Commonwealth Bank economist Gareth Aird says the weak Australian currency is enticing tourists from home and abroad, helping the economy to rebalance and stimulate growth.

Solid Energy acting chairman Andy Coupe admitted it was "unlikely" that any sale, or sales, would cover its outstanding debt.

Gold futures have fallen for the second time in three days amid mounting speculation that the US Fed will raise interest rates.

Genesis Energy announced its last two coal-burning electricity generators at Huntly Power Station will be shut down.

Mr Key said Solid Energy had $300 million of outstanding debt and was in a "precarious position".

A little less than four years ago, the world looked like it was about to end and gold hit an all-time high. Now it has lost its lustre.

A collapse in iron ore and coal prices has exposed Australia's true vulnerability.

Gold prices have plunged to a five year low, but a local expert says Kiwi investors will hold out until prices lift again.

Up to 60 mining jobs have been promised with the start up of two new goldmining operations near Hokitika and Kumara.

The owner of the Sams Creek Gold Project, which sits atop what could be New Zealand's biggest undeveloped gold deposit, has slashed the value of the resource.

A decade-long project to save endangered giant snails from a West Coast coal mine will finish next year.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has pulled its support for any expansion of Kakadu's Ranger uranium mine after its operator put the project on ice.

The digger driver killed in a quarry landslide will be farewelled on Monday.

The full extent of illegal quarrying is not known after it was revealed the latest person to be killed was operating without a safety certificate.

Digger driver Murray Taylor, who was buried in a mammoth quarry landslide, has been remembered as a great bloke after hopes of finding him alive faded yesterday.

The former boss of the quarry where a landslip is feared to have killed a digger operator yesterday has spoken of previous brushes with death.

The digger driver buried under 1000 tonnes of rubble has been named as Murray Taylor.

The annual BRW Rich List has published, showing Australia's 200 richest citizens ...

Australia is forecasting a staggering 90 per cent plunge in spending on projects, calling time on its biggest resources bonanza since the 1850s gold rush.

A company which spent up to $65 million in a failed bid to mine ironsands from the South Taranaki seabed, has applied for a prospecting permit covering a huge swathe of seabed north of Ross.

It was right to consider a compensation offer when deciding to drop charges against former Pike River chief executive Peter Whittall, WorkSafe NZ says.

Pike River Mine survivor Daniel Rockhouse says he was humbled to accept an award for bravery at an investiture ceremony at Government House this morning.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is warning borrowers against taking on too much debt as concerns grow about a potential housing bubble in Sydney and Melbourne.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has found a new way to plug the country's budget hole: targeting multinationals.

The ramifications of a further 113 job losses at Stockton will reverberate right down the West Coast and all the way to the Port of Lyttelton, MP Damien O'Connor says.

Solid Energy did all it could to avoid job cuts on the West Coast but the coal market made it too difficult, Bill English says.

The mood was grim as Solid Energy employees filed out of the NBS Theatre in Westport today, just minutes after finding out the company was cutting 151 jobs, plus up to 15 contracting jobs - from its Stockton mine. The company is cutting 151 jobs, but some of the losses will be made up of unfilled vacancies, meaning 113 current staff will lose their jobs. This cuts the number of staff at the mine from 397 to 246. It follows Solid's decision to cut 185 jobs a year ago.