Rio Tinto appoints one of its own as the company’s new chairman

A landmark victory in the Federal Court looks set to give unions more power to bargain on behalf of workers at Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton iron ore operations in the Pilbara. The full bench of the court has ruled that a non-union collective agreement covering workers in Rio Tinto's operations was invalid. Yesterday's decision casts doubt on similar agreements at BHP and other operations in the mining region, involving thousands of workers.

The bubble that is keeping iron ore prices at historic highs may be about to burst, and when it does, iron ore giant Fortescue Minerals will still be making money, the company's new CEO predicts.

Beijing has issued a veiled threat to Australia's long-term economic future. It has vowed to break the power of the big mining companies by sourcing 50 per cent of its iron ore imports from Chinese-invested companies.

The value of mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector more than doubled to $96.3 billion in the first six months of the year and could top $200 billion for the whole of 2011 says a new research report. Canadian companies – both as acquirers and as the targets of buyers – dominated corporate finance activity in the first half shaking on more than a deal a day and at 325 deals accounting for almost two-thirds of all the metals and minerals transactions carried out around the world.

Indian Express reports Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, currently holidaying in Mauritius, is among a slew of politicians, many of them from the BJP party, set to be named in a damning 8,000-page report on the illegal plunder of the Indian state’s iron ore resources over a decade. The report from the Lokayukta, an anti-corruption ombudsman organization, may lead to so called President's rule in Karnataka when a state legislature is dissolved or suspended and the state is placed under direct federal governance and is proving to be a huge embarrassment to the BJP leadership.

BHP Billiton will continue to source workers through external agencies despite a recent legal stoush over a rogue employment scam. The mining giant was forced to take legal action through an arm of the United Nations earlier this year to combat a scam

Reuters reported that Goldman Sachs has started to trade iron ore swaps earlier this year and is preparing to enter the physical iron ore market. Growing liquidity levels in the iron ore swaps market attracted many banks to invest in it and some have also decided to set up physical iron ore desks to strengthen their positions.

Chinese state-owned company Dafeng Port Group plans to set up a ferronickel industry in Kotabaru, South Kalimantan with a production capacity of 200 million metric tons a year. The president director of Dafeng Port Group Co. Ltd., Ni Xiangrong, said here on Saturday the Dafeng Port Group Co.Ltd. has successfully developed an integrated economic zone in China and plan to build a ferronickel industry and its support industries in Kotabaru.

David Knox, Santos chief executive, says the expected skills shortage has not yet affected his company. Picture: Calum Robertson Source: News Limited SANTOS chief executive David Knox, whose company is building one of the three $15 billion-plus coal-seam