Skellerup Holdings' first-half profit fell 7.5 per cent due to weaker sales to the mining sector in Australia and higher finance costs for a new factory in Christchurch.

Pike River families say a commitment to leave the coal mine unsealed and inspect it with drone technology falls short of their requests, but is still "very positive".

Pike River families are meeting with Prime Minister Bill English for the first time this afternoon.

Trans Tasman Resource will try again in hearings starting this week to get permission to mine iron sands from the ocean floor in New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone.

The daily picket by mine families and supporters has resulted in West Coast contractors refusing to do the sealing work.

Twenty-nine figures stood in silence on the Pike River Mine access road this morning - each decked out in overalls, work boots, miner's helmets and the name tags of the 29 men who died in the 2010 mine disaster.

Pike River Mine families have been granted a meeting with PM Bill English, on February 15, as Parliamentary committee considers sealing of mine.

Solid Energy has announced the closure of the Spring Creek Mine after failing to find a buyer.

Solid Energy will shut and seal the Spring Creek mine after failing to find a buyer for the shuttered Dunollie operation on the West Coast.

Todd Corporation has won backing from the Western Australia government for a $6 billion iron ore mining and transport project.

THE emotion generated by dramatic and traumatic loss of life is a potent force. It can defy logic, it can prompt irrational acts

More than 200 people gathered this morning for a minute's silence 50 years on from the Strongman Mine disaster.

Labour leader Andrew Little is proposing a new solution to recover bodies in the Pike River coal mine.

Greymouth funeral director Laurie Anisy was a trainee and just two weeks shy of his 17th birthday when he got word there had been an explosion at the Strongman Mine.

Strongman mine disaster happened 50 years ago next week. Paul McBride catches up with the five surviving members of the Mines Rescue teams.

A minute's silence will be observed in Greymouth on Thursday to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Strongman Mine disaster which claimed 19 lives.

Next week's 50th anniversary of the Strongman Mine disaster may be the last opportunity for many to remember the 1967 tragedy.

Actor and film director Ian Mune slammed the Government today as he joined protesters at the Pike River Mine entrance.

Nineteen men were killed in the explosion at the mine near Runanga on January 19, 1967.

The Pike River Mine controversy took yet another turn today with Parliament's Commerce Committee agreeing to hear submissions on the sealing of the mine.

Humans are marring the coherence of the natural world - by building endless numbers of roads.

Six years after a white-hot explosion in the Pike River Mine, some of the families of the deceased are making it very clear they will

A researcher who has uncovered new insights into New Zealand's ocean environment says seafloor communities need better protection against any future deep-sea mining.

The price for hard coking coal has plummeted US$45/tonne since peaking at US$310/tonne last month.

The very health and safety changes which the Pike River disaster prompted make re-entering the mine difficult, Prime Minister Bill English says.

OceanaGold Corp expects increased gold production at a cheaper cash cost in 2017.

Families of the 29 men killed in the Pike River mining tragedy are standing their ground as they protest against a bid to seal off the mine permanently.

Solid Energy's attempts to seal Pike River mine will be met with a road block after the owners of the access road gave the victim's families legal control of the road.

Fewer than half of councils have enough staff trained to respond to marine oil spills.

Gold is finding some support from the uncertainty in Italy that's triggered a bid for haven assets.