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The Australian sharemarket was weaker at noon, dragged down by losses in the materials and energy sectors.

Western Australian mining identity Tony Sage will chair the combined entity of Jackson Minerals and Scimitar Resources, which have unanimously agreed to merge.

OZ Minerals will shed a further 189 jobs this week as it closes its flagship Avebury nickel mine in Tasmania due to the low price of the metal.

Some financial relief for mining companies with projects in Western Australia with the state government freezing rate rises for environmental bonds.

Shares in Atlas Iron have risen sharply in early trade as the iron ore miner enters into a long-term off-take agreement for its Pardoo project in the Pilbara.

Exporters taxed to boost borders; Qantas ditches BA merger; Bang goes the west's boom; Jilted shipowners sue FMG; Fahour is pushed aside as Clyne takes reins at NAB

The state's Economic Regulation Authority says a re-amalgamation of Verve Energy and Synergy will have adverse implications on the wholesale energy market.

Fashion brand Costarella Design will go back to its private roots after the company that owns it entered into a deal to acquire a liver disease treatment company.

VDM Group expects a $15 million hit to revenue after Argyle Diamonds scaled back the company's workload on the underground expansion project.

HBOS Australia has today completed the $2.1 billion sale of Bankwest and St Andrew's to Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Corporate recovery experts Ferrier Hodgson say they have received significant expressions of interest for the acquisition of copper miner CopperCo, which went into receivership last month.

Perth’s design professionals have appealed directly to the state government not to pull the funding rug from under it, as some projects are halted amid rumours of billions of dollars being slashed from the capital works program.

The Australian share market finished marginally in the black with a weaker Commonwealth Bank and energy stocks weighed on the bourse.

A Greek shipping group has filed a $US130 million lawsuit against Fortescue Metals Group after the miner allegedly cancelled a five-year ship charter.

Perth-based Phosphate Australia has emerged as the best performing initial public offer for 2008, as the number of company listings in Western Australia more than halve as the financial crisis bites.

More than half of Australia's small business owners believe the country will dip into recession in the next two years, a survey has revealed.

The state government has budgeted $2.4 billion for the Royalties for Regions scheme as it forecasts a net debt of nearly $17 billion in 2010/11, according to the mid-year economic review.

The continued high risk of Rio Tinto's debt following its Alcan acquisition has prompted international ratings agency Moody's to downgrade the miner's rating.

Wembley-based property developer and manager United Overseas Australia expects its 2008 profit to slump over 70 per cent, largely on the back of project delays.

Minemakers is targeting first production from its Northern Territory project next year as it unveils capital costs of around $100 million for Australia's largest phosphate resource.

Oil and gas explorer Salinas Energy will close its Perth office as its managing director transfers to California as part of restructure plans to help maintain the company's oil production profitability.

BHP Billiton says it will focus on brown-field expansion projects including its Western Australian iron ore operations, to help carry it through the current economic uncertainty.

THE All Ordinaries is at levels approaching 3,500 and Colin Barnett is premier of Western Australia.

I THINK it was Keith Suter who compared the global financial crisis to a 'big weekend' - too much to drink on Saturday, hangover on Sunday, cleansed and ready for work on Monday, the social commentator told a recent Technology and Industry Advisory Counci

NEXT year may be the year of the insolvency practitioner but the sector was certainly gearing up for business in 2008 as the older hands of the sector recognised the signs of a stumbling bull market.

I WAS pleasantly surprised to see a job vacancy advertised in the window of a restaurant last week.

AT first it seemed Western Australia, riding the mining boom, was digging a hole all the way to China.

THIS is State Scene's eighth year-in-review column and, like the first, it features a change of government.

WHEN Alcoa of Australia announced that it was embarking on a joint venture to develop the $100 million Warro gas project north of Perth, it underscored the biggest business issue of 2008 - energy security.

THE global credit crunch effectively put the brakes on the Western Australian property market during the latter part of 2008, limiting sales volumes and hampering the development of new projects.

AN already strained rock lobster industry took another hit late this year as new Fisheries Minister Norman Moore introduced strict limitations to an already tightly controlled field.

RIO Tinto will cut 14,000 jobs, slash its 2009 capital spending from $9 billion to $4 billion and increase asset sales in order to reduce its $38.9 billion debt by a further $10 billion by the end of