Jim Hawtin

With 50 per cent increases in prices, Western Australia’s junior mining industry has gone iron ore crazy, with predictions of demand continuing to outstrip supply.

2005 Events

Australian sport is littered with expansionary clubs and sports ventures that failed to capture the public imagination, let alone that of potential corporate sponsors.

Perth Glory Football Club hosted a razzamatazz launch early this month to tell its fans and everyone else that the club is back, and better than ever, as a participant in the Hyundai A-League, the new eight-team national competition that will kick off in

One of Western Australia’s more colourful public companies, Tony Barlow, is back from voluntary administration; but rather than continuing to sell up-market menswear it is now exploring for oil and gas in Texas.

A proposal by a group of Great Southern farmers to export specialised grain from Bunbury appears to have boosted long-held aspirations to provide a container handling facility at the port.

High costs continue to plague Australia’s mining industry against a backdrop of soaring profits, particularly in Western Australia where record low unemployment levels are compounding the effects of tight supply.

Western Australia’s oil and gas industry is getting set for one of the global industry’s biggest trade shows, to be held in Perth later this month.

A Perth-based agricultural business says a lack of understanding of the merchant shipping industry by domestic financiers is holding up its plans to establish a container shipping operation in Bunbury.

The board of Perth-based Universal Resources has indicated it will reject CopperCo’s formal takeover offer – which hit Universal shareholders mailboxes this week – despite analysts giving the deal their blessing.

Western Australia’s moves to supply liquefied natural gas to California could provide opportunities for the state’s renewable energy companies to piggyback into that significant energy market

Local paid parking software developer iPark has set its sights on expansion overseas as it consolidates its position in the local market.

China may be the top trade destination for many major Western Australian businesses but securing a foothold in the rapidly expanding market is not always easy for smaller operators.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy has weighed in to the pre-election debate by claiming a preference for the State Coalition’s proposal for dealing with the controversy surrounding rate exemptions for mining companies with State Agreements.

Olive oil producer Njoi Olive Oils says the value it receives from the high-profile Australian trade show in Los Angeles, G’day Australia, is “unquestionable”.

A growing number of Western Australian mining companies are banking on a political change in opinion over the development of the nation’s substantial uranium resources.

A company boasting an all-star board is hoping to list on the Australian Stock Exchange to raise $9 million to cash in on a soaring lead market.

COUNCILS in the Pilbara have given the State Government until February 7 to respond to demands for $14 million in compensation for revenue foregone through the rating restriction clauses contained in State Agreements.

Australian liquefied natural gas companies should not delay in preparations to win contracts on the west coast of North America, with deals worth tens of billions of dollars available, according to Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane.

The Western Australian-based husband and wife team that founded one of the world’s largest private mining consultancies, Snowden Australia, plans to exit the business within three years having recently decided to sell the company.

Early reports suggest Western Australian businesses got value for money at the recent Australia trade week in Los Angeles.

A NEW study has found Western Australia’s gross product could be increased by more than $2 billion per annum and up to 16,200 new jobs created if the m

THE rapidly growing number of Western Australian wine producers looking offshore to lift sales is leading to a similar level of activity among the State’s wine supply sector.

AN upturn in the global economy, and more specifically the phenomenal economic growth of China, is placing significant pressures on the shipping market, forcing bulk and container freight rates to all-time highs.

A NICKEL exploration outlay of $16 million helped propel the State’s mineral exploration expenditure during the 2004 September quarter to its highest levels in six years, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

THE State Government may be set for yet another tax windfall, but the $28 million expected to flow through to treasury coffers was almost a deal breaker for US-based Cleveland Cliffs’ $605 million friendly takeover of Portman.

CANADIAN engineering giant Hatch appears to have won the biggest share of major contracting work in Western Australia in a year that was dominated by oil and gas, resources and the Perth to Mandurah railway.

MOST Western Australian businesses operating in areas affected by the devastating Boxing Day earthquake and tsunamis appear to have been relatively unscathed by the disaster.

STRUGGLING Western Australian nickel miner Titan Resources says there is tremendous potential for application of its locally developed base metal processing technology in China following a recent agreement with a large Chinese base metals producer.

CHINA’S largest nickel producer, Jinchuan, has established a presence in Perth and is on the look out for more nickel, copper and other minerals.

TANIA Mol says she developed a passion for safety in the mining industry after a friend had his wrists crushed by an eight-tonne bulldozer at a Pilbara

WESTERN Australia’s miners and property players face one of Australia’s most onerous stamp duty regimes, according to a local accounting firm.