Rio Tinto pushes ahead with driverless trains in Pilbara

Rio Tinto's ambitious plan to have autonomous trains hauling its iron ore to port has taken a big step forward, with the first journey along its Pilbara railway, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The $US518 million autonomous train plan has been under development in the Pilbara for three years, and follows the deployment of 57 autonomous trucks at Rio's Australian iron ore mines.

Rio confirmed the autonomous rail system, dubbed AutoHaul, had its first proper trial in the Pilbara just before Christmas.

More contract issues at Roy Hill

The terms of another key contract at Hancock Prospecting's $10 billion Roy Hill project are under a cloud after head contractor Samsung C&T revealed it was renegotiating its contract with Leighton Holdings, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Leighton subsidiary Thiess is involved in constructing the Pilbara project's processing plant, which suffered delays after a string of safety incidences earlier this year.

A spokesperson for Samsung said a “contract amendment is under discussion by mutual consent” with Leighton but would not provide any clarity on what terms are being negotiated, saying this information was commercial-in-confidence.

AGL surrenders NSW coal seam gas licence

AGL Energy has become the latest company to sell back a coal seam gas licence to the NSW government under the state's voluntary buyback scheme, intended to tighten up controls over the development of the sector, according to the Australian Financial Review.

While the utility said the PEL 5 licence on the Central Coast was not “commercially viable”, the move casts further doubt around AGL's commitment in upstream gas after new chief executive Andy Vesey placed the whole business under review less than a week after taking over last month.