Western Australia has led the national job decline in November with the unemployment rate jumping up to 3 per cent seasonally adjusted, while economists are tipping the national jobless rate to rise to 5.5 per cent within a year.
Burrup Fertiliser chief Pankaj Oswal has emerged as a substantial holder in West Perth-based Phosphate Australia, spending over $2 million for a near 6 per cent slice.
Further charges are likely to be made against two senior public officers, charged with stealing up to $1.2 million from the Department of Industry and Resources.
Rio Tinto's shares surged over 10 per cent at the start of trade in response to its plans to slash 14,000 jobs, cut spending and costs and sell assets due to the global economic crisis.
THE recent encroachment of Chinese producers into the state's resource sector has brought into question the value of shareholder returns, with cost plus off-take deals playing into Chinese hands.
AT a time when most directors are shoring up their interest in their own companies, Western Areas chairman Terrence Streeter has sold nearly $2 million worth of shares for the December month so far.
Embattled technology developer Structural Monitoring has raised over $1 million through a rights issue, enough to keep the company going on a reduced cost basis.
Construction of a new $420 million NewGen Neerabup gas-fired power station has begun, with the 330 megawatt plant to provide additional capacity to the South West Interconnected System starting from next summer.
The global economic crisis has prompted the competition watchdog to give approval to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's $2.1 billion acquisition of BankWest and St Andrew's Australia from troubled UK-based parent HBOS plc.
Nickel miner Mincor Resources says it will suspend operations at its Miitel mine after Christmas as it details cost cutting measures to carry it through the mining downturn.
Bulk commodities iron ore and coal have largely driven Australia's export earnings to a record $42.6 billion for the September quarter, just before prices took a dive.
Babcock & Brown Power has shaved off $20 million from its 2009 earnings guidance after taking into account its soon-to-be sold interests in two Western Australian power stations.
Less than a month after the termination of a friendly merger, West Perth-based Kalahari Minerals has called for the chairman of Extract Resources to be removed.
Despite the increasing rate of job losses around the globe, Australian finance and accounting professionals remain optimistic about job prospects, as found in a 14-country survey by international recruiter Robert Half.
Perth-based CityView Corporation is facing a shareholder revolt with a group using the internet to express their concern over chief executive Mark Smyth and his management of the company.
