Mining

Spot gold has climbed after a recovery in Chinese shares cooled fears of a wider rout in the major bullion consumer while strength in the US dollar kept a lid on gains.

Oil prices have risen after a spate of losses, as a rebound in Chinese stocks somewhat eased concerns about financial turbulence in the world's biggest energy consumer.

Troubled mining group FairStar Resources has been put in the hands of receivers and managers with the appointment of PPB Advisory’s Simon Theobald and Melissa Humann.

Resolute Mining has outperformed its own expectations in both production costs and volume, which has more than doubled the company’s cash on hand in the final quarter of the financial year.

Doray Minerals has announced a 15 per cent increase in full-year gold production at its Andy Well gold project, located in the Murchison region of Western Australia.

Northern Star Resources says a record June quarter brought its free cash flow for the 2015 financial year to an unaudited $183 million.

Drilling contractor Swick Mining Services has flagged an impairment of up to $25 million in its full-year result, on the back of troubled times in the mining services sector and the low use of its assets.

Iron ore prices have plunged to a fresh six-year low as the commodity gets caught up in the fallout from China's massive sharemarket plunge.

US oil prices have dropped for the fifth straight trading session as domestic crude stockpiles rose again, but London prices inched higher.

Gold has risen as the US dollar has softened, reversing after touching a four-month low as markets watched the tumble in Chinese equities and the unfolding Greek debt crisis.

A local subsidiary of Norway's Global Maritime Group is the latest company to be awarded a contract for work at Woodside Petroleum’s operations in the North West Shelf.

Atlas Iron says it has protected its finances against an iron ore price that has plunged below $US50 a tonne.

Last year's Business News Rising Stars winner, emergency response and security services provider Executive Risk Solutions, has taken the top prize as the 2015 Telstra Western Australian business of the year.

Centaurus Metals has announced that it is selling its Candonga DSO iron ore project in Brazil to the Brazilian group Ecosinter for R$4 million (A$1.69 million).

Two local miners have announced plans to exit the resources industry and move into other fields, by way of backdoor listings.

Perth-based Zeta Petroleum will acquire a substantial shareholding in oil explorer Oilex, when the company completes a planned $US23 million ($A30 million) capital raising.

Gold has fallen to a near four-month low, while silver has sunk nearly seven per cent and platinum has dropped to a 2009 low, as the US dollar rallied ahead of an emergency eurozone summit on Greece with the country's banks rapidly running out of cash.

Former VDM Group boss Andrew Broad has returned to his former employer, mining services business Ausdrill, and will become its chief operating officer of Australian operations.

Royce McAuslane has resigned as managing director of gold miner RNI, having only served in the position since November last year.

Regulators have again admonished management at Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill iron ore mine over safety concerns.

The iron ore industry is tipped to contribute more than $600 billion to the Australian economy over the next decade, despite falling prices for the steel-making commodity.

Energy giant Woodside Petroleum has awarded a front-end engineering and design contract to a consortium comprising two NYSE-listed companies, for its proposed Browse FLNG project.

US oil prices have sunk nearly eight per cent on worries about slowing global growth after Greek voters rejected a bailout offer and China moved to calm financial market turbulence.

The leadership team is changing at one of Western Australia’s quiet business success stories, but the strategy remains firmly on track.

Nickel explorer Rumble Resources says a recently completed drilling program at its Zanthus project in the Fraser Range has turned up nothing of value.

AGL Energy will make more than $600 million worth of writedowns on its upstream gas ventures and sell underperforming businesses as it battles uncertainty surrounding oil and gas prices.

Local junior miner African Energy Resources has entered into an agreement for the potential sale of its Mmamantswe coal project to a South African project developer for up to $US20 million ($A26 million).

Gold prices have firmed, rebounding from a three-and-a-half-month low as the USdollar softened, while investors remained cautious ahead of Greece's referendum on an international bailout deal.

France’s Technip and South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries have been signed up as the lead engineering and construction contractors for the Browse floating LNG project, continuing similar work they have undertaken for the Prelude FLNG project.

West Perth-based explorer Legend Mining will buy a large block of land in the Fraser Range and form an exploration joint venture with the highly successful prospector Mark Creasy.

Figures contained in a recent Productivity Commission review show subsidies to the mining industry are much lower than claimed by some critics of the sector.

Coogee Chemicals has started the new financial year with a freshly installed executive chairman in Tim Martin, and a new managing director in Grant Lukey.