The head of Rio Tinto, Tom Albanese on Thursday said uncertainties in the mining industry are on the horizon from the global financial crisis, the Australian government's proposed mining tax and climate change. Albanese, in Brisbane addressing a lunch for Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), said despite the negatives, the potential for long-term growth remains strong. The proposed mining tax had put a question mark over Australia' s international competitiveness. 'Mining taxation is an important issue that has clear implications for our industry's future, both in Australia and on the international front,' Albanese told Herald on Thursday. 'Any discussion of taxation policy must take into account international competitiveness.' Also, Albanese said Australia must be prepared to confront the issues and take a joint leadership position with governments and external stakeholders on key, complex matters relating to the environment and sustainable development. And part of that challenge has been climate change. Albanese believes a market-based mechanism should be used to address the climate problem, but said Australia should not be ' leading too far ahead' or industries could go elsewhere. Meanwhile, Australia's economy had held up well but concerns over China's growth and a nervousness about a possible double-dip recession in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries continued to affect the market. 'However, for the metals imported by China, demand has kept prices well above historical averages,' Albanese said. 'This continuing commodity demand, against a backdrop of uncertainty in many markets will ensure volatility remains part of our operating environment in the near future.' In response to a question from the audience, Albanese said a hung federal parliament would not be a risk to Australia's investment stability, because the United Kingdom had experienced the same election challenge. While Rio Tinto remains cautious about the short-term outlook, from its perspective, 2010 is shaping up well. Rio Tinto's first-half results, exceeded expectations in terms of financial performance with underlying earnings of 5.8 billion U. S. dollars, more than double the first half of 2009. 