News

Australian shares are higher following cues from the US where the Federal Reserve's interest rate rise has buoyed Wall Street stocks.

Mining jobs galore as economy picks upMore than 1600 jobs are up for grabs in the WA resources sector in the latest sign of economic improvement. The West

Listed company Mineral Commodities has signed a memorandum of understanding to assess the use of Doral's fused alumina plant in Kwinana for downstream processing of natural flake graphite from its proposed mine in WA's great southern region.

The share market has edged higher as the property sector was boosted by the $33 billion takeover of Westfield, and the consumer staples sector also rose.

Woodside Petroleum expects to cut costs and its environmental footprint after contracting ABB Group to replace one of the gas turbine generators at its Goodwyn A platform in the North-West Shelf with a battery storage micro-grid.

Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe thinks bitcoin is mostly attractive to criminals and speculators but has acknowledged there could one day be an electronic Aussie dollar based on similar technology.

Pilbara Minerals has announced multiple changes to its Pilgangoora lithium project, with the company planning to: spend an extra $50 million on development; export unprocessed ore to boost early cash flow; and outsource ore crushing to Mineral Resources.

Plymouth Minerals has tapped investors for $6.5 million through a strongly supported share placement to develop its San Jose lithium project in Spain.

Mincor Resources will ramp-up its exploration activities at its Kambalda nickel project near Kalgoorlie after the company announced a $9 million capital raising.

The Takeovers Panel has rejected an application by Tap Oil claiming its two biggest shareholders had become associated, with the panel refusing to make a declaration of unacceptable circumstances.

Iluka Resources has approved its $275 million Cataby mineral sands project, which is set to provide 250 construction jobs, after securing offtake agreements for 85 per cent of production from the deposit.

The Australian share market is holding on to gains as investors wait on the sidelines ahead of an expected interest rate rise by the US central bank.

Santos, Total eye Beehive

The latest insolvency statistics indicate that the mining industry shake-out is slowing, with a significant decline in insolvencies in recent months for the industry compared with 2016.

Frank Lowy's Westfield Corporation has agreed to a takeover from European property giant Unibail-Rodamco in a deal worth $US25 billion.

The share market has been buoyed by strength in the heavyweight energy and mining sectors.

Belmont-based building company Pindan has been selected to complete the first stage of a $23.8 million government project upgrading infrastructure for a remote Aboriginal community.

Energy company Santos and French multinational Total have agreed to fund a 3D seismic survey, thought to be worth around $45 million, over Melbana Energy's Beehive prospect off the north coast of Western Australia.

A joint venture between Njamal Services and Pilbara Resource Group has secured a 12-month labour contract with BGC Contracting at the Mt Webber iron ore mine in the Pilbara.

Aspiring minerals sands miner Sheffield Resources has signed an offtake agreement with a Chinese processor for more than half the zircon concentrate produced at its planned $348 million Thunderbird project near Derby.

Finders Resources has received the backing of some high-profile Perth investors in its opposition to a hostile takeover offer, with Euroz’s Tim Lyons, billionaire Ralph Sarich and Brettney Fogarty among a list of shareholders to have indicated they will not accept the 23-cents-a-share bid.

ANZ has agreed to sell its life and consumer credit insurance business OnePath Life to international insurance giant Zurich for $2.85 billion.

The Australian share market is moderately stronger in early trade amid solid gains from the big miners.

Watchdog tells TPG to act on NBN payouts or it’s court

ICON Engineering has secured a subsea rig interface contract with Woodside for the Greater Enfield oil development off Exmouth.

Mineral Resources has launched a $484 million takeover bid for oil and gas group AWE amid the ongoing battle for control of the Waitsia gas field north of Perth.

The Australian share market ended the first trading day of the week slightly higher amid lower volumes ahead of this week's key data releases.

Three engineering alliances have been shortlisted for a $47 million 'smart freeways' project that will use technology to convert the emergency lane on part of Kwinana Freeway into a full-time traffic lane.

A joint venture between engineering groups Downer and Ausenco has secured an engineering, procurement and construction contract for OZ Minerals' Carrapateena copper gold project in South Australia.

Three senior government ministers faced the cameras this morning to promote plans for a new high school in Subiaco, which will link with shared public open space at the neighbouring football oval.

Perth-based shipbuilder Austal has signed a memorandum of understanding with JR Kyushu Jet Ferry to develop a new high-speed trimaran passenger ferry for the company’s Japan-to-South Korea route.

Optus will compensate almost 9,000 customers after failing to provide them with the fast national broadband network speeds it promised.