Glencore set for more flash coal shutdowns

Glencore is expected to run more shutdowns across its Australian coal business in the next six months, similar to its unprecedented blanket shutdown last Christmas, to avoid selling coal at a loss or heavy discount into a depressed market, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Analysts expect a weak interim profit result when Glencore reports on Wednesday, and concerns persist over the Swiss giant's debt levels and the sustainability of its dividend.

Atlas Iron slashes pay except for MD

Beleaguered Pilbara miner Atlas Iron slashed the pay packets of its directors and senior management by more than $2.4 million in fiscal 2014 but its ebullient founding managing director David Flanagan has been spared much of the pain, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Flanagan resumed managing director duties on June 11, after stepping down as chairman to allow him to work with financiers and keep his company afloat amid crumbling iron ore prices.

Brandis crackdown on green activist lawsuits could aid Shenhua mine

Attorney-General George Brandis has said he will change the law to make it harder for green activists to use the courts to slow resource developments, according to the Australian Financial Review.

If he is successful it could make it harder for activists to oppose a range of projects including Chinese coalminer Shenhua's proposed mine at Mount Watermark, near the rich farmlands of the Namoi catchment in NSW, which the Federal government approved last month.