Iron ore rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are united in their forecast more high-cost producers will leave the market, but have stopped short of predicting how Western Australia's higher-cost producers will fare over time.
The tougher business climate has prompted some WA companies to cut executive salaries, but most have held the line and some have even awarded pay rises.
For the best ringside seat at a bruising encounter don't buy a ticket to a boxing event, sign up for an iron ore forecasting conference which will, for the first time since prices crashed, put the big boys of the industry on the same podium as the small producers.
BHP Billiton bosses have made a strong sales pitch regarding the company's proposed demerger, telling shareholders in London they'd benefit from the next step in the big miner's "evolution".
The Business News annual export review has the latest data on 33 businesses representing $122 billion in outgoing trade. It also shows that while iron ore continues to dominate, the emergence of LNG, agriculture and services will benefit from a lower dollar.
Premier Colin Barnett has strongly criticised Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, accusing the major iron ore producers of flooding the market and hurting the state.
BHP Billiton has celebrated sending its one-billionth tonne of iron ore to Japan at a ceremony in Port Hedland to mark almost 50 years of the business partnership.
BHP Billiton Iron Ore president Jimmy Wilson says the mining giant is likely to request government intervention to prevent a "devastating" proposed strike at Port Hedland which could cost miners up to $100 million a day.
The state's two biggest mining companies have downplayed the recent dive in the iron ore price, insisting the outlook is still positive despite analysts tipping a continued fall to around $US80 per tonne.
BHP Billiton has notified Macmahon Holdings that it plans to take over the Orebody 18 iron ore mine this year, while also announcing its intention to close one of its smaller Pilbara mines.
The University of Western Australia will receive a $17 million donation from BHP Billiton for its New Century Campaign, with the engineering faculty and busines school to be the main beneficiaries.
Mining industry pundits bemoaning the end of the ‘boom' will be pleasantly surprised to know that up to a dozen major projects could go ahead over the coming year.
THE near certainty of a Coalition government being elected in September, and the single-handed control of state leader Colin Barnett, have reshaped Western Australia's 2013 Most Influential list –
BHP Billiton's new boss Andrew Mackenzie has shaken up the global miner's leadership group, with petroleum boss Michael Yeager leaving the company but Perth-based iron ore president Jimmy Wilson an
BHP Billiton's new boss Andrew Mackenzie has shaken up the global miner's leadership group, with petroleum boss Michael Yeager leaving the company but Perth-based iron ore president Jimmy Wilson an
At the very end of an extraordinary week, a late announcement from an unlikely source – Transport Minister Troy Buswell – gave one of the few clear signals about future growth in the mining sector.
AS the world enters its fifth year of economic turbulence and even the best-insulated businesses in Western Australia are being affected, the factors that determine business influence in this state
BHP Billiton has continued making big changes in key executive positions, appointing Ian Maxwell as president energy coal, following the move of Jimmy Wilson from energy coal to take up Ian Ashby's
WHEN Celebrate WA announced Western Australia's Citizen of Year awards for 2009 two weekends ago the presence of the University of Western Australia would not have escaped the attention of many.
