Brisbane Times

Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton shrug off doom and gloom and look to long-term expansion

Posted on January 25, 2012

On the surface, the increasingly shrill cries of financial Armageddon from the World Bank last week and the IMF this week sit strangely at odds with the actions and attitudes of the globe’s two biggest resource houses, which have committed themselves to massive expansions involving vast amounts of cash.

Mining tax now a Coalition dilemma

Posted on November 20, 2011

Amid the tumult of last week’s visit by the US President, Barack Obama, Julia Gillard’s focus remained squarely on the domestic agenda and the week ahead. On Thursday, sometime around Obama meeting the Prime Minister and her cabinet and his add…

Rinehart gets nod for $2.2 billion coal railway project in central Queensland

Posted on November 12, 2011

Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has retained the right to build a controversial coal rail corridor in central Queensland, after the state government successfully quashed a Supreme Court challenge led by QCoal.

Rinehart’s Hancock Coal won approval from the Bligh government late last year to build a $2.2 billion railway from its Alpha Coal Mine in the Galilee Basin, about 360 kilometres southwest of Mackay, to the Abbot Point coal port near Bowen.

Gold gains as crisis increases haven demand

Posted on November 2, 2011

Gold advanced for a second day as concern that a Greek referendum will threaten Europe’s plan to end the region’s debt crisis spurred demand for a haven.

Rio’s post-Alcan clean-up continues

Posted on October 17, 2011

Atlas keeps costs in check and maps out bright future

Posted on August 25, 2011

Atlas has bucked the inflationary trend in Western Australia by meeting its cost targets on the way to a maiden profit of $169 million. The iron ore exporter kept production costs between its promised range of $40 and $43 a tonne.

Green lobby seeks coal mine ban for Cape

Posted on August 17, 2011

Powerful green lobby group The Wilderness Society will pressure Labor and the LNP to rule out coal mining in Cape York ahead of the next Queensland state election. The environmental group expressed alarm on Wednesday at the proliferation of applications

External recruiters in BHP plans despite email scam

Posted on July 24, 2011

BHP Billiton will continue to source workers through external agencies despite a recent legal stoush over a rogue employment scam. The mining giant was forced to take legal action through an arm of the United Nations earlier this year to combat a scam

Zinc or swim when the tide turns

Posted on July 17, 2011

Zinc has long been runt in the litter of base metals, notwithstanding its multitude of uses. But the tide may be turning, with some big-name mine closures in the years ahead getting analysts thinking about the day when the oversupplied market goes into deficit. Goldman Sachs made the point in a recent research note, which posed the question of whether unloved zinc could be the ”next copper,” given the prospect of a possible shortage from 2013.

Man survives being hit by coal train

Posted on June 27, 2011

A 26-year-old man is lucky to be alive after he was struck by a train at Murphys Creek early yesterday morning. He was airlifted to the Princess Alexander Hospital in Brisbane in a critical condition, suffering from a fractured skull …