I doubt that the payment of state and federal mining royalties will put much of a dent in the profits of the big “Australians” considering the multi-national projects BHP and Rio have in some 40 countries. However, a major concern for these mining giants are the submissions to the Human Rights’ Commission and the unresolved allegations of corruption, human rights' and ecological abuses of communities around the planet:

http://londonminingnetwork.org/2010/04/rio-tinto-a-shameful-history-of-human-and-labour-rights-abuses-and-environmental-degradation-around-the-globe/

http://www.business-humanrights.org/Categories/Individualcompanies/B/BHPBilliton?sort_on=publication&batch_size=10&batch_start=2

BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have not paid the full mining royalties for fifty years in WA and have a social responsibility to pay the same as all other miners. In fact there are several countries where they pay no royalties at all.

In addition, a soon to be published report commissioned by the UN comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, clean air, plants and animals, fisheries and fertile soils. The report estimates that damage to the environment caused by the top 3,000 companies in the world is around $2.2 trillion.

If one wants to invest in companies who continue bludging off the environment with impunity in the 21st century - hence the dire projections on anthropogenic climate change, I would caution “en guarde!”

*Secondly re jobs, well we don't need more jobs at the moment.*

Sheesh Pelican, I will remind you of that one and rub it under your
nose now and then, at appropriate times :) For of course for
every highly paid mining job, a whole lot of other jobs are
created, for the less skilled, people in cities, etc.

Next, never mind that we Australians owe 1 trillion $ and still
run a monthly current account deficit. We shall repay them
with sea shells perhaps :)

Now you are complaining that mining companies pay too much!
You, who have total faith in the goodness of Govt, had better
explain why they don't train more qualified people, when it
is well within their power to do so.

*The problem is profits have become so exhorbitant*

They have? In relation to how much investment? Australian
workers basically own most large companies through their super
funds. Are you suggesting to Belly and other workers, that their
super funds should make less profit?

*One mining company recently complained its profits went down to a mere $US5.877 Billion. I don't know about you Yabby but I reckon that is a pretty good return on the investment.*

The figure is meaningless, unless its looked at in relationship
to the amount of capital being risked. How much was it?

The local bank will pay you 7% on your deposits, with no risk.
If you stand to lose the lot, what should your return be?

I remind you that even huge mining companies, with all their
expertise, can get it very wrong and lose heaps. BHP risked
2 billion$ on Ravensthorpe with their nickel venture. The price
of nickel crashed, the new technology did not work as well as
planned, they landed up writing off the lot. They lost about
the same on their hot briquette plant. Mining is not for the
faint hearted and those not prepared to lose their investments,
if markets or technology go wrong.

Pelican I share your view of Howe's he followed Shorten two very outstanding leaders in a row.
extremists on both sides have charged Australia with being an open pit exporting our future and believe me if it was China we taxed the rubbish would be quietened.
In a way it is, they take the super tax in their costs too.
If posters stop, some at least rechtub, take a breath, read informed comment from both sides.
Then ask what country has our export minerals in large enough areas to compete, they may well be forced to do more than rant like red necks about the tax future Australians will be glad of, a country's wealth is not counted in empty holes.

Dickie dear, miners dig holes in the ground, because you the
consumer demand it. You use pots and pans in your house,
you want electricity on tap, your house is loaded with copper
wires, you own appliances made of steel, you want a computer
to entertain you. The list goes on.

You then go on to make a bunch of babies, who all want the same
and more.

Miners simply respond to your demands, as well as those of
7 billion others. So the burden of environmental damage done
by mining, is on your shoulders too.

You could always try the alternative. We could provide you with
a loin cloth and a wooden spear, you and the pet goat could wander
off and see how you go. Mind you the pet goat would be nervous,
for she'd be about the only thing you would most likely catch for dinner :)

Some great points Protagoras.

That is the trouble with the unfettered population growth advocates. We do need goods that mining provides, but the more people the more mines are dug and land and environment degraded. We do need mines but how many can the environment withstand?

Mining companies are not revealing all in their environmental studies as was shown in the Liverpool Plains report and effect on artesian waters and local farming communities. It was ironic that even Barnaby Joyce sided with the environmentalists on this one, not for any environmental altruism, just because the farmers were opposed to furuther mining development in the region.

South of Canberra there is a small Gold (and copper and zinc) mine mooted for near Cooma (Chakola project) despite the positives of job creation the biggest concern for nearby farms and residents is there is no water. This mine will need to use a lot of water. It is planned that water will be sourced from the already struggling Numeralla River. Jobs are one thing but sometimes you have to choose between the long term good rather than short term economic benefits.

In some cases, no amount of mining royalties even if paid up, will compensate for continual damage to environment nor the effect on water management.

“Dickie dear, miners dig holes in the ground, because you the
consumer demand it.”

Yabby – I am one of the progeny of five generations of workers who dug those holes. Members of my family have had illustrious (and not so illustrious) careers in the mining industry. Please desist from trying to sell ice to an Eskimo.

In WA, the state government is slashing funds to environmental agencies while huge subsidies are being provided to polluting and unsustainable industries. Last year, Barnett’s “dig baby dig” projects saw EPA environmental assessments ignored and $80 million allocated to provide subsidies to mining companies for exploration and tens of millions of taxpayers’ funds are being spent on establishing a massive LNG processing facility on the pristine and unique Kimberley coast.

Pastoral companies who depend on groundwater in the state of WA may not be so thrilled when the following tenement holders have extracted uranium, contaminated the groundwater and retreated with an assurance that remedial measures have been 'successful.':

(Please allow a few seconds for the red, black and gold tenement circles to appear on the map):

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&t=h&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=101724410662104548145.0004757aca0e25c4e05e5

Second rate people in government refuse to accept that the extraction of gold and diamonds, from an outraged planet, is predominantly for jewellery and merely exploited to appease human vanity. They are not mined for the “pots and pans” as you claim.

I trust whilst you gloat over the economic benefits of the gold and diamond mining industry, you will spare a thought for the millions of workers who made that possible. Many thousands, if not millions globally of discarded workers barely shuffling around in the throes of a slow and lingering death from silicosis and other mining diseases.

Meanwhile the mining companies gleefully announce their bumper profits to the wide-eyed and delighted shareholders who are sufficiently deluded in believing that ‘world’s best practice’ no longer has catastrophic impacts on biodiversity or human health. Big “Australian” multi-national miners doing business with the world’s worst despots is a mere peccadillo.

PS: Kindly refrain from addressing me as ‘dear.’ The thought of being your ‘dear’ is most unappealing.