How WA managed to emerge from the mining boom with an estimated debt burden of $40 billion is one of the West’s great mysteries. Or not, if you bother to look more closely.
Australians are missing out on revenue from our country’s natural resources.
Will Russell/AAP
Mine communications are complex, slow and unreliable. The solution to keeping miners safe, and rescuing them when disaster strikes, might just be in their hands already.
Western Australia’s government hopes its workers will look away from the mining sector towards industries like tourism and health.
Daniel Munoz/Reuters
Mining will continue to be a dominant force in Western Australia’s future but the health sector is the more likely to deliver jobs and growth than tourism or agriculture, new research shows.
The mining industry is more resilient because of the recent downturn and it will be global supply and demand that will affect these companies in the future.
Critics of Australia’s fuel tax credits system have pointed to its impact on the budget bottom line, but calculating that cost is far from straightforward.
Artisanal small-scale mining in Africa competes for resources with farming.
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Without careful policy consideration the rise of artisanal and small-scale mining in resource rich African countries stands to disturb agricultural activity and associated livelihoods.
Africa needs to structure better economic deals with China.
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The Chinese £1bn investment in Sheffield, a former mining town in northern England, comes with valuable lessons about how Africa can maximise economic value in its dealings with China.
Artist’s depiction of a pair of O'Neill cylinders.
Rick Guidice NASA Ames Research Center
Two musicals set in working class mining communities – one in the UK and the other in South Africa – have diametrically opposed messages: one of hope; the other, despair.
Does Nauru now face a sunnier outlook?
Saleem H. Ali
Nauruans used to be some of the richest people in the world, before their mining industry imploded. Now, as the island aims to develop sustainably, there are signs of the green shoots of recovery.
Mining companies are keen to get to work in underdeveloped, deeply rural parts of South Africa.
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Mining proposals are often hugely controversial in South Africa and can even lead to violence. Better strategic assessments based on participation and precaution would help.
Mineral processing tailings are pumped into a storage facility. Are there still valuable commodities in this waste?
Identifying mine waste materials as economic resources will help support global demand for critical metals, boosting the mining industry during the downturn. All with environmental benefits.