The Wire

The rest of the economy might be dire but Australia is still in the grip of a mining boom. It began in the West and is creeping across the country, and we’re seeing inevitable clashes between mineral explorers and people who don’t want great holes drilled in their land. New South Wales farmers are worried about coal mine exploration in pastoral country. National parks in the north of South Australia have also been targeted by miners keen to see what lies beneath the ground. So does the good of the economy outweigh the bad effects of mining.