Mark Beyer

The cost of building five new power stations and an associated gas plant in the north of Western Australia has increased by 76 per cent to an estimated $265 million, adding to the long list of projects suffering big cost blow-outs.

The iron ore boom has underpinned the enormous wealth of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd managing director Andrew Forrest, and it has also boosted the wealth of some of Western Australia’s most famous families.

Curtin University is looking for extra industry partners to join BHP Billiton in helping to develop its new resources and chemistry precinct, which was officially launched at its Bentley campus last week.

Total spending on the expansion of Western Australia’s booming iron ore industry over the past five years has reached $17 billion following BHP Billiton’s commitment to another major upgrade of its Pilbara operations.

North American money and Chinese engineering are helping West Perth company Moly Mines progress a $620 million mining project in the Pilbara.

A shortage of gas supplies in the South West is likely to result in Collie coal miner Griffin Group becoming the dominant supplier of new electricity generation in Western Australia in the coming years.

Yilgarn Infrastructure has estimated that the cost of buiding new rail lines and a port at Oakajee to service the emerging Mid West iron ore industry would be about $2 billion.

Conservative candidates strongly in favour of the single-desk selling arrangements for Australian wheat exports have won two out of three district elections at WA grain handler CBH Group.

Two major Western Australian-owned companies, ThinkSmart and Allphones Group, have appointed advisers ahead of planned listings on the stockmarket.

Western Australia has long dominated mining company floats on the Australian Stock Exchange but a new report has found that WA accounts for a growing share of non-resource floats.

Mining and finance veteran George Jones has established two major businesses and, at the age of 62, is helping to build a few more.

Government lobbyists in Western Australia have moved this week to establish their own professional association, coinciding with the state government’s establishment of a register of lobbyists.

The state government will discover next week just how tight the Western Australian construction market has become when final bids are lodged for two major projects.

Managed investment scheme promoter Rewards Group Ltd believes its close alliance with listed investment company, The Ark Fund Ltd, will reduce the adverse impact of recent tax changes on its non-forestry projects.

Western Australia is sharing in a national trend towards increased use of natural gas as the fuel source for new power stations, a report by law firm Minter Ellison has found.

Five years after leaving engine technology company Orbital Corporation, Kim Schlunke has reached a major milestone at his new privately-owned venture, Entecho.

The founder of Perth-based engineering and infrastructure company GRD Ltd, Brettney Fogarty, has sold a second large tranche of shares, netting $42 million.

Former Alinta managing director Bob Browning has accepted a United States-based role with shipbuilder Austal, but for the next four months will continue working with Macquarie Bank on a bid for his old employer.

Ministerial staffers would be banned from holding senior elected positions in political parties if the state government adopts reforms currently being evaluated by Commissioner of Public Sector Standards, Maxine Murray.

The Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry has already claimed a pride of fallen scalps but the real implications lie ahead for lobbyists, ministers, bureaucrats and business.

The establishment of a register of lobbyists is one of the main reforms flowing from the CCC inquiry, but apart from voyeuristic journalists it is hard to find supporters of this initiative.

The state government has rejected calls from the building and automotive industries for the introduction of new or expanded levies to boost skills training.

In 1994, while Lou Di Virgilio was working in the financial markets in New York, two of his younger brothers, Dominic and Robert, were running a small used car yard in Maddington.

Western Australia’s second biggest home building group, Alcock/Brown-Neaves Group, neatly illustrates the challenges facing private businesses trying to manage the combination of rapid economic growth and spiraling costs.

The automotive trade has traditionally been the exclusive preserve of private companies but that changed dramatically 16 months ago when Perth’s biggest car dealer listed on the stock exchange.

Western Australia’s economic boom has not been all plain sailing for private companies. Our annual review of the sector identifies both winning companies and strugglers, and highlights the large number of sharemarket floats and trade sales.

Western Australia’s Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry has become a much bigger issue than any observer would have predicted at the outset – or even at the start of last week.

Shares in mineral explorer Ironbark Gold Ltd rocketed higher today after it agreed to acquire a zinc project in Greenland in a cash and scrip deal worth in excess of $20 million.

Swiss mining giant Xstrata is considering legal action after the Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry revealed it lost a $20 million law suit following a corrupted WA parliamentary inquiry into the closure of its Windimurra vanadium mine.

BankWest parent HBOS Australia has announced a 20 per cent increase in underlying profit before tax to $661 million for the year to December 2006, driven by rapid expansion of its retail and commercial banking activities.

Energy utility Alinta Ltd, which today reported annual results in line with its market guidance, has disclosed that a "small number of parties" were conducting due diligence on the business as part of its potential sale.

The revelations at the Corruption and Crime Commission are deeply disturbing.