Or is it the end of the beginning? Or maybe the ending is just the beginning repeated?

Certainly miners feel that all they’ve been hearing from government is white noise, whenever they have tried to discuss the impacts this tax will have on their industry.

Maybe they think they’ve just become a prisoner of society, given the Green bent Australian politics has taken.

There is a feeling out there that if some miners are pushed much further there will be some sort of west end riot. They feel they have been harshly treated with the soon to be implemented Minerals Resource Rent Tax and this carbon tax is just another straw.

You get the impression that if this goes on much longer they will be looking for a second solution and Labor may well find itself all torn down.

That was certainly the impression outgoing Fortescue chief executive officer (and incoming non-executive chairman) Andrew Forrest was reportedly left with.

He is quoted as saying federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said if WA did not like the MRRT it could secede.

Some in the west feel the MRRT is the worst of the two taxes.

Indeed, outgoing FMG chief operating officer (and incoming CEO) Neville Power said the carbon tax would only add about 1% to the company’s bottom line but that the MRRT was much worse.

Magnetite miners no doubt have a much different view on the two taxes given the amount of processing – essentially electricity – needed to make their product saleable. That is going to bite.

Over in the coal fields there are real fears this carbon tax could ultimately close some coal operations down.

So is this tax the beginning of the end for mining? Or will it just roll on as it has done through many other crises?

After all, tougher environmental laws in the 1960s were supposed to spell the end of the industry.

Instead it became far better in the ways it treated the world around it. Some miners have even become case studies in the way they went about it.

Native title popped up and was going to bring an end to the industry too.

It was not fun, but miners got through it and there have been some very interesting, positive agreements coming out of this area.

So will the carbon tax bring an end to the music or will something spring up to save the day?

My money is on the latter, because one thing Australia is blessed with, along with its mineral wealth, is a vibrant, innovative supply sector.

Australia has some of the best research institutions in the business when it comes to solving mining problems.

These researchers already have been looking at the problems of operating under a regime where a company’s carbon footprint is taken into account.

Lycopodium, for example, has an answer to the generation issues that will affect many mines, particularly the remote ones.

It has a solar power technology that effectively allows for cost effective storage of solar energy.

In very crude terms it involves mirrors concentrating the sun’s rays to a collector. In this collector is either ammonia or a special type of salt.

In one version the sun’s energy breaks the ammonia down into its nitrogen and hydrogen components. In the other it melts the salt.

At the same time the sun’s energy is also generating electricity that is driving equipment on the mine such as mills.

When the sun sets, the nitrogen and hydrogen is allowed to come back together. This releases energy that is converted into electricity to provide the night time power.

With the salt version, the energy released as the salt changes state from liquid to solid does the same thing.

Mineral processors such as Gekko Systems are finding ways to get more bang for each joule of mineral processing energy.

There are many other examples out there.

So as the miners looking at the looming tax and cry out “Who’s gonna save us?” the answer may well be provided from within these shores.