Australian mining company Bathurst Resources has passed a crucial hurdle to establishing an open cast coal mine on the West Coast's Denniston Plateau.

Solid Energy ex-chairman John Palmer opposed Treasury's wish to appoint an independent advisor to the company's board last year.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the scientists, backed by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, said rare earth minerals had been found in mud on the ocean floor.

A decision granting a company permission to mine beneath the eastern part of Waihi has left those on the other side of town worried they could be next, a residents group says.

Consent has been granted for an underground gold mine under a residential part of Waihi, with a Green MP saying those affected will be devastated by the decision.

A major oil and gas conference starting today will hear from a former United States prosecutor selected by the Obama Administration to beef up offshore drilling rules.

Woodside Petroleum is confident of meeting its full-year targets as it posts a sharp jump in quarterly production and starts exploration work in Burma.

John Palmer's last act as Solid Energy's chairman was to announce the bad news: the state-owned enterprise had posted a $40.2 million net loss for the 2011-12 financial year on the back of major asset writedowns.

Former Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder says the main reason for the company's near failure was "a stunning blow" in the form of "an unprecedented collapse in coal prices".

New Zealand company Todd Corporation is providing financial backing for a planned $1.3 billion methanol plant that will be the largest in North America.

Aluminium prices should improve slightly this year, despite an expected surplus of the metal and the likelihood of overproduction in the years ahead.

A mining sector group says New Zealand should be doing more to capitalise on the use of pollution-soaking clay to clean up dairy land.

Petrobras officials attempted to save their Raukumara Basin project by asking for time to seek a financial partner.

New Zealand's fragmented oversight of the oil and gas industry could result in potential 'fracking' problems slipping through the gaps.

Brazilian oil company Petrobras has handed back exploration licences it holds for deep sea oil and gas prospects off the North Island's East Cape.

The ramifications of an inquiry's findings into Pike River are potentially huge.