Australian state asks Rio, BHP for upfront cash

The cash-strapped Western Australian state government will ask Rio Tinto and BHP to pay an upfront multi-billion dollar fee in exchange for cancelling an ongoing levy on their iron ore production.

The revenue push by the mineral-rich state, which has run up more than A$30 billion ($23 billion) in debt following the end of a mining boom, sets the stage for talks with the miners, who are seen as unlikely to agree unless they win significant benefits.

Under the proposal, the two mining houses would pay as much as A$4 billion ($3 billion) in exchange for cancelling a A$0.25 a tonne ongoing levy on iron ore from their mines, some of which could be running for another 50 years.

State treasurer Ben Wyatt, whose center-left Labor party won a state election in March, said the proposal was still in its early stages.

"It's an option that could only be close to crystallizing if you had a range of things in play, one, obviously the engagement and agreement of the miners," Wyatt told reporters on Monday.

Rio Tinto has previously rejected the payout proposal, according to a company spokesman. A BHP spokesman declined to comment.

The mining companies are due to meet with the government this week, but a source close to one company said the proposal could set an unwelcome precedent.

"The last thing Rio and BHP want is to become the state's go-to ATM every time there's a financial crisis," said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic.

The A$0.25 a tonne levy raised around A$150 million for Western Australia last year, based on the two company's combined output of about 600 million tonnes of iron ore.

The state earns far more from a 7.5 percent royalty based on the value of their sales, which contributes well over $2 billion a year to state coffers.

Pietro Guj, a professor at the University of Western Australia who previously oversaw the state's royalties system, said the miners would need to benefit in order sign up to the proposal.

"There would have to be a motivation from the miners' point of view unless they were feeling philanthropic," Guj said.

The current plan follows a suggestion by a rival party in the lead up to the March election that the levy be raised to as much $5 a tonne, a proposal that was condemned by the miners.

Only Rio Tinto and BHP pay the rental fee, which applies to mature projects, but other projects including those owned by Fortescue Metals Group and Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting would be liable to pay it from 2023.

Source: Reuters

Australian magnate donates $298 million to charities

The Australian billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest and his wife announced on Monday that they will donate 400 million Australian dollars ($298 million) to fund various charities and for cancer research.

"This is the biggest single philanthropic gift in our history. It is a game-changer in the Australian philanthropic community. And it will change the lives of thousands of people here in and around the world," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said during a reception at Parliament House in Canberra.

Source: EFE

As Trump warned North Korea, his 'armada' was headed toward Australia

When U.S. President Donald Trump boasted early last week that he had sent an "armada" as a warning to North Korea, the aircraft carrier strike group he spoke of was still far from the Korean peninsula, and headed in the opposite direction.

It was even farther away over the weekend, moving through the Sunda Strait and then into the Indian Ocean, as North Korea displayed what appeared to be new missiles at a parade and staged a failed missile test.

The U.S. military's Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now "proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered," it said.

The perceived communications mix-up has raised eyebrows among Korea experts, who wonder whether it erodes the Trump administration's credibility at a time when U.S. rhetoric about the North's advancing nuclear and missile capabilities are raising concerns about a potential conflict.

"If you threaten them and your threat is not credible, it's only going to undermine whatever your policy toward them is. And that could be a logical conclusion from what's just happened," said North Korea expert Joel Wit at the 38 North monitoring group, run by Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

The U.S. military initially said in a statement dated April 10 that Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of Pacific Command, directed the Carl Vinson strike group "to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific."

Reuters and other news outlets reported on April 11 that the movement would take more than a week. The Navy, for security reasons, says it does not report future operational locations of its ships.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis initially appeared to play down the deployment on April 11, saying the Vinson was "just on her way up there because that's where we thought it was most prudent to have her at this time."

"There's not a specific demand signal or specific reason why we're sending her up there," he said.

But even Mattis initially misspoke about the strike group's itinerary, telling a news conference that the Vinson had pulled out of an exercise with Australia.

The Pentagon has since corrected the record, saying the ship's planned port visit to Fremantle, Australia, was canceled - not the exercise with Australia's navy.

Source: Reuters

Scientists discover massive undersea landslide on Great Barrier Reef

A scientific team has discovered the remnants of a massive undersea landslide on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of northeastern Australia, which occurred more than 300,000 years ago, academic sources said Wednesday.

The remains of the landslide, known as the Gloria Knolls Slide and 30 times the volume of the iconic Uluru rock, are located 75 kilometers off the coast of Innisfail, on the north coast of Queensland.

Source: EFE

Spicer: Trump told Aussie PM he disliked refugee agreement

US President Donald Trump told Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull he was bothered and disappointed by the agreement made by former President Barack Obama to take in refugees detained in that country, although their telephone conversation was "very cordial," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday.

In the phone call, which took place last weekend, Trump nevertheless made clear to Turnbull that he was "incredibly disappointed" with the agreement, Spicer said in his daily press briefing.

According to The Washington Post, during the phone call with the Australian leader, Trump criticized the agreement reached by Obama to accept the 1,250 refugees that Australia is detaining at centers in the South Sea island nation of Nauru and on the Papua New Guinea island of Manus, which he called "the worst deal ever," complaining that he was "going to get killed" politically over it in the United States.

Trump also accused Australia of seeking to export the "next Boston bomber" - in reference to a 2013 terror attack on the Boston Marathon - by trying to send the refugees to the US.

Many of these refugees come from the seven majority-Muslim countries recently banned by Trump from entering the US.

The daily also reported that the billionaire tycoon told Turnbull that their conversation was "the worst so far" out of the five he had had with other international leaders, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Trump terminated the call that had been scheduled to last an hour after just 25 minutes.

Spicer on Thursday stressed the "respect" that Trump has for Turnbull and the Australian people, but he insisted that the refugee deal is something the president is "unbelievably disappointed" about because of its implications for US security.

The press secretary said that Trump will abide by the accord but added that the refugees will be subjected to "extreme vetting" before they are allowed to enter the US.

Without mentioning his phone call with Turnbull, a few hours ago Trump tweeted "Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!"

Trump admitted Thursday that he is being "tough" and will continue with that stance in his phone calls with other international leaders, because "We're being taken advantage by every nation in the world, virtually. It's not going to happen anymore."

"When you hear about the tough phone calls I'm having, don't worry about it," Trump said at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, an event that blends politics and religion and which is traditionally held in Washington on the first Thursday in February.

Trump did not specifically mention the phone calls to which he was referring, but over the past couple of days controversial details of his calls with Turnbull and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto have been leaked.

Australia has historically been a loyal ally of the US, participating in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars launched by ex-President George W. Bush.

Source: EFE

Federer returns to top 10 in ATP rankings

Swiss tennis player Roger Federer returned to the top 10 in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings released on Monday, after winning his fifth Australian Open singles title.

Federer, who defeated Spanish player Rafael Nadal on Sunday, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, jumped seven positions and is now placed 10th.

Source: EFE

Australia explorer looks at grounds for lawsuit over gas drilling ban

Lakes Oil, a junior oil and gas explorer in Australia, is considering the grounds it may have for suing Victoria state, after the government there permanently banned fracking and extended a halt on onshore conventional gas drilling to 2020.

Lakes Oil shares sank 50 percent on Wednesday in their first trading since the fracking ban was announced, and the stock was the second most active on the Australian exchange.

The moves by the southeastern state mean Lakes will not be able to go ahead with two tentative deals lined up in 2014 to supply gas from its Wombat onshore conventional gas field to U.S. giant Dow Chemical Co and Australian food manufacturer Simplot.

"What the government's done is just unbelievable. It's unprecedented," Lakes Oil Chief Executive Roland Sleeman told Reuters in an interview.

Sleeman would not say whether his company would seek compensation from Victoria, but said it was a "really relevant question".

"I invite you to have a look at what has happened elsewhere. The key example is Metgasco in New South Wales - not exactly the same situation - but ultimately it was compensated by government," he said.

New South Wales agreed last year to pay Metgasco A$25 million ($19 million) to buy back three exploration licenses after suspending approval for drilling at a promising coal seam gas site due to public protests.

A lawyer, however, said it would be difficult to win compensation from the Victorian government, because, mining and petroleum licenses are not property rights. They are administrative entitlements, which a government can terminate with legislation.

"As a general rule, when governments take away entitlements under mining and petroleum legislation, then there's not a right to compensation," said Jeff Lynn, a partner at law firm Ashurst.

Victoria-focused Lakes was also considering a range of commercial options, Sleeman said, including expanding into South Australia state, which is eager to promote gas development.

Lakes could merge with another company, buy assets that larger players are spinning off, or in an extreme case, fold, he also said.

Lakes Oil has spent at least A$80 million to prove up gas resources on its Victorian acreage, Sleeman said.

Source: Reuters

Turistas escapam de tragédia, após buraco engolir praia

Turistas que acampavam na praia Rainbow Beach, em Queensland, na Australia, passaram por um grande susto no último sábado, 26.
Uma enorme cratera se abriu no meio da praia, engolindo barracas de camping, trailers e carros que estavam estacionados na areia. Ninguém saiu ferido.
De acordo com o jornal britânico Daily Mail, cerca de 140 pessoas foram retiradas da área, entre elas, crianças.
Ainda segundo a imprensa da região, esta seria a segunda vez, em quatro anos, que um buraco do tipo se abre no mesmo local. Em entrevista, os turistas contaram que em poucos segundos a água "engoliu" parte da praia.
Guardas alertaram para os turistas não se aproximarem da área onde o buraco foi aberto, pelo risco que correm.


Fonte: Uol