The Daily Reckoning’s Dan Denning says Australia needs to get serious about the energy debate. Australia is rich in resources, but too much bureaucratic red tape is beginning to scare away foreign investors. Nevertheless, Aussie resource firms provide many excellent investment opportunities, some of which are not on the radar of institutional analysts…

Australian Federal Treasurer Wayne Swann has approved the sale of 11% of Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) to Chinalco. The Daily Reckoning’s Dan Denning says this is just more evidence of foreign interest in Australia’s mineral deposits.

Faced with this reality, Dan says the government needs to decide whether Australia is for sale or not.

One thing for certain, as emerging giants like China and India increase their per capita income, the chase for global resources will become more intense. And Australia will be in the thick of the action…

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.

It was a rare session as buying across the board saw all the indices close in the black during Wednesday trading on the Canadian Markets.

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Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (CLF), a top producer of iron ore pellets and supplier of metallurgical coal in North America, will buy Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (ANR) in an effort to bolster its coal reserves and exploit the soaring demand for steel among emerging markets worldwide.

Cleveland-Cliffs is paying $10 billion for Alpha Natural Resources, a company that specializes in mining thermal coal used in steel production, the company said on its website. The deal values Alpha at $128.12 per share, a 35% premium to its closing share price on Tuesday.

Alpha shareholders will receive 0.95 Cleveland-Cliffs shares and $22.23 in cash for each share they hold. Alpha shareholders will hold 40% of the resultant company.

“By combining our companies’ complementary operations and management capabilities,…

Stansberry Research’s Tom Dyson has been pushing Taiwanese stocks lately. Now Stansberry’s Ian Davis is tipping another overlooked Asian market: Thailand. Ian is calling it a commodity play. For starters, Thailand is rich in rubber and iron ore — two commodities that nearby China can’t get enough of. Ian recommends investing in Thailand with three special Thai ETFs…

The latest iron ore price hike was 97%… and there is much more to come in the future.

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…