Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Ten days after Australia implemented its $23-a-tonne carbon tax law, the country's competition watchdog said it has received a total of 630 complaints against it.

At the rate BHP Billiton Ltd.is going, having filed for environmental approval for its iron ore expansion plans in the Pilbara region, it sure does look the global miner is bent to hoard much of Australia's natural reserves despite uncommitted action to push for the advancement of its two major expansion projects in the country.

Australia's unemployed has grown by 0.1 percentage points to 5.2% in June, as the number of people with jobs declined by 27,000 to 11,500,500 in the sixth month of the year, latest figures released Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed.The Australian dollar, at 1200 AEST, dropped at 101.93 US cents immediately after the figures were released.

Australia's exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is facing stiff rivalry from oil and gas exploration companies in East Africa amid the whopping 24 oil discoveries made from just only 27 test wells there.

A direct Australian dollar and China yuan currency conversion could very much augur well for a stable trade between the two growing economic leader nations.

China, as it gears its economy to sustain the continued global fiscal crisis along with general plans to boost domestic consumption, could transform from a major rare earths producing and exporting nation to a major consumer and importer of the precious metals essential to make high-tecg gadgets and applications.

Noting the financial crisis that continues to hit and stall the eurozone, the World Gold Council (WGC) said it expects gold demand from China to pare from the 1,000 metric tonnes it earlier predicted in May to just about 870 metric tonnes overall for 2012.

USEC Inc., a global energy company and provider of enriched uranium fuel and nuclear industry-related services for commercial nuclear power plants, announced it has completed by 90 per cent the conversion of weapons-grade uranium from dismantled former Soviet Union nuclear warheads into low enriched uranium fuel under the program called Megatons to Megawatts(TM).

Australia has signed two business deals with Sundaram Business Services (SBS), the business process outsourcing arm of Sundaram Finance Ltd., which will aid the latter's expansion plans in the Asian nation.

Gold producer from Australia Integra Mining has undergone into a trading halt on Tuesday as it seeks to raise $25 million to pay down debt as well as finance a number of expansion projects.

At least eight major producers of rare earths based in China's Guangdong Province have formed an alliance, the Guangdong Rare Earth Industry Group, in compliance to the federal government's pronouncement to start building a rare earths reserves.

Shipments of the key steel-making ingredient iron ore from Australia's Port Hedland to China dropped in June by as much as 7.6 percent from a month ago, port authority data showed.

Job advertisements placed in newspapers and on the Internet in Australia continued to drop for the third straight month in June, latest data released by the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) showed on Monday.

Resource-rich Australia has committed to extend $250 million for four years from 2015/16 for war-stricken yet also resource rich country Afghanistan.

A nationwide survey of Australia's electricity power industry has shown that South Australians were unaware of applicable discounts offered by the electricity supply companies.

A $400 million uranium mine development project proposed to be built in a world heritage game reserve in Tanzania has been given the go ahead by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

The re-start of the two nuclear power reactors in the northeast of Osaka could greatly reduce Japan's consumption of crude oil by 60,000 barrels daily.

The historic 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, after more than 900 hours of hearings and 1,100 interviews with officials, was after all deemed an implanted bomb just waiting when to literally explode.

It seems even Australia's hotel accommodation industry won't be spared from the carbon tax.

Australia's antitrust regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has extended its stamp of approval to the proposed takeover of commodities trader Glencore International Plc over blue-chip miner Xstrata Plc.

China, the world's stronghold of vital rare earths needed for a large number of electronic devices used in defense, alternative energy and communications industries, has already started stockpiling its rare earths, a state-run news daily reported.

China's export regulations of its rare earths is up for deliberation next week by the World Trade Organization (WTO). China stands by claims and support of experts that said export curbs adhere to the very rules set by the international global body.

India will soon be scouring the ocean floor bed for rare earths as it positions to institute a "strategic presence" in the area of deep sea mining.

Virgin Australia has launched codeshare services with Virgin America in conjunction of this year's Fourth of July celebrations.

The Australian Federal Court has instructed insolvency firm PPB Advisory on Tuesday to take over the reins debt and mortgage fund operator Provident Capital.

Origin Energy and US giant ConocoPhillips, owner of the A$23 billion ($23.6 billion) Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) project, along with China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec), has approved on Wednesday a final investment decision on the second of its two-train coal seam gas (CSG) to LNG project.

The Foreign Investment Review Board has given the regulatory approval to Woodside Petroleum to sell to Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui & Co. one-third of its controlling stakes in the $30 billion Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia.

Data from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology on Tuesday forecast the resurgence of the El Niño weather pattern in the later part of 2012.

China is facing a major coal oversupply in three major ports, the state-run Xinhua News reported.