Free Republic

Six large and "optionally crewed" naval vessels heavily armed with missiles will be added to Australia's surface fleet under a dramatic $11 billion reshaping of the navy that will also see the acquisition of 11 new general-purpose frigates to be partly built overseas. ... long-awaited "Enhanced Lethality Surface Combatant Fleet", which will include six Hunter-class frigates, reduced from an original plan of nine, as well as upgraded versions of the existing Hobart-class destroyers fitted with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Under the sweeping overhaul, Australia's current fleet of combat-ready warships would rise from 11 to 26, consisting of nine "Tier 1" frigates...

An apparent coup is underway in Guinea, with heavy military presence and gunfire reported in the country’s capital of Conakry. Guinean President Alpha Conde has seemingly been detained by the military.The fate of Guinea's President Alpha Condé is unclear after an unverified video showed him surrounded by soldiers, who said they had seized power. They appeared on national TV claiming to have dissolved the government. However, the defence ministry said the attempted takeover had been thwarted by the presidential guard. This follows hours of heavy gunfire near the presidential palace in the capital, Conakry. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres and the...

A secret business deal between the government of Guinea and a multinational firm with a U.S. partner aided by the Obama administration’s wrongheaded foreign policy could cost American businesses billions. Congress ought to investigate to protect American investors, expose any political shenanigans and prosecute the guilty. The London Sunday Times first cracked the story June 3 of the secret $25 million loan between an offshore company, Palladino Capital 2, and the cash-strapped West African country. The funds, according to the loan agreement, were to finance the start-up of Guinea’s state mining company, Heritage, but the cash allegedly disappeared and the...

Rio Tinto on May 24 did what mining companies do — blast land to make it easier to access minerals. In doing so, however, Rio Tinto destroyed two 46,000-year-old caves in Western Australia, despite being warned that the area was “one of the most archaeologically significant sites in Australia,” and having its own heritage team request a delay. The report said Rio Tinto RIO, +0.47% RIO, +0.95% RIO, +0.18%produced three options to reach the iron ore without blasting the caves — and never shared these options with the PKKP. Jacques has previously testified picking one of the three other options...

FOX News reports the 86-year-old financier and manager of a global network of nonprofits will be forced by BSG Resources’ lawsuit to answer for manipulating the politics and economics of Guinea for his own benefit Despite Soros’ often contentious dealings and reputation as a pompous busybody, the filing in New York Federal Court has thus far largely escaped the spotlight. Soros, who controls a web of international nonprofits in addition to his vast financial empire, used his sway with the government of Guinea to freeze Israeli company BSG Resources out of the West African nation’s lucrative iron ore mining contracts,...

Companies controlled by Israeli mining magnate Beny Steinmetz sued fellow billionaire George Soros, claiming he cost them at least $10 billion through a defamation campaign that stripped them of rights to an iron ore deposit in Guinea and other business opportunities around the world. Soros funded law firms, transparency groups, investigators and government officials in Guinea in a coordinated effort to ensure BSG Resources Ltd. lost the rights to the Simandou deposit in April 2014, BSGR said in a complaint filed Friday in Manhattan federal court.

I just read “Steel: from Mine to Mill, the Metal that Made America” (2015) by Brooke C. Stoddard. The engineer in me recommends it. The history buff in me recommends it as well. Copper, bronze, and brass are far simpler for primitive manufacture than is steel. Copper is an element, bronze and brass are alloys of copper and tin or zinc, respectively. Steel is an alloy of iron and a low but nonzero amount of carbon. And also, importantly, no phosphorus, which some iron ores contain. Iron ore is iron oxide, and it must be reduced chemically by carbon while...

Madison - The Assembly approved a wide-ranging bill Thursday easing the way for an iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin, which supporters heralded as a way to create jobs and opponents disparaged as harmful to the environment. The bill passed 59-36, with all Republicans for it and all Democrats against it. "This definitely is the biggest jobs thing we're going to do" this legislative session, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) said. "These aren't jobs that can pick up and go to China or India," he said. "The iron ore is in our ground, in Wisconsin." Democrats, environmentalists and many tribal...

February 10, 2010 China charges Rio Tinto four with bribery Jane Macartney, Bejing China has charged four Rio Tinto executives with bribery and violating commercial secrets, leaving the workers facing years in a Shanghai jail. Shanghai Municipal Intermediate People’s Court announced today that it had accepted the charges against Australian Stern Hu and his three Chinese colleagues after a six-month inquiry. It is now certain that the four will face trial and are likely to be convicted. Under the commercial secrets charge, courts can jail people for up to three years, or up to seven years in “especially serious” cases....

The US has been Brazil’s principal trading partner for nearly 80 years, but a sudden surge in Chinese demand for Brazilian iron ore in the first quarter of this year dislodged the Americans. The news is the latest sign of China’s increasing challenge to US hegemony in Latin America. China has been steadily increasing its sphere of influence and has become particularly close to the four “Red” South American countries: Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

Service on Norway's northern train line (Nordlandsbanen) wasn't expected to resume until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest, after a train collided with a moose and derailed. The train, designed to carry loads of iron ore, derailed after it hit the moose on the tracks Monday evening. "It must have been a monster moose," said Harry Korslund of the agency in charge of the rails, Jernbaneverket. "It all depends, of couse, on how the train hit the moose, but in this case it was enough that it derailed." The accident occurred between Dunderland and Mo i Rana. Passengers were being transported...