As history has repeatedly shown, where there are valuable minerals to be unearthed, adventurous humans will arrive in droves – even if it means battling extreme conditions and risking life and limb.
So…
Children can be exposed to lead through through inhaling contaminated soil.
Tom Woodward
What is lead poisoning?
It’s exposure to lead in a way that lands the metal into your body. There are two types of lead poisoning – acute and chronic. Acute poisoning will occur with higher exposures…
When we start building structures outside Earth, the raw materials will likely come from asteroids.
Planetary Resources
There will be a future mining boom, as heralded in recent media stories. But this mining will take place in a location even more hostile than the Australian Outback – space.
More specifically, the ore…
Australia has the resources – but the environmental cost could be huge.
AAP/Purple Communications
AUSTRALIA IN THE ASIAN CENTURY – A series examining Australia’s role in the rapidly transforming Asian region. Delivered in partnership with the Australian government.
Here, Dr Gavin Mudd considers the…
Australia's mining boom is both a boon and a bane to our economic development.
Australia’s stark comparative advantage in mining is both a boon and a bane to our economic development. Investment in the mining industry as a share of Australia’s GDP has already reached unprecedented…
The Federal Government has fast-tracked applications by skilled US workers to fill trades gaps in Australia, citing the close relationship between the countries. But motives of employers pushing the scheme should examined critically.
AAP
The Federal Government recently announced that it would use the 457 visa skilled migration program to fast-track the number of skilled workers applying from the United States.
In defending this move…
Changes to foreign ownership laws in Indonesia will present further challenges for mining companies.
AAP
The recent announcement that foreign mining companies in Indonesia would have to sell at least 49% of their shares to local interests raises questions about whether this indicates a change of direction…
Taxing mining: too high, and it discourages foreign capital inflow. But political lobbying can also mean it is set too low.
AAP
The mining boom is making Australia potentially wealthier, but also creating problems because of the high exchange rate. What should government policies be?
There are two issues, and it is very important…
Gina Rinehart with daughter Ginia Rinehart attend a State Reception for Queen Elizabeth II in Perth.
AAP/Lincoln Baker
The dispute between Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, and her children is more than a private squabble between relatives.
The high profile of the litigants meant the case was always going to…
The giants of mining are moving towards the unmanned extraction of the earth's resources.
AAP/EPA/Christian Sprogoe
Automation and remote operation are set to transform Australian mining. It makes sense: automation can address labour shortages as the industry expands, reduce costs and improve productivity, health and…
Billionaire Clive Palmer: how much of his fabulous wealth is due to government policy?
AAP
Over the last year or so, the Occupy movement has garnered wide attention, with people of all backgrounds gathering to protest the deteriorating social conditions.
However, these grievances have been…
There has been a concerted push for foreign workers to fill the gaps in the resources industry.
AAP
Within the much publicised debate of labour shortages in the resources sector, there is now a concerted push to open up employment to larger numbers of skilled foreign workers.
Large employers such as…
Western Australia may have mining wealth, but how do we fund schools in remote areas?
AAP/Rebecca Le May
At first glance, the Gonski review presents an opportunity to correct the funding gap between “winners” (understood as the private schools) and “losers” (understood as the public schools).
And it is timely…
"Fairfax looks very exciting,": mining magnate Clive Palmer expresses an interest in media.
AAP
The mining industry is used to having its voice heard in Australian public debates, so it should come as no surprise that mining billionaires such as Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer would consider buying…
With Alcoa reviewing its Geelong smelter, just what is the future for the aluminium industry?
AAP
The sight of molten metal pouring from a furnace has long been an iconic symbol of industrial might and wealth.
In Australia, the metallurgical industries have provided long term jobs and wealth to many…
James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch, Kerry Stokes, John Singleton and Gina Rinehart. While Stokes and Singleton have been around media traps for a few years now, the return of a Packer, a Murdoch and the addition…
This past Christmas, Darwin waited with unnecessary nervousness as Cyclone Grant developed to our north. It missed us, but on Boxing Day it dumped 385mm of rain into the Edith River.
The resulting flood…
Former President Lula used Brazil's commodities boom to secure the country's future.
AAP
Brazil has just passed the United Kingdom to become the sixth-largest economy in the world. Only a decade ago such news would have been written off as just another version of the old joke, “Brazil is the…
Paul Cleary's book, Too Much Luck, highlights the many negative consequences of the mining boom.
AAP
Paul Cleary’s book Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future, is a timely appraisal of the dramatic economic and social impacts, as well as the political ramifications of the current resource…
How do we know whether replacing lost habitat with new habitat has worked?
OZ in OH
Biodiversity offsets are touted as a new tool for protecting our natural environment. While they have the potential to deliver real gains, understanding the possible consequences of these polices over…
Paul Cleary's book, Too Much Luck, paints a negative picture of Australia's mining industry.
AAP
If Paul Cleary is to be believed in his recently published book, Too Much Luck: The Mining Boom and Australia’s Future, the resources boom is the worst thing that ever happened to Australia.
He maintains…
There are fears that Australian uranium could be put to military uses by India.
AAP
Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced that the Australian Labor Party will debate its opposition to exporting uranium to India.
India, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation…
Activists protest against Glencore by placing bottles of polluted water at its Swiss offices.
AAP
Welcome to “The most powerful companies you’ve never heard of” – an ongoing series from The Conversation that sheds light on big companies with low profiles.
Today, The University of Western Australia…
Working to improve the performance of the resources sector is a challenging, yet important research focus.
AFP/Christian Sprogoe/Rio Tinto
There is common assumption that those of us who undertake applied research with the commercial world must be biased.
This month the University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI), which…
Despite strong export data, Australia's trade relationship with China isn't as developed as we think.
AAP
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the seventh part of our series, James Laurenceson looks at the challenges in doing business with China.
The headline numbers surrounding Australia’s exports to China make for impressive…
Exporting uranium carries a risk not just in Australia, but all over the world.
Mad House Photography
The South Australian and Federal governments have approved another expansion at Olympic Dam. This expansion raises some very important questions about Australia’s role in the future of global energy and…
Is this the place for an antimony mine? I guess that depends what an antimony mine is…
Karl Vernes
Hands up those who’ve heard of antimony. Now, keep them up if you can name its chemical symbol, list the world’s leading producers, or even name a single commercial product that contains the element…
Making Australian miners more ethical could also make them more competitive.
AAP
Recent high prices for minerals have inspired a lot of companies and countries to start mining. But with a lead-time of up to five years for developing a mining operation, it is difficult to take advantage…
The Wieliczka salt mine in Poland is now a wedding venue.
Nikonmania
Is it possible to have an ice-skating rink in an old mine? Or perhaps a wine and cheese cellar in a mine shaft? Or even a swimming pool in a processing plant?
It isn’t just possible – it can be environmentally…
Dharawal National Park is safe from mining, but do we value biodiversity enough to spread protection?
taffynorm/Flickr
The New South Wales government last week said it would ban mining in the newly announced Dharawal National Park, an area where Illawara Coal was planning to extract up to $40 billion worth of black coal…
Insider trading detection in Australia has evolved, but ASIC still needs a win.
AAP
Five senior executives of the Chinese-owned investor Hanlong Mining have had assets frozen after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched an investigation into alleged insider…
Expansion is behind a transitory decline in the mining sector productivity growth: but what's the picture for other sectors?
AAP
Official explanations of the deterioration in Australia’s productivity growth have tended to emphasise the especially sharp declines in three sectors – agriculture, mining, and utilities (such as electricity…
Don Argus's focus on industrial relations overlooks the real issues behind slowing productivity growth.
AAP
Former BHP Billiton Chairman Don Argus has blamed inflexible industrial relations laws for Australia’s lagging productivity, describing the Gillard Government’s economic reform agenda as “lazy”.
Argus…
People employed in the mining industry are enjoying the boom, but what about the rest of us?
AAP
One of the most interesting features of the mining boom is the way that it is opening up old, and unresolved, political and policy debates in Australia.
Do we trust that the benefits to the small group…
Cate Blanchett is among the celebrities pressed into service to persuade us on political issues.
AAP/WWF
MEDIA & DEMOCRACY: This afternoon, Andrew Hughes examines which recent political adverts have been a success, as part of The Conversation’s week-long series on how the media influences the way our…
They're digging it up, but they're not sharing it around.
ginger_ninja/Flickr
AFTER THE INTERVENTION: Ciaran O'Faircheallaigh of Griffith University explains why mineral wealth rarely ends up in Indigenous hands.
Native title creates the potential for indigenous communities to…
What can you do with a hole in the ground? It's about more than planting trees.
OZinOH/flickr
In late 1986, residents of Diamond St, Kingston, an outer southern suburb of Brisbane, began to notice a black sludge-like substance seeping through the soil and into their gardens.
Within six months…
Iron ore is now Australia's biggest export.
AFP/CHRISTIAN SPROGOE RIO TINTO
Australia’s economic future lies underneath our feet. The island continent is blessed with a variety of natural resources but none as plentiful or important as iron ore.
Iron is a common element in soils…
Greens leader Bob Brown’s concern over acquisitions by China’s Shenhua Watermark Coal of farms on NSW’s Liverpool Plains is but the latest flurry in a gathering storm of controversy over mining developments…
Are talkback radio hosts or Julia Gillard leading debate in areas like immigration and the mining tax?
AAP
The release of figures today showing a dramatic fall in immigration numbers prompts the question of whether certain sections of the media are influencing government policy.
Are Australian politicians…
Sharing the spoils: WA Premier Colin Barnett confers with Queensland's Anna Bligh.
AAP
The marked increase in international commodities prices and the accompanying rise in the value of the Australian dollar has led to popular concern about a two-speed or multi-speed economy, prompting the…
Mining companies are finally sharing the benefits with the native owners of the land.
AFP/Christian Sprogoe/Rio Tinto
Aboriginal Australians living in remote areas have, for the past five decades, experienced at close quarters the ill-effects of large scale mining, while receiving few of the benefits.
From Cape York…
Sunset on the Kimberley coastline. Is the future of tourism in WA at risk from mining?
AAP
The West Australian government’s decision to reject a proposal to establish a coal mine near the Margaret River in the state’s south came after a drawn-out application and approval process that was anything…
Will Andrew Forrest succeed in his push to change the mining tax? Others have succeeded in the past.
AAP
Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s visit to Canberra earlier this week didn’t prove particularly effective in swaying the government on its freshly drafted mineral resources rent tax (MRRT) legislation.
But the…
Men are the economic winners from the current resources boom
flickr/robstephaustralia
In a decision hailed as ground breaking Fair Work Australia has recently determined that gender is a key factor in women’s low pay.
Essentially the argument is that workers in the female dominated community…
Fortescue chief and mining magnate Andrew Forrest changes focus.
AAP
Andrew Forrest, one of Australia’s wealthiest mining magnates, has announced his resignation as chief executive of Fortescue Metals Group.
In a statement released to the ASX, Fortescue Metals Group Chairman…
China can easily rouse its banks, but awakening its consumers will be tougher.
AAP
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s bold claim on Friday that his state was looking “over the horizon” past Canberra to forge stronger links with China capped off a few weeks of strong rhetoric from…
The successful anti-mining tax campaign may cement Rinehart's rich-list position.
AAP
Now that Gina Rinehart has more than doubled her fortune in one year to top the 2011 BRW Rich 200 list, she will no doubt see her contribution to last year’s $22 million campaign to stop Labor’s resources…
Australia has the world's oldest continuously worked mine site.
AAP
There has been a massive revival of interest in Australian history in the last decade. Under Prime Minister John Howard, Australia’s military history, particularly the ANZACs, became little short of a…
