Mining firm Glencore has said it's operationally and financially robust after questions were raised about its financial future. On Monday, its shares dived 30% after a note from analysts said its share value could be eliminated. Those comments led a major selloff from the global markets. Glencore has been hit by a slowdown in the wider commodities markets, with copper, aluminum and nickel all down more than 25% compared with the year ago.

Unemployment among Australia's professional mining workforce has surged over the last year and is now three times the national average. A survey from the Minerals Institute found around 16% of Australia's mining professionals are now jobless. The iron ore sector is the hardest hit, with an unemployment rate of almost 25% for professionals in that sector.

Let's go to the global markets now. And there was a bit of recovery overseas with the Wall Street ending mixed. Now the Dows lost 47 points or 0.3%. The Nasdaq finished 0.6% lower. While the S&P 500 also lost about 6%. And in London, the FTSE fell 0.8%.

Checking commodity prices, West Texas Crude is trading at 45 U.S dollars a barrel, Tapis Crude is at 50 U.S dollars a barrel and Gold is trading at 1,127 U.S dollars an ounce. The Australian dollar is currently buying at 70 U.S cents, 62 Euro cents and 46 pence sterling.