Despite the uninviting conditions stocks face in the market, two resource companies will test their mettle against the doom and gloom when they launch their initial public offers.
Brisbane-based contractor Watpac Ltd is set to acquire JMS Civil and Mining Pty Ltd Group, which counts the state's Water Corporation and the Department of Main Roads as clients.
West Perth-based Convergent Minerals Ltd has secured an option to acquire the Bounty gold mine in the Eastern Goldfields and will embark on a $2.5 million capital raising.
Perth has suffered the biggest drop in house prices, falling 2.4 per cent in the June quarter, as capital city house prices across Australia decline by the sharpest rate in nearly than three years.
West Perth-based ARC Energy has hit back at claims that it breached a confidentiality agreement after it received a writ from Oil Basins Ltd late last week.
Project delays have prompted Belmont-based engineering and construction company Paladio Group Ltd to report a smaller profit of $55,000 for the 2008 financial year.
IMF (Australia) Ltd said the first distribution of money owed to creditors from the failed miner Sons of Gwalia Ltd has started, as administrators accept an increase in the value of claims.
Nedlands-based Integra Mining Ltd will move to feasibility study for its Randalls gold project near Kalgoorlie after an earlier study pegged capital costs at $85 million.
A mining representative body has called on the federal government to reconsider plans to heritage list 17 million hectares of Kimberley land, saying it could seriously damage the future of mining in Australia.
The state's small to medium enterprises are keeping up with their larger counterparts as business conditions continued to further weaken SME's across the country.
Perth-based Incremental Petroleum Ltd has recruited the services of former New South Wales senator Sandy Macdonald who will join the board as non-executive director.
West Perth-based Polaris Metals NL Has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fremantle Ports that will focus on finalising the best option to export ore from its Yilgarn iron ore project at the bulk berths at Kwinana.
At a time of market volatility, Perth-based Gindalbie Metals Ltd has eliminated the need to raise equity as its Chinese project partner AnSteel contributes a further $123 million to the $1.8 billion Karara iron ore project.
Apache Energy Ltd delivered good news on the gas criris today when it said partial production from its Varanus Island gas plant will resume ahead of schedule but the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA said the state is not "out of the woods".
Western Australia is one of two states that have defied the downward path of Australia's manufacturing activity, which sunk to a near three-year low as high interest rates slow the economy.
Uncertainty in global markets has prompted West Perth-based Zambezi Resources Ltd to suspend all but one drilling activities in Zambia in a bid to redirect its focus to its main copper discovery.
HBOS, the UK parent company of BankWest, has recorded a 56 per cent fall in net profits for the first half of 2008 due to credit crunch turbulence while earnings at its Australian arm dipped 12 per cent.
Just days after shareholders in Cape Lambert Iron Ore Ltd voted to sell the namesake iron ore project, new owner MCC has sold a majority stake in the project to Russian steel making giant Evraz Group S.A.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry has stepped up its calls for deregulated trading hours as Perth is revealed as the second most expensive capital for food and groceries.
The Real Estate Institute of WA has quashed claims by a leading property forecaster that Perth's house prices are set to fall 15 per cent over the coming year, saying past predictions have been proven wrong.
Belmont-based solar panel distributor Solar Sales has been bought by US company SunPower Corporation, marking the Silicon Valley-based company's first entry into the Australian solar market.
Mining engineers, scientists and technology entrepreneurs should collaborate with innovators in the arts sector to produce outcomes that benefit all sectors, the WA Business News boardroom forum was told.
An air of uncertainty still surrounds the $2 billion Oakajee Port project, despite the state government selecting Oakajee Port and Rail Pty Ltd as the preferred developer.
Although they are at the heart of Western Australia's resources boom, regional communities are only just starting to receive the downstream benefits from the state's strong economy.
THE Australian share market had its largest one-day fall in six months, closing more than three per cent weaker and wiping $38.5 billion from its value, on troubling news from National Australia Bank
Property developers in Western Australia are likely to face higher costs for water connections to projects in regional areas if changes to developer contributions, put to the state government by the Economic Regulation Authority, are adopted.
