US mining and voters in sync re job creation, economy

While the sordid details emerging from the proceedings are humiliating enough there may be some serious financial implications for Gina Rinehart – mining's 4th richest person with a fortune pegged at around $18 billion – as well. On top of the tax loopholes in family trusts exposed by the Rinehart saga, it has also emerged that Hancock Prospecting has not submitted annual financial statements for the past two years.

MarketWatch quotes  Nomura economist Zhiwei Zhang as saying:  "Overall, economic conditions are getting weaker at a fast pace. The slowdown is happening faster than the government expected."

Indonesia surprised the global mining community last week after a new rule – Government Regulation No. 24 of 2012 – was quietly announced on the mining ministry's website. A growing list of nations – and not just radical fringe territories such as Zimbabwe or Venezuela – are pushing for greater control and ownership of the resource sector on top of higher taxes and royalties.

Genwal Resources Inc., a Murray Energy Corp. subsidiary, has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors to settle a federal investigation into the August 2007 fatalities at its Crandall Canyon coal mine in Utah.

Coal-reliant Poland on Friday vetoed European Union efforts to move further towards a low carbon economy, pitting itself against the rest of the 27-member bloc.

South Africa took a step closer on Thursday to create a standalone mining company that will take charge of the government's role in the country's rich resources and with ambitions of becoming involved in the continent's mining sector.

Despite a healthy economic growth, Canada’s economy lost 2,800 jobs in February, with at least 18% of those positions belonging to the mining sector.

Xstrata's relentless appetite for coal, particularly the metallurgical variety, was again evident on Thursday after it bought Talisman's Peace River deposit for $500 million.

Mongolia's plans, first mooted in 2010, to sell a stake in its Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi coal-mining company  to the public faces more delays over politics and regulatory problems while talks with companies to developed the western block of the largest coking coal deposit on the globe are also on ice.