Tim Treadgold

Diamond demand is rising, and gold is at a record high price -- either the boom is back, or investors are buying anything to dodge the crumbling U.S.

Recent form doesn’t provide much reason for enthusiasm when it comes to some upcoming floats.

Rural Australia almost cost Julia Gillard her job. Rural China could ensure that she keeps it for a very long time.

BHP Billiton’s $US40bn offer for a Canadian fertiliser maker has a few pundits scratching their heads.

The stock markets of the world have been in decline for the past month as investors fret about a double dip recession, while the official data says global recovery is underway.

Centamin’s move to the AIM in London last year has put it in the right place to attract British and European investment.

Property investment is supposed to be as safe as houses but two events in the past week point to that age-old belief being flushed around the S-bend in a wake-up call for anyone expecting a rapid recovery in the flat real estate market.

The common thread linking the raw ingredients of chocolate and stainless steel is an attempt by rich investors to corner the market in a commodity to control future prices - a development which, oddly, is good news for WA.

A Chinese carmaker is following the lead of the Japanese and South Koreans in the 1960s and 1980s.

It's a radical thought but the next official interest rate move in Australia could be down rather than up as most economists are predicting - and the next move for gold could be up, rather than down.

A close look overseas reveals a potential shortage of commodities.

No-one should invest on the strength of a handful of political opinion polls but enough evidence is emerging to cause smart money to start thinking about what Tony Abbott might do to your portfolio.

Iluka Resources has had some good news of late, but many may have missed it.

If the new mining tax is so bad for small iron ore companies that a fresh anti-tax advertising campaign is required why have their share prices risen over the past week and not fallen?

The minerals resource rent tax might spell the end for magnetite iron ore.

"It's China, stupid." With apologies to former U.S. president Bill Clinton, that's the big issue Australia should be debating in the current election campaign, but isn't.

Commodity trader Glencore could be set to float, a sure sign of its confidence in the future of the resource sector.

If you thought the dead hand of Canberra had been removed from the resources sector you are sadly wrong.

The new mining tax puts most of its chips on China’s growth continuing.

If bets were placed on the chances of pigs flying over Perth, or a former president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions criticising employers for paying their workers high wages, it's a fair chance that the flying pigs would get shorter odds.

Australia’s new PM, like all Western leaders, faces a rocky road ahead.

Australia is not alone with tax issues. China is also upsetting one of its key industries with tax changes, though not to the point where prominent people can be counted among the losers, which include Kerry Stokes, Stan Perron and Richard Court.

The government has got the modelling wrong on the RSPT.

Official inquiries will determine why the directors of Sundance Resources broke the rules about flying together, and died in a plane crash.

Foreign mine owners might be better off making a loss under the proposed super profits tax.

Oops! Has the Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, just let the tax-cat out of the bag by admitting the obvious, but previously denied fact, that "one size does not fit all" in the mining super-tax debate?

Xstrata may have got the jump on its mining rivals.

What Kevin took away, Kevin now gives back, but only if you're nice to Kevin - oh, and also have a mining project in a marginal electorate.

The Greek experience should be a lesson to Australia’s political leaders.

Queensland, not WA, is shaping as the biggest loser from the Australian Government's proposed super-tax on mining profits, a realisation slowly dawning in Canberra and one that could lead to the first of the "special deals" if the tax is to move

Finding a balance between cost cutting and generating fresh investment will serve Australia well.

Shale gas extraction is a game changer, both in terms of the energy sector and for its geopolitical implications.