Development of the mine, halted by politics and weak government institutions, reflects the resource curse as Mongolia’s Parliament failed to transfer ownership of the coal mine.
According to environmental scientist Peter Erskine, Australia will be left with a bill running into tens of billions of dollars unless the government starts taking mine rehabilitation seriously.
The Vancouver-based miner has sold 30% of the company to La Mancha Holding in a deal that will grant it a majority stake in the massive Ity gold mine, in Côte d’Ivoire.
Even in a frozen metals price market, it only takes one event to shake off the paper manipulation keeping prices below what supply and demand fundamentals of a free market would dictate.