UK’s new coal mine sent ‘adverse international signal’, campaigners say
Environmental campaigners are challenging the approval of a coking coal mine in northwest England.
The boom in resource industry wealth flowing from iron ore and coal exports to China and India has created a record number of billionaires in Australia, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The latest to top the billionaires club Down Under is iron ore queen Gina Reinhart, who has become the richest person ever in Australia, worth an estimated $10.3 billion. Reinhart is the first woman to top BRW’s Rich 200 list.
The list shows Australia now has 35 billionaires, five more than last year, and a cut-off point of $215 million, which is $30 million higher than last year’s cut-off of $185 million.
To put it into perspective, four of the country’s five richest people – Rinehart, Ivan Glasenberg, Andrew Forrest and Clive Palmer – have all made much of their money out of the mining boom. Together their wealth is valued at more than $30 billion.
