Focus Minerals

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Our biggest export market has slowed demand, but a new growth phase is under way.

CHINESE investment in Australia may have slowed as uncertainty continues about the value of commodities, but it has not stopped.

China’s Shandong Gold has won approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board to take a 51 per cent stake in Perth-based miner Focus Minerals, in return for a $227.5 million investment.

Focus Minerals shareholders have resoundingly backed a $227.5 million investment in the gold miner by China’s Shandong Gold.Chairman Don Taig told the company’s annual meeting today that 82.4 per cent of Focus’ retail shareholders voted in support of the transaction.

Focus Minerals shares have dipped on the ASX after the company announced a half year net loss of $27.4 million and the resignation of its chief executive, Campbell Baird.

A group of disgruntled Intrepid Mines investors have moved to remove five of the company’s current directors and replace them with four new ones, blaming the board for the loss of around $1 billion in shareholder value since April 2011.

Focus Minerals has put its Laverton gold mine on stand-by, after a review of operations found the project is no longer commercially viable due to increasing costs and the falling gold price.

Medicare rise to fund disabilityThe federal government has settled on a $3.2 billion, 0.5 percentage point increase to the Medicare levy to help fund its National Disability Insurance Scheme and is expected to make an announcement on Wednesday. The Fin

Mining contractor MACA remains optimistic about its prospects of revenue growth in financial year 2013, despite losing a significant contract after Focus Minerals halted its Laverton operations earlier this week.

It’s an old adage that some of the biggest fortunes have been made when business conditions are at their toughest.

New growth opportunities will be few and far between for mining contractors, who are under pressure to trim their rates.The irony was inescapable.

Three months after shutting down its Laverton gold mine, Focus Minerals has announced the closure of its remaining mining operations near Coolgardie due to the weak gold price.The suspension of mining will result in 65 job losses.

A slowdown in the mining sector could have positive flow-on effects for employers in other industries, Business News' annual survey of the state's 100 largest employers has found.

Campbell Baird has been appointed as an executive director of Indonesian coal explorer Indus Coal.Mr Baird resigned from a three-year stint as chief executive of Focus Minerals earlier this year. 

Eight Western Australia-based resources sector firms have been removed from the list of Australia's top 300 companies, providing further evidence that the slowdown in mining activity is hurting WA stocks.

China-based Shandong Gold looks set to secure board control at Focus Minerals, after acting chief executive and chairman Don Taig announced his intention to resign from the company.

Western Australia’s gold producers continue to suffer at the hands of a strengthening Australian dollar, with more job losses revealed across the sector last week.

IMX Resources chief executive Phil Hoskins has been replaced by former Focus Minerals boss Campbell Baird, while the company plans to restructure and rebrand itself under a new name.

Local gold miner Millennium Minerals has found an internal candidate to replace outgoing chief executive Glenn Dovaston, who has resigned after two years at the helm.

Dormant Perth-based biotech company Pharmanet Group will re-emerge as a gold explorer after entering into an agreement to acquire Keras Australia by way of a reverse takeover.

ZhaoYa Wang has been appointed chief executive of Focus Minerals following an approval by the Department of Home Affairs in granting him a visa to work in Australia. Mr  Wang is a mining engineer with over 20 years of experience in the industry.

A summary of last week's smaller deals that did not get included in our daily news coverage.

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