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Padbury shares wiped out on return

AFTER answering more questions on its Oakajee funding deal collapse, Padbury Mining was reinstated to trading this morning, with shares plummeting.

Padbury shares slumped 85% - which was more than they had gained in the lead up to and day of the April 11 announcement of a proposed $US6.4 billion ($A6.9 billion) funding deal for the Oakajee port and rail project from a mystery investor.

Shares in the company had been suspended since then and following the 10-page response to a lengthy query from the Australian Securities Exchange, were reinstated this morning.

It comes after Padbury announced late Wednesday that the funding deal with Roland Frank Bleyer's Alliance Super Holdings and Superkite had been terminated.

Padbury told the ASX this morning that the termination meant that the contents of the original announcement were no longer material to the company's share price.

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Porgera emergency declared over illegal mining

THE Papua New Guinean government has declared a three-month state of emergency in Porgera due to heightened levels of illegal mining, crime and inter-tribal fighting.

According to the Post-Courier, more than 100 police and troops from Port Moresby and Mt Hagen have been deployed to the area in Enga Province, which hosts Barrick Gold's massive Porgera mine.

It comes after up to three people were killed in December in a clash between police and around 300 illegal miners.

Killings on the streets of Porgera have reportedly increased and had resulted in the closure of business and government departments.

Global risk consultancy Control Risks has advised against all non-essential travel.

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Barrick, Newmont end merger talks

A WAR of words has erupted between Barrick Gold and its rival Newmont Mining after the two companies terminated talks for a gold mega-merger.

Barrick confirmed overnight that it had been informed by Newmont that its board had decided to terminate merger discussions.

The Toronto-based company said it believed the combination was in the best interests of shareholders but Newmont's board had decided that remaining independent was the best option.

A short time later, Newmont took the unusual step of releasing a letter sent to the Barrick board, which was highly critical of co-chairman John Thornton.

Thornton, a former president of Goldman Sachs who was appointed as co-chairman in June 2013, will become chairman of Barrick next week.

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Boom far from over: Hegarty

MINING entrepreneur Owen Hegarty says the mining boom still has many years of kick left in it, thanks to a macro cycle of Asia-Australia growth.

Speaking today at the Sydney Mining Club, Hegarty said there were still years to go in the trend of China's urbanisation.

The decades ahead were tipped to be characterised by growing Asian mineral demand, increasingly met from the region's largely underexploited prospectivity.

This will be funded with Asian capital and resourced with Australian technology and management skill.

"Australia and Asia are locked in a virtuous circle of economic growth and prosperity of which the resources industry is a driver and beneficiary," Hegarty said in the text of a presentation."

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Hancock ordered to hand over Rhodes Ridge stake

THE Supreme Court of Western Australia has today ordered Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting to transfer its stake in the Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit in the Pilbara to Wright Prospecting.

Hancock lost a final bid to retain a 25% stake in the deposit in September 2013, but inaction prompted Wright to make an application for an order to enforce the final orders.

According to court documents, Hancock and Wright had been in communication since February last year, when the Supreme Court made the final orders. But Wright this month sought orders that Hancock execute the Rhodes Ridge joint venture interest deed of assignment and assumption within seven days, or authorise a registrar to do so in the event of default.

Hancock requested a staged approach to the transfer, which was rejected by the court.

Justice Rene Le Miere said Hancock should execute the deed, or the court would authorise a registrar to do so.

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