Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Too much of a good thing could also very well be a bad thing. While it is great that Australia's workers are empowered and can readily bargain their labour and wage demands, this very freedom could actually turn off potential investors and kill the economy of the tiny island-nation.

Russian steelmaker OAO Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has withdrawn from a A$554 million or $567 million bid to acquire Australian iron ore developer Flinders Mines after a minority shareholder challenged the plan in a legal complaint. Shares of Flinders Mines immediately took a beating, dropping more than seven per cent in early trade.

The Alpha Mine & Rail project in Queensland, a collaboration project of Georgina Hope Rinehart, one of the richest women in the world, and India's GVK Group, may be able to secure a green clearance as early as August 2012.

Australia need not only expedite new construction as well as expansion of varied mining infrastructure pipeline projects such as road, rail and port projects, but also ensure to manage them well in the light of expected surge in the demand of commodities.

The problem with most airlines is that they are quick on the draw to implement extra charges once airline fuel goes up, but are slow to revert when the same goes down, thus said Flight Centre, Australia's largest travel agent, as it lambasted Australian air carriers Qantas Airways Limited and Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd for their poor inaction to automatically lower their surcharges.

Japan has restarted on Sunday the first of its more than 50 suspended nuclear power plants in Oi, western Japan, a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster and two months of totally no nuclear power generation.

China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) continued to decelerate in June, falling to 50.2 from 50.4 in May, the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing released in a joint statement over the weekend.

The parliament of Kyrgyzstan has voted to review and revise the operating licence the country has awarded to Canadian miner Centerra Gold over the Kumtor gold mine project.

Hungary has formally expressed its approval for the development of the Mecsek Hills Uranium mine project through a joint venture, Australian miner Wildhorse Energy (WHE) announced on Wednesday.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has been asked to intervene on the prevailing rare earths dispute by world economic leaders - the U.S., European Union and Japan against China.

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country's biggest oil and gas producer, has been granted the go-ahead to construct a $133.6 million worth liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage terminal project on Hainan island.

A consortium composed of Qatar Petroleum, ExxonMobil Power Ltd. and Total Gas & Power Venture is mulling to build a 500-megawatt combined heat and power (CHP) plant at the South Hook liquefied natural gas import terminal in Wales. The terminal is said to be the biggest regasification hub in entire Europe.

With all the hype of new nuclear power generators being constructed in different parts of the world and Japan's much hyped reopening and rekindling of its nuclear power supply generation, prices of spot uranium basically remain unchanged at $50.75 per pound U3O8 last week, TradeTech said.

Will the much-hyped, industry shaping $65 billion mega-merger between commodities trader Glencore International Plc and blue-chip miner Xstrata Plc, what with the investor retaliation over the planned retention payments for Xstrata Plc executives, ever push through? Or will it just remain forever floating in oblivion in a project that can be described as what could have been?

Canadian company Orbite Aluminae Inc. announced on Tuesday it has successfully extracted the first commercial samples of heavy rare earth oxides and scandium from its aluminous clay deposit at its Grande-Vallee property in Quebec, aided by the use of its patented heavy rare earth and rare-metal extraction and separation technology.

Global demand for liquid-fuel, such as oil, condensates, and natural gas liquids, has been forecast to grow 0.9 per cent between 2010 and 2035, to 109.5 million barrels a day, the US Energy Information Administration said Monday in a published report titled 'Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) for 2012.'

At least 50 jobs of varied nature stand to get affected in the recently concluded strategic business review of Ivanhoe Australia Ltd., which it conducted to cut costs and generate savings for the company.

Some 35 jobs have been saved from the latest sale of two businesses, along with a number of assets, which belonged to collapsed Australian engineering firm Hastie Group.

Gordon Merchant, founder and biggest shareholder of troubled surfwear retailer Billabong International, announced on Tuesday it is open yet again to accepting takeover bids for the company. Billabon shares dived 47.5 per cent into a massive whirlpool after coming out of a trading halt since Thursday.

Jewellery investors in India are turning their focus on diamonds, shying away from gold as prices of the safe haven yellow metal continue to outrule the rupee.

Amid the decline of incoming international passengers, the influx of Chinese tourists at the Auckland International Airport has grown 44.4 per cent in May to 12,443 individuals.

Australia's production of the safe haven yellow metal gold continued to decelerate in the third quarter, spurred largely by the wet weather conditions.

Australia is set to ride on a massive natural gas boom that will surely propel the nation to a new level of economic heights, but it ought to drumbeat its labor supply as early as now to aid this development.

Reality bites. With commodity prices taking a continued beating owing to the massive slowing global economic growth, investment bank UBS AG said it is impossible for Australia to generate the forecast earnings from its planned Mineral Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) in the next two years.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011 may have spooked the nuclear power industry as well as the uranium sector, but judging from the global activity wherein Chinese companies combined forces to bid for a UK nuclear power project, Britain poised to switch back to nuclear power after 20 years and the Lithuania parliament approving the construction of a new nuclear plant, nuclear power has regained its former stronghold - alive and kicking and most definitely back on the radar.

More and more non-Chinese rare earths miners are turning aggressive with their respective exploration programs, wanting to get a slice of the rare earths pie in anticipation of the sector's potential supply glut in the wake of China's planned stricter monitoring on its rare earths industry.

Unless Peru gets to develop new mines at the soonest possible time, it is likely its mining output will all the more decline in the coming years, with overall mining production expected to fall 4 per cent on 2012 on depleted reserves, slowing global demand and domestic political upheavals.

Iron ore cargo traffic in India has been largely affected by its mining ban, with data handled by major ports having dropped 5.1 per cent to 94 million tonnes in May 2012 compared to a year ago, a report by The Economic Times said.

You'd think millionaires, specially the Australian moguls, hardly felt the crunch of the ongoing global fiscal crisis? Well, think again. Because apparently, the millionaires from this tiny island country were the ones that experienced the toughest of luck in 2011 as far as their financial worth is concerned, a study published Wednesday revealed.