ONE broker, attempting to sum up the challenge facing Kingstream Steel’s Oakajee project, suggested: “it’s a bit like a shipyard with the resources to build fishing boats attempting to launch the QEII”.
Heron also has extended its community involvement to Aboriginal education, establishing a bursary to send a school leaver to university or to allow younger students to attend school in Kalgoorlie.
THE Western Australian nickel industry is waiting for a rationalisation of the besieged laterite projects, particularly the fate of the Cawse mine, owned by Joseph Gutnick’s Centaur Mining.
A RELATIONSHIP with a computer can be as intimate as that with a car – familiarity leads to a situation in which chocolate wrappers, hair pins, old credit card dockets disappear into the keyboard, as they do into the glove box.
ROCKS and bugs could play a major role in checking Australia’s biggest environmental problem, soil salinity, as well as clearing the State’s waterways of choking weed and other pollutants.
AUSTRALIA compares favourably with most other oil producers in the level of taxation that applies to oil and gas production, although there are concerns about changes proposed to depreciation rates.
THE Lalor brothers, Peter and Chris, abandoned the legal profession to become two of Australia’s most successful miners, surpassing even their own high expectations.
THE Western Australian oil and gas industry, now in an unprecedented period of growth, faces one problem for which no solution is in sight – Greenhouse emissions.
WA’S almost embarrassingly plentiful natural gas reserves will be put to use in producing a commonplace fuel, if a current study by two oil industry giants produces positive results.
PERTH-BASED Basin Minerals is expected to launch the world’s next major mineral sands project in Victoria, as sources diminish for the key mineral zircon.
THE hire car industry has been targeted by the WA Ministry of Fair Trading, which has joined similar bodies around the country in a bid to end unfair practices.
WHILE the talk of the increased export potential of WA’s gas has the sector preparing for another development boom, the State’s domestic natural gas market has suffered setback delays in two major resource projects.
WA will depend even more on a weak Australian dollar to preserve its prosperity in the next year, as commodity prices continue to come under pressure, with nickel a prime example.
LIKE farmers watching the skies for signs of rain, companies worth billions of dollars are scanning the economic horizon, trying to determine whether it will be a good season for iron ore.
