Rio Tinto says synergies, no Brexit behind decision to move sales team to Germany

Unrest and strikes in Indonesia, Chile, Australia and Africa, a shortage of skilled workers in North America and rising labour costs all over the globe are quickly becoming the most serious downsides of a mining boom that started almost a decade ago. While a historically high overall jobless rate is masking spiking wages in the resources sector in the US, workers in emerging markets are shutting down operations of mining companies deemed not to be sharing record profits fairly.

IPO activity in Western Australia continued to increase post the global financial crisis (GFC), according to new figures released from the Deloitte Corporate Finance survey. Western Australia produced 63 IPOs in the year ending 30 June 2011 (FY11), almost double the 33 IPOs in the previous financial year.

Caterpillar has made a key announcement on the progress of its autonomous truck program. Together with Australian dealer WesTrac, CAT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Fortescue Metals Group to implement an autonomous mining solution for Fortescue’s new Solomon iron ore mine.

India's GVK Power, a unit of infrastructure major GVK Group, which had inked a deal to purchase two of Hancock Prospecting's thermal coal mines in Australia for around $2.4 billion, is set to raise $1.2 billion as debt to part fund its acquisition. The Hyderabad-based GVK Power has roped in ICICI Bank to syndicating the $1.2 billion loan. Sanjay Reddy, vice chairman of GVK, signed an agreement with Gina Rinehart, chairman of Hancock, earlier in June.

An environmental engineer says Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) should not have reopened its uranium mine within Kakadu National Park last month without committing to a waste water treatment plan. The company had to stop processing uranium ore for five months during the Northern Territory wet season because its radioactive tailings dam got too close to capacity. Image of Ranger Uranium Mine in Kakadu National Park, east of Darwin, Australia was uploaded to Wikipedia by Stephen Codrington

The Greens' push to shut down the coal industry could severely undermine the nation's economy and sacrifice 200,000 jobs, new economic modelling warns. As the party takes to Federal Parliament today with unprecedented numbers and wielding the balance of power in the Senate, fresh research finds that leader Bob Brown's policy to phase out coal mining would slash GDP by up to $36 billion a year.

BHP Billiton said on Wednesday that production at its Kwinana nickel refinery in Western Australia had restarted as planned in early June. "In line with our previous guidance, production at Kwinana resumed in early June," a spokesman told Reuters.

Most Australians have never heard her name, but WA's biggest diamond producer hopes Hong Kong celebrity Louisa So Yuk Wa will help launch it into one of the world's fastest-growing jewellery markets.

Moly Mines Ltd (MOL.TO: Quote) (MOL.AX: Quote) said it got loans totalling $494 million from China Development Bank Corp(CDB) for the construction of its Spinifex Ridge molybdenum and copper project in Western Australia. The miner said the loans will include a $454 million syndicated loan. CDB will also provide the company with a $40 million working capital loan.