Mark Mentiplay

Perth company Arafura Resources NL is to spin-off its Northern Territory uranium projects into a new, as yet unnamed, company. The move will leave Arafura as a gold and rare earths company based on its substantial Nolans Bore rare earths, phosphate and ur

The pressure on the Australian Labor Party at a state and federal level to allow expanded uranium mining is building as fast as the uranium price is rising and new explorers are pouring into the market.

While the rise and fall of opportunist Pilbara iron ore aspirant Cazaly Resources Ltd has won and lost sharemarket punters millions of dollars, its battle for the Shovelanna deposit is destined for the courts for months, possibly years.

TheWA government’s unexplained rejection of Cazaly Resources Ltd’s claim to the Shovelanna iron ore deposit in the Pilbara could deflect investment from the state’s resources sector and, for the first time, raised the real spectre of sovereign risk.

Western Australia’s emerging Mid-West iron ore companies, seed producers from Australia’s second largest iron ore region, have shown the state government the money.

Premier Alan Carpenter has confirmed Oakajee as the preferred site for a new privately funded deep-water port, 20 km north of Geraldton.

Is this a reversal of the 1999-2000 trend of mining companies leaping into technology?

The rebirth of insolvent Matrix Oil NL as Emerald Oil & Gas NL has moved closer to reality with a $3.5 million raising to allow the new company to participate in at least four wells in Western Australia and the US within a year of re-listing in late May.

A clutch of small-to-medium Western Australian gold companies is carving out a significant niche in West Africa’s emerging, key mineral fields.