Western Australian startups and young technology companies attracted about $109 million in funding in the December quarter, according to the latest report from tech sector analysts Techboard.
Fortescue Metals Group founder and chair Andrew Forrest has seen his stake in the miner increase $249 million in value over the past four weeks, according to data on directors' shareholdings tracked by Business News.
PODCAST: In this Business News podcast Mark Beyer and Mark Pownall discuss the Australian dollar and commodities, blockchain technology, contract wins and deals, Imdex's expansion, and franchising.
Battery Minerals has locked in offtake agreements for 60 per cent of the forecast annual production at its Montepuez graphite project in Mozambique after announcing a supply deal with a Chinese company today.
Shares in Perth-based oil and gas explorer Po Valley Energy have skyrocketed today after the company announced a discovery at its Selva gas field in northern Italy.
Oil is little changed, after prices ease early in the session, but are supported by a record drawdown of US crude stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub.
Gold is flat, trading in a narrow range, first dipping as the US dollar rose and then rising as the US dollar moved lower, but bullion's gains were limited by higher US Treasury yields.
Backed by South32 and Deloitte, brightly coloured sculptures of dolphins have begun cropping up across the streets of Perth as part of a public art exhibition for mental health.
ASX-listed property group Stockland is set to develop its fifth shopping centre in Western Australia after receiving state and local planning approvals for its Whiteman Edge Town Centre in Brabham.
Mining equipment supplier Imdex expects it will be able to deliver substantial productivity benefits to its clients after striking an option agreement over New Zealand company Flexidrill.
Western Australia's unemployment rate has fallen by a surprising 0.9 per cent in the month of December, while job numbers were up for a record-equalling 15th consecutive month nationwide, with economists giving positive assessments of the labour market.
Perth-based Battery Minerals has signed an offtake deal for the supply of graphite concentrate at its Montepuez project in Mozambique to a private Chinese company.
Australian shares have closed barely lower, with banks and consumer stocks among the few sectors to record gains as energy and mining stock weakness weighed on the market.
Melbourne-based Nacap Australia has won the contract to build a 200-kilometre gas pipeline to Gold Road Resources' Gruyere project near Laverton, and is pursuing other significant projects in Western Australia.
A company selling car repair warranties will refund $4.9 million to thousands of customers who were sold high-priced cover by sales staff chasing bigger commissions.
The state's domestic gas market will soon receive a small supply boost, with Woodside Petroleum's Pluto project expected to begin pumping up to 25 terajoules a day into the network from the second half of this year.
Junior explorer Spitfire Materials has tapped investors for $5.3 million via a strongly supported share placement as the company ramps-up exploration work at its Western Australian gold project.
BHP Billiton has lifted production of copper, nickel and energy coal for the first half of fiscal 2018, but volumes were flat in its iron ore business while petroleum and metallurgical coal volumes were down.
Australian shares have opened comfortably higher after a strong positive lead from Wall Street with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing above 26,000 points for the first time.
Oil prices have closed higher ahead of the release of US petroleum data that was expected to show a ninth straight weekly drawdown in crude inventories.
Critics of sandalwood company Quintis, who are already calling for a spill of current directors, are now pushing to replace the responsible entity overseeing its 2002 project.
Local contractor EC&M has announced it has been awarded a series of contracts with a combined value of approximately $130 million, including a joint venture project in New South Wales with West Perth-based CPC Engineering.
The Australian share market has closed lower, with the materials sector heavily sold down on shifting commodity prices and expectations of a correction.
