Dan Denning at The Daily Reckoning Australia says the country’s world-class mineral deposits lured him away from the U.S. in 2005. New mining ventures in ’super’ deposits such as Mount Isa in Queensland may be volatile, but as older mines near the end of their productive life, they will control all the resources.

Daily Reckoning Australia’s Dan Denning takes a look at the latest developments in the Australian energy sector. He says the country will need new energy supplies from somewhere to power its industry, and much will depend on the government’s carbon trading scheme. More from Dan…

The Daily Reckoning’s Dan Denning says the Australian government’s attempts to protect the environment is costing the country in terms of competitiveness. What policy-makers don’t realize is that if it was allowed to function freely, a long-term energy solution might come from the market…

Last week, we reported that the Taipan Emerging Market Index was up a healthy 9.3% for the week. Those gains were wiped out on Friday, says Taipan Emerging Markets blog editor Irwin Greenstein. The only consolation being that major US markets took a beating too.

Canadian loonie bounces with oil… Aussie dollar dip is temporary… Indian rupee on the ropes… Kiwi dollar looking shaky…

Editor’s Note: BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) are the twin mining pillars of the Australian Securities Exchange. But which one is the better investment? Dan Denning in The Daily Reckoning Australia explains why BHP does more to hold up the S&P/ASX 200 — Australia’s main market-cap weighted index.

Editor’s note: There’s a commodities bull markets raging in Australia, says Dan Denning. You could tap into it by buying into the big mining companies. But for maximum profit you could go for junior miners and mining infrastructure stocks.

Editor’s Note: Australia is well positioned to ride the commodity boom, says Dan Denning in The Daily Reckoning Australia. That is unless the government interferes too much…

Australia’s minerals industry is booming.

But Dan Denning in The Daily Reckoning Australia sees two threats on the horizon that could derail Australia’s commodities boom. One possibility is that Australia’s boom will end where America’s depression begins. The other, more likely, scenario is an inflationary melt up.

The extent of the boom was underlined yesterday by an Australian government report predicting export earnings from commodities would rise a whopping 40% $201bn in the financial year to June 2009, led by a 48% surge in mineral exports to A$178bn — the biggest rise in four decades.

The news on the Street is not looking good. The Fed, it seems, is spoiling the party. Few expect it to slash rates further.

Then there’s oil. The black goo rose 87 cents to $137.61 a barrel in electronic trade this morning.

MarketWatch has S&P 500 futures down 6.5 points to 1,311.80 and Dow industrial futures down 54 points.

Dan Denning in The Daily Reckoning Australia expects a ‘highly differentiated’ performance in stock markets for the rest of the year.