agreement with AGL for 42 petajoules of gas from its Atlas expansion project in Queensland, but warned it may not commit to it. On Friday, Senex said in a press release it would support the domestic market, but only if the government provided a “satisfactory resolution” to regulations recently introduced. It follows a decision by Senex to halt investment at its Atlas project, in protest against a swathe of government interventions imposed on the upstream gas industry from December last year. On Monday the company could not commit to the expansion, but in the same breath said it hoped to ensure secure and reliable supply for the domestic market.

Roy Hill’s non-process infrastructure (NPI) team has helped some children from the Pilbara community of Yandeyarra learn some valuable bike skills. Yandeyarra is located 142 kilometres south-east of Port Hedland and is limited with resources that help people repair and maintain bicycles. This has led to many bikes in the community going unused due to flat tires, ceased chains, and poor brakes.
To help combat this issue, Roy Hill’s NPI team set up a makeshift workshop at the Yandeyarra remote community school where the kids were invited to learn how to fix their bikes by going through a variety of common issues, such as repairing flat tires.

Farmers fear their ability to do basic tasks like fencing or deep ripping will become tangled in costly red tape when important new legislation designed to protect WA’s Aboriginal cultural heritage takes effect next month. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 was passed through State Parliament in late December in the wake of Rio Tinto’s infamous blasting of Juukan Gorge more than two years earlier.

After an extensive 10-month long due diligence process, Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Magnetite Holdings has decided to pour $4 million into LCY’s Mt Bevan JV with Hawthorn Resources (ASX:HAW) to help fund exploration for lithium and other non-iron ore minerals.“The signing of this agreement is a significant step in the development of the Mt Bevan project as it moves further towards commercialisation, LCY CEO Rakesh Gupta said. “We welcome Hancock into the project and look forward to working with them and leveraging their expertise in the area, and the development of this project.” The $108m market-capped junior is up 17% today.

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has revealed the terms of a joint venture earn-in deal that will see it partner with Indian miner NMDC to look for lithium and other critical minerals in WA’s Central Yilgarn. Under the terms of the deal, Hancock will spend up to $26 million to earn a 51 per cent stake in a new exploration joint venture at Mt Bevan, 250km north of Kalgoorlie, from Hawthorn Resources and the NMDC-backed Legacy Iron Ore. Shares in Hawthorn and Legacy jumped as much as 31 per cent when the stocks emerged from trading halts on Thursday.

Rio Tinto has expanded its hunt for lithium, buying into one of the hottest exploration regions in Canada, as Gina Rinehart also stepped up in the race for lithium assets on Thursday. Rio this week agreed to buy into a suite of tenements in the James Bay region of Quebec ­controlled by Canadian-listed Midland Exploration, which already has deals with BHP and Rio elsewhere in the country for base metals tenements.