Mark Mentiplay

Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp

China’s largest airline, China Southern Airlines, is putting the pressure on its $35 million-plus China Southern West Australian Flying College operations in Perth and Merredin to produce more commercial pilots.

Many of China’s major resources and trading houses have quietly positioned themselves in Perth, seeking a foothold in the market for the raw materials needed to maintain their country’s rampant economic growth.

There are some major problems with far reaching ramifications for Western Australia hidden beneath the bright veneer of a gold price at record levels.

The pressure from aspiring iron ore producers to improve the Mid-West region’s infrastructure continued this week, along with new moves to alleviate that pressure.

China's second- largest iron ore trader, Sinosteel, is understood to be seeking a major stake in Perth-based Grange Resources Ltd's $1.5 billion dual Southdown iron ore project near Albany and Kemaman iron ore pellet operation in Malaysia.

Aspiring iron ore producer Gindalbie Metals Ltd's Karara iron ore project in Western Australia's mid west region has taken a major step forward with agreement for a $33 million capital raising.

Production from the first stage of Murchison Metals Ltd's $24 million Jack Hills iron ore project has been delayed two months until August this year.

The end of the decade is looming as the deadline for billions of dollars worth of infrastructure to be in place if the Mid-West region, centred on Geraldton, is to claim its place as Australia’s second largest iron ore province.

Profit announcements from three major international resources companies have underlined the continuing confidence such companies have in Western Australia, adding lustre to the state’s already bright economic future.

A Western Australian wine industry sales drive into the United States, targeting price points of $US15 ($A20,25) a bottle and just above, is the right strategy and seems to be working.

Freezing conditions, plant and pipeline breakdowns, debt and continuing low gold production may have finally closed the book on an Australian company’s involvement in one of Europe’s worst environmental disasters.

All the approvals for the joint developers to make a final investment decision on the $11 billion Gorgon gas project, off Western Australia's North West coast, are expected to be in place before the end of this year.

Ms Jyn Sim Baker, the woman who guided aspiring iron ore producer Midwest Corporation Limited to its first shipment later this month, has resigned as an executive director of the company.

A slightly lower $1.1 billion dollar annual profit has masked another excellent year for Woodside Petroleum Ltd, Australia's largest oil and gas producer.

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has announced a record near $6 billion ($US4.4 billion) profit for the December 2005 half, up 48 per cent on the previous December half.

The ranks of those who doubted Andrew Forrest’s vision of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd becoming the third force in Australian iron ore are growing noticeably thinner.

Big price falls across non-iron metals have been forecast for this year and next by a new commodities report.

Andrew Forrest’s company structure and management style is steeped in his outback upbringing.

It is the little things that underline Andrew Forrest’s claims of an egalitarian, down-to-earth style.

Capital costs for Grange Resources Ltd’s dual Southdown iron ore project near Albany and Kemaman iron ore pellet operation in Malaysian have blown out from about $1 billion to more than $1.5 billion.

Preliminary capital costs for Grange Resources Ltd's dual iron ore project near Albany and its Malaysian iron ore pellet operation have blown out from just over a billion dollars to more than $1.5 billion.

Iraq’s Australian ambassador will meet Woodside Petroleum officials in Perth next week during his first official visit to Western Australia.

Perth junior Adamus Resources Ltd could be producing more than 100,000 ounces a year from its enlarged Southern Ashanti gold project in Ghana by late next year.

A small Perth company exploring for diamonds in South Africa’s fabled Kimberley region expects to be in production within a year of listing on the Perth stock exchange in April.

Western Australia’s wine industry rests uncomfortably on the horns of a dilemma – more grapes than its wine production can use. The quest for new markets and better quality to soak up the excess is on.

Advanced mobile mining equipment data transfer and communications specialist, International Mining Technologies Pty Ltd, is considering stock exchange listing to fund a major international expansion and develop new safety and maintenance minimisation syst

A new $35 million State Government contract is up for grabs as part of the $90 million upgrade of the integrated defence, marine, mining and petroleum focused Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, just south of Perth.

Western Australia’s internationally acclaimed medical, biotechnical and innovative research and development has received a major shot in the arm from the state’s new boss.

It has been a long and very expensive road to production for the new technology HIsmelt iron plant at Kwinana, just south of Perth.

The crucial importance of research and industry-specific education to sustain Australia’s, and particularly Western Australia’s, booming resources sector has never been more vital.

With the major iron ore miners lifting production to cash in on continuing strong demand from China, the growing number of small emerging producers shows no signs of slowing down.