Four protestors have been shot and hospitalized as a wave of deadly strikes afflicting South Africa's platinum and gold mining sectors continues to spread.
Rising labor and construction costs as well as declines in commodities prices have cast doubt on AUD$100 billion in mining and energy projects in Australia.
People raised in the former mining town of Wittenoom in Western Australia have been hit by a wave of cancers and untimely deaths many decades following the closure of a nearby blue-asbestos mine in 1966.
A group of protestors from anti-coal group Quit Coal have staged a dramatic protest in the Australian city of Melbourne today, abseiling down the front of the state parliament building and chaining themselves to its pillars.
The Chinese government has announced it will shut hundreds of small mines this year in an effort to boost safety standards following a colliery accident in Sichuan province which has so far left 45 people dead.
Eight of Barrick Gold's Australian subsidiaries have received fines totaling AUD$127,000 for failure to lodge required documents with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Gina Rinehart could be down AUD$9 billion due to the decline in iron ore prices arriving just as the Australian mining tycoon pursues an expensive new development.
Analysts predict a recovery in the price of iron ore this month following a dive in spot prices below key lower thresholds which has left the shares of major Australian miners languishing in the doldrums.
