We visit Victoria's Stawell gold mine and meet experts from Rio Tinto, to discover how mining companies search for mineral deposits, explore the four most common types of modern mining operations, and explain of the froth flotation method of separating minerals from gangue. Finally, we examine the all-important process of land rehabilitation after the mine has closed.
Lateline's Ginny Stein travelled to the New South Wales town of Muswellbrook, home to the state's largest open cut coal mine, and where two very different approaches to land rehabilitation are underway.