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

Mining on conservation land, deep-sea oil drilling, subdivisions on unspoilt coastline, cranes in suburbia - they bring protests on the streets and rouse neighbours from their burrows.

The priorities are clearly badly wrong, writes Bryan Walker. NZ needs to turn its back on a prosperity resulting in severe threats to the human future and build an economy which flourishes on green energy sources.

Waihi residents' groups fighting a company's plans to mine beneath their homes are taking their battle to the Environment Court.

The company behind a proposed underground gold mine beneath homes in Waihi will appeal against parts of the resource consent.

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.

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.

Upset families of the 29 men killed at Pike River "cannot accept" findings of a report that absolves government employees of any blame for the 2010 tragedy.

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