Latest Headlines

Perth-based mortgage provider Homeloans says it expects its 2009 financial year net profit to improve by 49 per cent on the previous corresponding period.

Dominion Mining says revenue for the 2009 financial year reached $110 million as a higher gold price offset lower production.

BHP Billiton has settled almost a quarter of its total iron ore volumes at the newly agreed benchmark prices while one-third will be sold at spot and index-based prices.

Fortescue Metals Group has released a maiden resource for its Glacier Valley tenement area in the Pilbara, which is subject to a joint venture with China's Baosteel Group Corporation.

Mirabela Nickel plans to raise a further $16.5 million after securing agreements to raise more than $100 million to fund cost overruns at its Santa Rita nickel project in Brazil.

The people of Western Australia remain opposed to the state government's plan to introduce weeknight trading to 9pm, a survey by the WA Independent Grocers Association has shown.

LotteryWest has awarded Murdoch University a $5 million grant towards the establishment of Murdoch's Institute for Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

Dioro Exploration has capitulated to Avoca Resources' hostile $68 million takeover after the fellow gold miner increased its bid and a rival deal with a Canadian miner fell through.

Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens has issued a veiled warning about the risks in the housing market – suggesting that if supply doesn’t rise to head off prices it could have disturbing results. This could be read as a subtle dig at the states.

Dioro Exploration's defence against Avoca Resources' hostile takeover bid has collapsed after its white knight, Northgate Minerals Corporation, terminated talks over the proposed acquisition of Dioro's stake in a key gold asset.

West Perth-based Sipa Resources has signed a $16 million joint venture deal with Malaysian investment company Affluent Net over its two copper projects in the Gascoyne.

The Broome Port Authority has signed a leasing agreement with Woodside that it hopes will position Broome as the major supply base for future gas projects off the Kimberley coast, including Woodside's proposed Browse Basin project.

The Chamber of Minerals and Energy has backed Premier Colin Barnett's suggestion of relaxing foreign worker restrictions with the state potentially requiring an additional 26,000 employees by 2013.

Navitas has posted it third consecutive year of more than 20 per cent growth in second semester student enrolments with the education services provider posting a lift of 2,733 to a reach a new record.

West Perth-based Alchemy Resources has entered an agreement with Barrick Gold over the potential processing of gold from its Hermes project at the latter's Western Australian facilities.

Western Australian business are getting quicker at paying bills with the average time reduced by 2.7 days, the latest Dun & Bradstreet quarterly trade payment analysis shows.

The federal government has announced a $19.1 million funding boost towards a participation framework that will help Australian businesses get a fairer go at winning government and private sector contracts.

Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers have appointed Societe Generale as its financial advisor for the $3.5 billion Collie urea project.

Fox Resources has paid $100,000 for the 2 per cent net smelter royalty that was payable to De Beers Australia Exploration on Pilbara tenements under the access agreement.

West Perth-based Red Sky Energy has agreed to acquire private company Cydonia Resources, which holds coal seam gas permits in Queensland's Surat Basin, and plans to raise $4 million through a share placement.

Shares in Mirabela Nickel have been placed in a trading halt as it undertakes another capital raising to help pay for cost overruns at its Santa Rita nickel project in Brazil.

A federal government review of the former Labor Party's Grain Infrastructure Group report has found the information did not provide a reliable base to make major investment decisions on the state's grain rail network, Transport Minister Simon O'Brien says

Premier Colin Barnett has warned that restrictions on foreign guest workers will have to be eased if Western Australia is to avoid another major skills shortage within two years.

Tokyo Electric Power Co is reportedly considering buying a stake in Inpex's $20 billion Ichthys liquefied natural gas project.

Shares in Liberty Resources have soared as much as 56 per cent following a deal with Carbon Energy for the joint development of an underground coal gasification project in Queensland.

Belmont-based Independence Group and partner AngloGold Ashanti will proceed with a bankable feasibility study over the $710 million Tropicana gold project, which could be in production by early 2013.

Gindalbie Metals says its 50 per cent owned pellet plant in China will not be made redundant if its project partner, AnSteel, goes ahead with plans to build the state's first steel mill in Oakajee.

Shares in takeover target Dioro Exploration have been placed in a trading halt ahead of an announcement regarding a Canadian company's proposal to buy it's flagship asset while hostile suitor Avoca Resources extends its takeover offer again.

Shares in Perth-based Strike Resources have surged after it reached a settlement deal with its Peru partners, which wipes a $US24.25 million ($A29.5 million) liability from its balance sheet.

Construction and mining contractor Macmahon Holdings has secured an extension of its contract at BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam mine, valued at more than $110 million.

Nedlands-based Integra Mining says it has reduced the capital expenditure of its Randalls gold project near Kalgoorlie by 27 per cent after splitting the operation into two parts.

Golden West Resources plans to spin out its non-iron ore assets into a new company that will be listed on the local stock exchange as it requests its executive chairman, Con Markopoulos, to step down.