At the far end of a single 655-kilometre transmission line, the goldfields city of Kalgoorlie has long lived with the precariousness of its own geography. Now Australia's largest gold miner, Northern Star Resources, is stepping into a role that infrastructure alone has failed to fill — agreeing to supply backup power to a city battered by chronic blackouts, as the state pursues a broader transformation from fragile outpost to resilient energy hub. The arrangement speaks to a recurring tension in industrial civilisation: the places that generate the most wealth are often the least protected fro
Mining giant Northern Star to shore up Kalgoorlie's fragile power grid
Industrial operations have experienced significant production losses due to power outages, with Lynas losing one month's equivalent production in November 2024 alone.