After 48 hours of frantic effort, Brazilian rescue workers have called off their search for survivors at a collapsed dam in Minas Gerais state.
AP Photo/Leo Correa
Nearly 1,800 Brazilian dams are at risk of failure, according to the government. Fixing them is expensive – but ignoring aging dams can have considerable social, economic and environmental costs.
Shipping constraints are costing Australian exporters.
AAP
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.
Solar thermal technology uses the sun’s heat to generate electricity, or heating.
Beyond Coal & Gas Image Library/Flickr
High cost iron ore producers should either reduce their costs or leave the market if they cannot compete.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is in a nasty squeeze, with Andrew Forrest, founder of Fortescue Metals Group, and some of the other smaller miners on one side, and the big producers, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, on the other.
AAP/Dan Himbrechts
While it’s easy for the large miners to argue increased iron ore production is business as usual, the overall cost to the sector warrants a closer inspection.
Fortescue Metals Group will change its roster for fly-in, fly-out workers.
AAP Image/Sarah Motherwell
Proposed changes to Fortescue Metals Group’s rostering system may signal a trend across the whole industry that could have flow-on effects for regional economies.
Mining magnate Andrew Forrest might be be down $2 billion, but the decline in commodity prices is just one of many factors hurting Tony Abbott’s budget bottom line.
Nikki Short/AAP
In the wake of a falling iron ore price that has cut his personal fortune by more than A$2 billion, Andrew Forrest has remained unperturbed, saying: “I didn’t count on the way up, and I’m not counting…
Rio Tinto’s West Angelas mine, a joint venture with Japanese interests, is facing a new record low iron ore price.
Alan Porritt/AAP
The world’s biggest iron ore producer, Vale, has announced its intention to expand production despite a falling price. This follows similar announcements by Rio Tinto and BHP. This expansion in production…
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…
Iron and steel are components of an almost limitless number of infrastructure and consumer goods. From forks to tanks, syringes to satellites, cars to computers, from buildings to the power stations that…
Developed countries are using raw materials to sustain their economies at a much higher rate than that being captured in…
Chinese investment in smaller iron-ore suppliers in Western Australia not only presents challenges for the market power of the Big 3 mining companies, but also for the viability of iron ore projects in Australia.
AAP
With several major mining projects being put on ice this week, talk has quickly turned to whether the Australian mining boom is about to go bust. Jumping on comments by the Resources Minister that “the…
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the seventh part of our series, James Laurenceson looks at the challenges in doing business with China. The headline numbers surrounding Australia’s exports to China make for impressive…
Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Discipline of Politics & International Relations, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University