Maitland ‘certain’ of mining licence, ICAC told
A corruption inquiry has heard former union leader John Maitland told Taiwanese investors a mining company he chaired was certain to have a project they would be interested in backing more than six months before the company was given a licence to explore for coal, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Maitland made the claim in a letter dated May 2, 2008 – the same day mobile phone records tendered at the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday reveal an advisor in then Labor NSW mining minister Ian Macdonald’s office called the former national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.
Maitland had then stepped down from the union. He and his business associates had paid for an $850 dinner with advisor and former departmental liaison officer Craig Munnings at the Prime restaurant in Sydney on April 8.
Tinkler and wife face threat of bankruptcy
Embattled coal miner Nathan Tinkler and his wife may be made bankrupt over $440,000 in allegedly unpaid bills to a corporate advisor, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
In the latest in a series of lawsuits targeting Tinkler, corporate advisor BKK Partners has for the first time directly sued Rebecca Tinkler, who is trustee of the family trust.
BKK has filed two suits in an attempt to recover the money - one against Tinkler Group in the Federal Court, and the other against Mr and Mrs Tinkler in the NSW Supreme Court
Rio Tinto tips ore record as Beijing stokes its mills
Rio Tinto expects its iron ore sales to China to rise to a record this year due to the country's rising demand for steel, a top executive has flagged, according to The Australian.
China's demand for steel was expected to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 3% in the next decade, said Alan Smith, president of Rio Tinto Iron Ore Asia, at an international conference yesterday.
There have been concerns among analysts and policymakers over a recent slowdown in the Chinese economy, but Smith said the country's annual steel demand would continue to expand and peak at about 1 billion tonnes in 2030.
