An independent review of events leading to Solid Energy's near-collapse has raised questions over Treasury's response to early warning signs of trouble.

Conservationists fighting a decision to allow an Australian mining company to dig for coal on the West Coast's Denniston Plateau have suffered a major setback today.

The Denniston Plateau deal shows that National and the mining industry have learned their lesson from their last attempt to mine on conservation land.

Greymouth Petroleum director Jim Sturgess must take primary responsibility for the "destruction of trust" between himself and two other board members at the oil and gas company.

A High Court hearing gets underway in Christchurch this morning as environmental groups try more ways to stall mining on the Denniston Plateau.

Newmont Waihi Gold hopes to start work on its controversial $1 billion Correnso underground mine around the middle of next year.

Auditor General Lyn Provost says she will not carry out an inquiry into what led Solid Energy to the brink of collapse this year.

Bathurst Resources has cleared another hurdle in its struggle to start coal mining on the Denniston Plateau near Westport but still needs the blessing of courts and faces tough market conditions.

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

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.

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.