RE:Re. China and AuzzieI can add to that list of nonsensical proposed, or actual mining bans the Big Chunk caldera in Alaska. It may be the largest reservoir of metals anyplace on earth. It could host a dozen or more copper porphyry deposits as large or larger and richer than the Pebble deposit of Northern Dynasty (plus many smaller ones). But because of the antimining hysteria surrounding that project, we may never know the true extent of the mineral wealth around and within the caldera, a caldera mostly eroded/glaciated with the ore at or near the surface.
I can almost understand the risks to Bristol Bay fisheries, but the larger part of the Big Chunk caldera does not drain in that direction. Meanwhile, the controversy has probably killed further exploration around the caldera for at least a decade or more.
VP