Carola Narvaez breathed in the Atacama Desert's cold dawn air and slowly began to exhale the story of how her family survived a devastating earthquake and worked to rebuild their lives - only for her husband to end up trapped deep inside a Chilean mine.
While 33 men trapped in a mine cling to hope that they'll get out alive, the company that put them there says it can't afford to pay their salaries and may go bankrupt.
Put on a show. Play cards. Sing. Get exercise. And whatever you do, don't get too fat to squeeze through the escape tunnel.
L and M Mining's Earnscleugh flats operation is expected to be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by the end of the month.
Plants planned for turning Otago and Southland lignite into fuel could instead be used to turn wood into biodiesel, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment says.
The Government's move to ditch unpopular plans for releasing land protected under schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act for mineral exploration will instead see a small boost to non-invasive exploration, by providing $4.5 million for aerial surveys on the West Coast and Northland.
The Government will today drop controversial plans to mine some of the country's most prized and pristine conservation land.
Listed gold miner Oceana Gold has identified new gold resources at its Macraes gold mine which could add another one and a-half years to the life of the mine.
Metiria Turei has probably long forgotten it. Those who witnessed it still wince at the memory of it.
Oceana Gold (New Zealand) Ltd will take delivery later this year of a massive 360-tonne mining excavator worth about $8 million.
Celebrated physicist Professor Sir Paul Callaghan says the Government's plans to mine on conservation land are "stupid economics".
Submissions close tomorrow on the proposed changes to the Crown Minerals Act which could result in conservation areas, presently excluded from mining under its schedule four, opened up to mining exploration.
Leading New Zealand artist Marilynn Webb has issued a strong warning about mining of conservation areas to benefit "a corporate few" while it could "destroy heritage for all future New Zealanders".
Of the more than 200 mining permits issued for Department of Conservation land, one is from the department itself.
Government plans to allow mining on seven areas of the Coromandel Peninsula threaten to deal a "devastating blow" to the critically endangered Archey's frogs, says a conservation expert.
Resource consent has been sought for an alluvial gold mining operation in the Nevis Valley in an area classified as an outstanding landscape.
Earnscleugh residents are not rushing to spend the $62,500 amenity fund provided by L and M Mining.
Central Otago Mayor Malcolm Macpherson is welcoming the prospect of a potential lignite mine near St Bathans and says if it proceeds, it will have "enormous" economic benefits for the country and the region.
The Central Otago Environmental Society will be keeping a close eye on any plans for mining in a "sensitive" landscape near the Oteake Conservation Park.
Upper Clutha Tramping Club members have joined a groundswell of opposition to the Government's proposal to open areas of the conservation estate for mining.
