Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill mine to ship iron ore; Volkswagen chief resigns over emissions testing scandal: Midday Roundup

Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill project is set to ship its first batch of iron ore next month, just eight months after the mine secured $7.9 billion in funding from some of Australia’s biggest banks.  

More than 2000 people have been employed to construct the mine, with its first shipment of iron ore bound for China.  

Commercial banks in Japan, Korea, China, Europe and Singapore all contributed funding to the Roy Hill project.  

However, the first shipment comes at a difficult time for the mining industry, according to The Australian, with iron ore prices struggling to regain ground after tumbling to a 10-year-low in July.  

Volkswagen chief resigns over emissions testing scandal  

Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn has resigned after the German car-marker was found to have manipulated emissions tests in the US.  

Winterkorn said Volkswagen will do everything it can to re-establish trust with consumers.  

“I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public,” Winterkon said. 

“We will co-operate fully with the responsible agencies, with transparency and urgency, to clearly, openly, and completely establish all of the facts of this case. Volkswagen has ordered an external investigation of this matter.” 

Investigations into the car-maker’s manipulation of emissions tests are ongoing, with US authorities expected to pursue criminal charges.  

Shares up on open 

Aussie shares are trading slightly higher this morning, shrugging off a poor showing from Wall Street.  

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 1.17%, rising 59.1 points to 5057.2 points at 11.45am AEST. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones closed down 0.31%, falling 50.58 points to 16,279.89 points.