Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Australia's grocery giant Woolworths Ltd. on Monday reported a positive jump in its full-year sales figures, lifted by a corresponding leap in its fourth quarter sales.

India's JSW Energy, a subsidiary of the JSW Group, is eyeing possible coal mine acquisitions overseas, including Australia, as part of efforts to maintain operations despite a prevailing domestic coal supply shortage.

It won't be long before the Chinese yuan, or renminbi, becomes Asia's regional currency, what with the number of trade transactions using China's currency as preferred mode of financial settlement.

It was a very painful, not to mention, a very steep price to pay. Australia has now become a laughing stock that after awarding a $34 million subsidy for Ford Australia and expecting 300 jobs in return, the complete opposite happened when the automaker announced its 440 job cuts earlier this week.

Global Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto PLC will be conducting a manpower downsizing at its Clermont mine in Queensland, Australia, set off by a double whammy rising domestic costs and continued lower world prices in the Asian market.

Debt-riddled Australian media company Nine Entertainment Co had gotten another potential bidder, this time for a A$3 billion ($3.1 billion) buyout by one of the world's largest private equity groups, TPG.

Australia has given Abu Dhabi's air carrier Etihad Airways the go signal to expand to 10 per cent its stake control in Virgin Australia.

The rigorous environmental assessment phase had compelled Toro Energy Ltd to push back and revise its initial target date for a final board decision on what could be Western Australia's first uranium mine project.

Australia's mining boom, with its consequent manpower shortage, has forced the country to make more permanent residents of the Indian and Chinese migrants that came in the year to June, 2012, the government said on Thursday.

Victoria could be facing its biggest teachers' strike in September, a first in history.The Australian Education Union (AEU) has submitted an application with Fair Work Australia on Thursday for a protected action ballot to allow its 7,000 non-teaching support staff to join state school teachers for a 24-hour work stoppage planned for the first week of September.

Fresnillo PLC, a Mexican precious metals miner, on Wednesday announced it remained confident of achieving the gold and silver production targets it has set for 2012, after second quarter output showed favorable results.

While the proposed $33-billion expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine project will surely add greatly to the coffers of Roxby Downs, making it self-sufficient in the long-term, the same could not be said as far as adequate housing accommodations is concerned.

That rare earths mining firms operating in Australia as well as in the U.S., Canada and other African nations will scramble to meet the impending supply import demand of China for the precious elements is no remote possibility.

Downstream industries highly dependent on rare earths elements are now seeking substitutes by way of sythetically producing the material.

A heavy rare earths bearing mineral eudialyte, which could later on produce the rare earths elements yttrium and zirconium, has been positively confirmed discovered outside of Matamec's Kipawa heavy rare earth deposit in Quebec, Canada.

China, in yet another endeavor to loop-thread and consolidate its patchy rare earths mining sector, has decreased in half the approval and release of mining rights it can award to producers and mining firms.

After a decade-long battle, media giant News Ltd has finally scored a win against the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to its over more than A$2 billion ($2 billion) in tax deductions.

Airline passengers flying via Virgin Australia have been assured they will continue to enjoy the extra legroom seats in the front row of the economy section on its Boeing 737-800 aircraft at no extra cost.

Victoria is facing more job cuts in the following months as automaker Ford Motors Co. on Tuesday announced it will slash more than 440 jobs at its Geelong and Broadmeadows production plants.

Another Australian business entity has been put up on sale, this time its largest integrated poultry producer, Inghams Enterprises, after weathering the corporate storms for 94 years as a private company.

Mongolia, a nation known for its vast yet largely untapped natural reserves, has earned yet another interested miner from Australia for its oil and natural gas supplies.

Shares of Whitehaven Coal Ltd. responded positively to news of a A$5.3 billion ($5.4 billion) takeover bid by a consortium led by Australian billionaire Nathan Tinkler.

Latest census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that most of Australia's richest towns lie in its western portion, which is not surprising though since Western Australia is home to the country's much touted mining boom. New research showed the town of Dampier is now Australia's richest town.

Australian media group Seven West Media, owner of The West Australian newspaper and the Seven Network, on Monday announced it will embark on a A$440 million ($450 million) capital raising to write off debt via a renounceable one-for-two rights issue to existing shareholders.

As expected, the Australian dollar slid, albeit marginally, on Friday afternoon in reaction to China's dismal second quarter 2012 gross domestic product (GDP) growth performance.

Matamec Explorations Inc., a junior mining rare earth exploration company, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) and a joint venture agreement (JVA) with Toyotsu Rare Earth Canada, Inc. (TRECan) over the former's Kipawa heavy rare earths element (HREE) deposit in Québec.

The three economic leaders U.S., the European Union and Japan won't be pleased. After imposing curbs of its rare earths exports, China is set to launch effective August 8 a physical trading platform for rare earths, in a bid to strengthen its hold, if not totally manipulate, the global prices of the essential minerals.

Not by some stroke of luck but more of a force majeure, the U.S. House of Congress on Thursday cleared a proposed law to increase the output of rare earths and other highly coveted metals and minerals, effectively clearing for the resurrection of its domestic rare earths mining which it suspended over 20 years ago partly due both to environmental concerns and falling global demand and prices.

Rio Tinto has backed out from a planned $1-billion iron ore project in Portugal to focus on much bigger and potentially profit-yielding development projects, Reuters News reported.