Mining

Australia's largest independent music retailer, Allans Billy Hyde, will close with the loss of 513 jobs after the failure to find a buyer for the struggling business.

BHP Billiton remains bullish about the demand for iron ore, despite predicting that Chinese steel consumption will slow.

The woman at the helm of Barrick Gold’s Granny Smith mine in the Yilgarn has been named Western Australia’s Business Woman of the Year in the 2012 Telstra awards.

Mermaid Marine has announced a $15 million contract with Santos for the oil and gas giant’s Modec floating LNG facility in the Carnarvon Basin.

NRW Holdings has won a $90 million earthworks contract for Rio Tinto at its Yandicoogina iron ore mine in the Pilbara.

Hannans Reward has reached agreement to sell the Discovery Zone copper-iron prospect in Sweden to Avalon Minerals for $4 million.

The world's second largest iron ore miner Rio Tinto increased iron ore production by five per cent in the September quarter to 67 million tonnes.

Engineering and project services group Clough has won a $10 million contract to support exploration works at the Morobe Mining joint venture’s Wafi-Golpu project in Papua New Guinea.

Perth-based explorer Hot Chili has launched a $35.5 million capital raising to fund development at its Productora copper-gold-molybdenum project in Chile.

Perseus Mining has continued to prosper in the notoriously risky West African sector, passing the 12-month mark since it started production at its gold mine in Ghana.

Six weeks after announcing a dramatic slowdown in its growth plans, iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group says its stalled Kings project could resume later this year and be in production as early a

Gina Rinehart's $9.5 billion Roy Hill project is yet to secure its funding as its target date for the start of construction nears.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has shifted its thinking and is no longer so confident of the mining sector's continued strength, economists say.

 Jail terms have been increased for two former West Australian public servants convicted of defrauding taxpayers of more than $1.7 million.

Neptune Marine has entered an alliance with Thailand-based Beacon SubSea to expand its presence in the Thai market.

Australians are planning to tighten their purse strings this Christmas as they continue to worry about their financial security, research shows.

The strong Australian dollar and competitive finance deals have contributed to a surge in sales of new motor vehicles, with Western Australia the standout performer among states.

Renaissance Minerals has launched a $10 million capital raising to fund exploration at its flagship Cambodian gold project.

Australia could be the world's largest producers of liquefied natural gas within five years if the current boom continues, the federal government says.

Magellan Metals' Canadian parent Ivernia has announced plans to re-start mining at its Wiluna lead mine are well advanced, with the project to be operational again in the second quarter of 2013.

More foreign workers are expected to service Australian resources projects within the next few years as major companies look to save on labour costs.

Turmoil on global equity markets and the uncertain project outlook in Australia are continuing to weigh on the mining services sector, despite recent large contract wins and generally positive fina

Two Chinese entities proposing a takeover of minerals explorer Discovery Metals say they are disappointed by Discovery's rejection.

Fortescue Metals Group has again looked to debt to improve its cash holdings, upsizing its new credit facility by $US500 million ($A489.6 million) to $US5 billion ($A4.9 billion).

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy says June quarter results for Western Australian mining companies are cause for cautious optimism, with Chinese demand “unlikely to slow down drastically”.

Syndicated Metals has completed a $2.85 million capital raising to fund exploration and evaluation of its copper-gold project portfolio near Mt Isa in northern Queensland.

Perth-based gold explorer International Goldfields has announced a cash and scrip merger agreement with United States-based Santa Fe Gold Corporation, to create a diversified gold and silver miner

Gold explorer Boadicea Resources has made a positive start to life on the Australian Securities Exchange, its shares closing at almost three times their issue price on debut today.

The chairman of Exxon Mobil Australia has warned that the soaring costs of doing business threaten the nation's much-anticipated liquefied natural gas boom.

Iluka Resources' share price slid more than six per cent after the mineral sands miner posted a big fall in third quarter sales revenue due to lower production and demand.

Toro Energy has brushed off threats by anti-nuclear groups to challenge ministerial environmental approval of its Wiluna uranium project in Western Australia.

PMI Gold Corporation has entered an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters to raise $C100 million ($A99 million) for the development of its Obotan gold project in Ghana.