The Australian National University’s decision to withdraw A$16 million in investment from seven resources companies, including gas producer Santos, has been praised by divestment campaigners and condemned…
A test pit for the Alpha Coal Mine proposed by GVK Hancock, which was successfully challenged in the Land Court. Such a challenge would not be allowed under Queensland’s new mining laws.
Lock the Gate Alliance/Flickr
The Queensland government has recently removed long-standing public rights to object to mines. In shades of the Bjelke-Petersen era, Queensland mines minister Andrew Cripps made fundamental changes one…
The Queensland town of Chinchilla is now home to a coal seam gas processing plant.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Residents in Queensland’s Western Downs region have mixed feelings towards coal seam gas (CSG) development taking place in their midst, according to our CSIRO survey. More than two-thirds of locals described…
Indigenous groups are concerned about proposed changes to the process for determining heritage sites in Western Australia, including the location of the Nyoongar Tent embassy.
Allen Stewart/Newspix
In June, the Western Australian Government released draft amendments to the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972. This is the legislation that determines what qualifies for heritage protection in the state – and…
Australia has a strategy for abandoned mines - but it needs implementing.
Caveman/Flickr
Wandering around Australia, you might want to watch your step — the country currently has more than 50,000 abandoned mines. Some represent a significant threat from contamination; others may pose safety…
Nailing down the sites of ancient volcanic eruptions could help identify mineral deposits.
Ásgeir Kröyer/Flickr
Volcanic eruptions are as old as the planet itself. They inspire awe, curiosity and fear and demonstrate the dynamic internal activity of the Earth. However, the impact of modern volcanoes pales in comparison…
Mining in Madagascar – but do the miners give enough back?
Amy Glass/People and Development/supplied
“Biodiversity offsetting” – protecting animals and plants in one area to make up for negative impacts in another – is increasingly used by companies such as mining firms, as a way to boost their corporate…
Potentially catastrophic situation: the Hazelwood coal fire.
AAP
The fire that burned for more than 40 days at the Hazelwood coal mine in the Latrobe Valley earlier this year is the latest in a spate of mining failures over the past few years. It might seem like plain…
A woman prays for the victims of an avoidable tragedy.
EPA
Soma, a little mining village in western Turkey, became host to one of the greatest industrial crimes in mining history when an explosion trapped 800 miners 2km underground and 4km from the exit. At the…
Turkey’s mine disaster has put safety in the spotlight.
EPA
The Soma coal mine tragedy in Turkey has again brought the issue of coal mining safety to the fore. With by far the largest coal industry in the world, accounting for half of global production, the Chinese…
Australian innovation has stagnated in the past 50 years, and could be reinvigorated by focusing on key areas, according to Donald Hector, President of the Royal Society of New South Wales in an interview…
Peter Doherty: Thinking in terms of Australia’s future, how important is it for us to expand activity in the innovation/high technology sector? Donald Hector: It’s critically important. If you look at…
Clive Palmer’s relationship with Chinese investors has seen better days.
David Barbeler/AAP
The Australian iron ore industry is no place for the faint hearted. On April 11, Padbury Mining spectacularly announced billions in funding (reportedly backed by Chinese investors) to develop the Oakajee…
Mount Isa exceeded the national one-hour standard for sulfur dioxide emissions 49 times in 2012.
Zurbagan/Shutterstock
Children in the mining towns of Mount Isa in Queensland and Port Pirie in South Australia are exposed to harmful levels of pollutants that increase their risk of learning and developmental disorders, and…
We live in a ‘wide brown land’ – but we need to figure out how to use it sustainably.
Duncan Rawlinson
AUSTRALIA 2025: How will science address the challenges of the future? In collaboration with Australia’s chief scientist Ian Chubb, we’re asking how each science discipline will contribute to Australia…
Most innovations form in a network, with a mixture of local and global ingredients.
Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com
From the days of the gold rushes, to the banking and mining booms of the last 15 years, Australians have long worried that most of the world’s innovation was happening somewhere else. Did our good fortune…
Coral bleaching is one of the more obvious signs the Great Barrier Reef is in trouble.
mattk1979/Flickr
With the approval of dredging as part of the Abbot Point port expansion, Australia has given the green light to an increase in coal exports. While opposition to the plan has focused primarily on the effects…
Has the mining industry drowned out the arts in Western Australia? Not at all – the mines are fertile ground for storytellers.
AAP Image/Rebecca Le May
It is often difficult to ascertain how the location or culture that you live within is perceived by others, but travelling to other parts of Australia or indeed the world as a Western Australian it’s usually…
Big spender: a new report has found workers in the Pilbara have gained the most from the resources boom, but rising costs of living are reducing some of the income gain.
AAP/Will Russell
The mining boom has left the average Western Australian family nearly twice as well off since it began. But skyrocketing prices in some parts of the state have led to a faster escalation of inequality…