Prime Minister John Key talks to Newstalk ZB's Leighton Smith about the Denniston Mine decision.

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.

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.

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.

If Meridian Energy had already floated, it's a fair bet that its share price would have dropped after the Opposition unveiled its electricity policy a week ago.

Protesters have turned out in Northland to voice concerns at the potential health risks associated with mining in Puhipuhi.

It was "insane" for a New Zealand-born mine worker to smoke in an underground coal mine in Queensland, a New Zealand coal mining industry boss says.

Pike River Coal has been convicted of all charges arising from the November 2010 mining tragedy that killed 29 men.

A camera was lowered into the Pike River Mine on Friday, revealing more water than expected but not a great amount of damage.

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".