Latest Headlines

Mining services companies Brandrill and Ausdrill have proposed a friendly scrip merger to create whay they say will be a larger, more diverse company able to better serve existing clients and with greater financial capacity to fund future growth.

Chevron Australia has been awarded a deepwater exploration permit to conduct initial surveys and then drilling at a potentially vast hydrocarbon basin which it jointly owns with Shell Development.

Japan, the world's second largest economy and WA's second largest trading partner has joined Europe's two biggest economies, Germany and France in recording positive economic growth in the June quarter.

Perth-based engineering and construction company Clough has acquired Houston-based subsea engineering firm Ocean Flow International LLC, giving Clough a foothold in the oil and gas capital of the world.

Australia's third largest internet service provider, iiNet, has posted a 28.8 per cent jump in full year profit after lifting subscriber numbers and says it is well placed for the current financial year.

Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group has agreed to a price for all the iron ore it sells to Chinese steel mills for the six months to the end of December.

Woodside urged to pick up Pluto pace; Property sector takes a $51bn hit; Banks tighten credit to first-homebuyers; Amcor joins raising rush in $2.4bn Rio package deal; Commodities slump to hit Rio Tinto

Positioning for long-term control of the Farooq Khan-chaired investment company Bentley Capital is under way, with shareholders notified today the board would seek a limited share buy-back.

Three directors from global education services provider Navitas have pocketed a combined $18.6 million from the sale of shares on-market.

Leighton Holdings has demanded that a standstill agreement regarding its shareholding in Macmahon Holdings be scrapped should a partnerhship arrangement continue beyond this year's deadline.

Apache Energy has failed in its bid to secure an injunction from the Supreme Court preventing Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore from viewing a report into last year's Varanus Island gas explosion.

The state's politicians will not receive a pay rise this year after the Salaries and Allowances Tribunal ruled the base salary will remain at $128,980 a year.

BHP Billiton Iron Ore has awarded Decmil Group stage two of the Port Haven accommodation village contract, valued at $36 million.

Integra Mining has selected GR Engineering Services as its preferred contractor for the refurbishment and commissioning of a processing plant for the $64 million Randalls gold project.

BHP Billiton has elected to extend a nickel offtake agreement with miner Mincor Resources for a further nine years.

Carbon Energy will sell its gold interests in the Laverton area to Subiaco-based Crescent Gold for a total of $4 million.

Coogee Chemicals chairman Gordon Martin has challenged receivers of Great Southern by devising a plan to personally contribute the vast bulk of working capital, of up to $20 million, needed to enable six collapsed timber schemes to be brought to harvest.

Doctors warn if more cuts to health services; Labor tips WA deficit blow-out; Telstra's rookie delivers on old script; China is still BHP's best customer; Shell chief breezes in to talk assets

Environment Minister Donna Faragher has today approved the export of lead from Magellan Metals' Wiluna mine through the port of Fremantle.

An increase in rental income and new acquisitions have boosted the full-year net profit of Bunnings Warehouse Property Trust by 11 per cent to $73.2 million.

The Department of Mines and Petroleum has reached its target for clearing the backlog of project approvals during the June quarter.

Mount Gibson Iron has recorded a 62 per cent slump in full-year net profit after tax as it continues arbitration proceedings with former customers over termination of offtake deals.

Staff at Curtin University, along with their counterparts from Murdoch University, have been granted protection for planned industrial action over wage disputes.

Western Australian full-time workers are the highest earners in the country compared to other states, pulling in an average annual wage of $70,886.

Cash-strapped Territory Resources has again extended its standstill agreement with its financiers over debt restructure plans.

West Perth-based mining services company Emeco Holdings says it has received a takeover proposal from an unnamed financial investment firm.

Shares in Fortescue Metals Group have been placed in a trading halt pending the completion of a "commercial negotiation".

BHP Billiton, Chevron, Rio Tinto, Woodside Petroleum and the North West Shelf Venture will collectively provide more than $5 million towards the Pilbara's health services as part of a partnership with the government.

West Perth-based Entek Energy has finalised a $15 million deal to acquire a majority interest in a producing coal bed methane field in Colorado.

The WA opposition has continued its campaign to target the economic credentials of Premier Colin Barnett's government and his Treasurer Troy Buswell by releasing a gloomy review of the state's financial future.

Voting in local council elections will be more transparent and less susceptible to manipulation by the big political parties after the state parliament passed legislation to return to the first-pass-the-post voting system.

Reed Resources has moved to expand its tenement portfolio, signing a $3.2 million option agreement to acquire the Mount Marion lithium project near Kalgoorlie.