An industry group that provides workplace safety services to New South Wales miners is set to take its message to United States officials. Coal Services Pty Ltd will begin a two week trip to North America to meet with mining industry representatives, the body has said. A statement from Coal Services said a meeting at the Australian Embassy will focus on health and safety issues where Australia is a leader...

It's been a long time since Australia jumped off the sheep's back and hitched a ride on a dump truck full of ore, but it's likely the mining and resources industries will play a bigger than ever role in this year's Federal election. The protracted brawl over the resource super profits tax raised public awareness of the industry and became a political headache for Labor.

Australia’s new mining tax proposal of a 30% resource rent tax for iron-ore and coal, rather than a 40% super profits tax (SPT) on all resources, would attract investors to expansion and merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities, advisory firm Deloitte said on Tuesday. Mining lead tax partner Gordon Thring said that while there was still a lot of detail to be worked out, the new proposal would likely remove the uncertainty for investment decisions and exploration.

Australia’s trade surplus widened in May as exports of coal and gold climbed on demand from Asia, outpacing a gain in imports. Australia’s trade surplus is being fueled by a surge in prices for iron ore and coal shipped by companies including BHP Billiton Ltd. Signs of a rebound in mining investment may gather pace in coming months after resource companies agreed with Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s government on the introduction of a new industry tax last week.

Korea Electric Power Corp., the country’s biggest electricity producer, and steelmaker Posco agreed to buy stakes in coal mines in Australia from Anglo American Plc for a combined A$453 million ($382 million). The state-run utility will acquire Bylong mine for A$403 million, the Seoul-based company said in an e-mailed statement today.

Banpu Pcl, Thailand’s biggest coal producer, agreed to buy the rest of Centennial Coal Co. for A$2 billion ($1.7 billion) in the nation’s biggest overseas takeover to secure supplies as prices climb... The deal gives Bangkok-based Banpu control of 10 mines in Australia, the world’s largest coal exporter, and power station customers in Japan and Europe.

The federal government has struck a deal with the mining industry on a new resource tax structure, which will cut the headline tax rate to 30 per cent and increase the threshold at which the tax applies. The renamed Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) will apply to iron ore and coal projects...while onshore oil, gas and coal seam methane projects will be taxed under the existing Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT), at a rate of 40 per cent.

China is set to overtake Japan as the world’s largest importer of thermal coal as soon as this year, only three years after China became a net importer of the mineral used to fire power stations, according to an emerging industry consensus. The speed at which Chinese coal imports are growing is surprising mining companies, traders and policymakers, who had previously not expected China to overtake Japan before 2015.