Michael Ramsey

Prominent Perth company director Tracey Horton is among a group of business leaders appointed to a new federal Treasury advisory council designed to replicate the discipline provided by a private sector governance board.

An independent think-tank says Western Australia should follow the lead of the Newman government in Queensland and implement major spending cuts after recording the largest increase in operating expenditure of all states over the last three years.

Shares in West Perth-based explorer Red Mountain Mining are trading higher after the company released a scoping study confirming low capital costs at its Batangas gold project in the Philippines.

Phoenix Gold has announced plans to raise up to $18.2 million through a share placement and entitlement offer to fund staged development at its Castle Hill mine near Kalgoorlie.

Stockbroking firm Hartleys has been fined by the corporate watchdog over an inadvertent trading error in 2012 which resulted in a plunge in Tanami Gold's share price.

Wolf Minerals has arranged final funding for construction of its Hemerdon tungsten and tin project in England after agreeing to a discounted share placement.

Mine site water infrastructure group GFR has become the sixth Perth-based company to call in administrators in as many weeks, citing deteriorating trading conditions and significant contract delays.

Two years after selling its stake in the failed Oakajee port and rail project, Murchison Metals is set to be absorbed by major shareholder Mercantile Investment Company.

Doray Minerals has posted a maiden half-year profit on the back of the commencement of production at its Andy Well gold project in the Murchison region.