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Asian Intelligence
Australia can reclaim technology mantle
AUSTRALIA’S resources sector has taken its
eye off the ball in developing world-leading
mining, energy and exploration technology,
according to one of the sector’s most prominent
female identities, and it is due mainly to
the speed and intensity in which the industry
has grown over the past five years.
However, an opportunity exists over the next
30 years for the sector to reclaim that mantle
and ‘do things better than anywhere else in the
world’. The comments were made by respected
industry stalwart Dr Erica Smyth in delivering the
37th annual Essington Lewis Memorial Lecture,
one of the most prestigious lectures on the
South Australian resources industry calendar.
“There is an opportunity for us to do our
business better than anywhere else in the
world, and in doing so, create a long-lasting
legacy of a skills and knowledge node for the
resources sector,” she said. “We need to harness
the research, new business investment,
technology innovation, local training and skills
development that are now going on in a piecemeal
way. This approach will need to be
via government, universities and resource industry
collaborations and partnerships.
“The industry has grown at such a rapid rate
over the past 5 years no-one has actually had
the time to sit down and look at the things we
have done well, and the things we haven’t
done so well. As we venture into this next period
of growth, we need to be very careful that
we leverage off the things we already do well
and to make time to address our weaknesses.
“Now, although we are not well known for
our inventions, we are seen as innovators in
applying that technology. Yes we have to import
the electronics associated with the completion
of production wells on the sea floor so
that production could be safely controlled,
but the way we apply that technology is first
class. The oil and gas industry is indeed an
international one where specialty components
come in from all over the world – and
then local Australian innovators make them
work in our conditions. But we seem to have
taken our eye off the ball as we rush to meet
the needs of the rest of the world. I am particularly
concerned that we do not seem to
have a vision other than to ‘dig it up and ship
it out’. We seem to have left the grassroots,
expensive and often unsuccessful, research
to others and rely on our ability to innovate in
its application.”
Power, water and roads vital for South Gobi
THE supply of power, increased paved road
capacity and sourcing more reliable water
have been named by the Government of Mongolia
as the most pressing issues to be solved
in ongoing development of the South Gobi region.
A cabinet meeting issued a resolution regarding
these issues as well as planning for
settlements and border crossings.
Within the framework of this resolution,
which primarily concerns development of the
Oyu Tolgoi (OT) and Tavan Tolgoi (TT) mines,
the following measures are to be taken:
• Supply power consumption for current
and future productive development
• Increase capacity of paved road by making
it a four-lane road
• Increase water source required for development
of mining and infrastructure
• Approval of master plans for soums/villages;
of border crossing points Gashuun
Sukhait/Gantsimadao and Shivee Khuren/Ceke;
and soum centres Khanbogd
(OT), Tsogttsetsii (TT) and Gurvantes/Nariin
Sukhait.
With power the Erdenes TT (ETT) company
has been assigned to undertake a feasibility
Mongolian Mining Corporation’s recently completed paved road to the Gashuun Sukhait border crossing is an example
of the infrastructure needed in the South Gobi region.
study for a power plant to be constructed
based on TT and with a build-operate-transfer
(BOT) condition to the state. The OT company
has been assigned responsibility to
build a power plant to supply production’s
consumption with a condition not to impact
the budget cost, a BOT condition to the state
and a condition for the plant to use TT coal.
With roads the capacity of the 245km paved
road from TT to the Gashuun Sukhait border
crossing is to be increased. ETT has been assigned
responsibility to increase the width from
two lanes to four, to secure funding source for
the new lanes on a BOT basis and have other
investors participate in the construction. The
government also wants roads from South Gobi
to the Khangi Mandal and Zamyn Uud border
crossings to be researched.
The government says significant water resources
are required for the development of
mining and infrastructure. The sector’s minister,
related agencies and provincial governors
have been assigned the task to make
detailed hydrogeological exploration at areas
with underground accumulation at TT and in
the Sainshand vicinity.
They are also to start a study for the possibility
of making flow adjustments to the Orkhon
and Selenge rivers, and establishing a
reservoir with a view to start construction in
2013. ETT is also to use water from the underground
deposit at Balgas Ulaan lake.
4 | ASIA Miner | January/February 2012