Tim Treadgold

FEATURE: Les Davis and Bill Beament are two of the Western Australian gold industry’s most influential people, but the person who has infinitely more power over gold in WA than the chief executives of Silver Lake and Northern Star doesn’t live here.

FEATURE: Star in name, star in nature; it has been a rapid rise for one of the state’s major players.

FEATURE: If the adage ‘three strikes and you’re out’ applied to the gold mining industry, the curtains would already have been drawn; but some determined locals are fighting on.

If Scotland votes for independence exactly two weeks from today, expect a revival in another part of the world that has had the occasional secession debate – Western Australia.

The premier and treasurer have some tough choices to make if they’re to salvage the state’s economic fortunes.

Once the clear leader of Australia’s aviation industry, Qantas has provided a dramatic demonstration of what happens when management ignores the views of its customers.

FEATURE: Having gained notoriety in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, the phrase ‘show me the money’ will be heard often, and loudly, in business in Western Australia in coming years as capital inflows become capital outflows and funds become harder-than-ever to raise.

The political standoff in Canberra will put a spotlight on the value of the $A, and the uncompetitive nature of large segments of Australia’s economy.

FEATURE: Subdued iron ore and gold prices over the longer term could signal a lift in exploration for base metals.

FEATURE: A stubbornly high dollar, falling prices and high operating costs are combining to exert real pressure on smaller players in the iron ore sector.

Retail investors in Western Australia love their Wesfarmers and Woodside shares. Professional investors are not so sure, and neither is the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens.

From mining to retail and everything in between, it seems bigger is better – particularly when the going gets tough.

If a fortune valued at $20 billion is not enough for Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, then perhaps she will be happy with $37 billion that is likely to be her net worth at this time next

There are work opportunities available for those able to relocate, as a shift to supply-side economic reforms gains traction.

Kalgoorlie’s Diggers & Dealers forum may not be for sale, officially, but the recent purchase of Cape Town’s Mining Indaba conference for $84 million puts a value of at least $24 million on Diggers, and that would be hard price for the owner, Kate Stokes, to reject.

Western Australia is once again the key player in a money flood, though this time it’s outgoing rather than incoming.

Copper today, nickel tomorrow?

The shake-up of the commercial office market has some way to run, with a major investment bank tipping a big drop in rents.

The iron ore and gold mining industries have served Western Australia well during the past decade, but that does not mean they will do the same job over the next decade, especially if the switch to other minerals evident on world markets gathers pace.

The high-cost, low-price environment has put the squeeze on iron ore miners.

Bank bashing is a national sport in Australia, often played for good reason; but the latest round of kicking banks, which started this week with the release of a report by former Commonwealth Bank boss David Murray, could not have come at a worse time.

The move by Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest into beef production may ultimately be more about the land they own than ‘feeding China’.

FEATURE: Takeovers are a powerful way of delivering short-term returns to investors, as the Total Shareholder Return data released by Morningstar and applied to 700 companies on the Business News BNIQ database.

FEATURE: Tech-related stocks make up half of this year’s top 10 TSR performers, but resources stocks feature prominently over the longer term.

FEATURE: Resources companies may dominate the big numbers on the local bourse, but it’s a relatively unknown technology stock that leads in TSR.

Losing one contract is not the biggest problem confronting locally based education provider Navitas, even though Macquarie University’s decision to end a near 18-year relationship wiped $800 million off the value of the stock yesterday.

The banks are at it again, and the ducks are close to lining up for a re-run of the GFC.

No financial result will be more carefully watched when annual reporting season kicks off in a few weeks than that of Qantas, a business some critics have dubbed the ‘Kodak of the aviation industry’.

Shell’s move out of Woodside has opened up a range of scenarios as major players jostle for a stake of WA’s LNG riches.

At the risk of being called a Luddite at best, and a heretic at worst, I have spent a bit of time over the past few months trying to understand the business case for social media – and failing.

The world’s biggest economy is capitalising on cheaper energy and labour costs.

The lack of volatility in the stock market is making life tough for brokers and investment bankers.