No more Aborigines handouts, Yunupingu

Former Australian of the Year and Aboriginal leader, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, has called on his people to stop accepting welfare handouts, saying that it's killing them. Mr Yunupingu was speaking at this year's Garma Festival, held on a remote region of Yolngu land on the edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Northern Territory. Addressing the audience, including Rio Tinto executives and Fortescue Metals chairman Aandrew Forrest, Mr Yunupingu said the Yolngu society doesn't need welfare, but appropriate education.

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Sky News Australia | August 6, 2011 | 10:55 pm

Navajo Nation and Peabody Energy settle $600 million lawsuit after 12 years

The Navajo Nation's allegations that a coal mining company conspired with others to cheat the tribe out of as much as $600 million in royalties was settled in federal court on Thursday. The tribe sued what is now Peabody Energy in 1999. The terms of the agreement are confidential. The US Supreme Court ruled against the Navajo in a similar lawsuit filed against the federal government. Peabody has operated through a business partnership with the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe for more than 40 years in Northeastern Arizona.

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Frik Els | August 5, 2011 | 6:45 pm

The crime against silver

In 1873, the Fourth Coinage Act was enacted by the US Congress. Western silver miners labeled this measure the "Crime of '73" because it stopped the printing of US silver dollars. The US had, unofficially, abandoned its bimetallic standard in favor of a monometallic one – gold.

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Richard Mills - Ahead of the Herd | August 5, 2011 | 6:14 pm

Advice to a young mining student on sucess in the mining industry

Postings on this blog elicit many reactions.  Two postings in the past week on sites that help you find jobs in the mining industry have stirred the pot and I have received many comments privately, both commending and condemning me for my “innocent” opinions. I reply to very few of the comments.  I would  go [...]

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Jack Caldwell | August 5, 2011 | 6:24 am

‘Queen of Diamonds’ departs Stornoway

Eira Thomas, the renowned diamond geologist whose spectacular success in the diamond exploration game earned her the moniker 'Queen of Diamonds', has resigned from the company she helped found, Stornoway Diamonds. In a news release yesterday, Stornoway published a statement from Thomas, who served as CEO until 2008:

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Andrew Topf | August 4, 2011 | 11:25 pm

One tree-sitter arrested at ex-Massey mine

One protesters associated with the Radical Action for Mountain People's Survival Campaign has been arrested after climbing down from a tree platform he has been occupying at Coal River Mountain West Virginia since July 20. Becks Kolins (pictured on the left) was arrested by state police. Kolins and Catherine-Ann MacDougal climbed the trees to protest operations at the Bee Tree surface mine owned by Alpha Natural Resources, the company that bought Massey Energy following a deadly blast at one of its coal mines. McDougal says she's staying put.

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Frik Els | August 3, 2011 | 1:19 am

South Africa mine nationalization ‘closest since end of apartheid’

Businessweek quotes a confidential report prepared for South Africa's mining CEOs as saying South Africa’s ruling party is closer to some form of nationalization than at any other time since the end of apartheid. A government takeover of mines could choke investments in a country with metal and mineral reserves estimated at 2.5 trillion and lead to a collapse of the currency, the rand. Firebrand Julius Malema (pictured), the leader of the youth wing of the ruling African National Congress which often acts as kingmaker in the country’s politics, is spearheading the campaign to seize mines, farms and banks. Malema is never far from headlines in the country with racially charged comments but now an anti-corruption police unit is probing a trust fund owned by him allegedly being used to funnel payments in exchange for securing government tenders.

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Frik Els | August 2, 2011 | 1:22 am