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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 proposals are often hugely controversial in South Africa and can even lead to violence. Better strategic assessments based on participation and precaution would help.
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.